I need to do a plumbing repair and will be replacing a soldered fitting.
Can anyone recommend a soldering gas torch?
Maplin do a few - a "kit" for £30, a "micro" torch for £10 and a "microjet" torch for £10.
Thoughts anyone? Thanks.
The micro torches will be of no use whatsoever for plumbing. You will need a bigger torch, such as the Taymar range as sold in B&Q etc.
Having said that, I must admit that I never had any luck with those on
22mm; the only thing that's ever worked for me reliably is my Rothenburger (any plumber's merchant).
I use a 4.5kg Calor gas cylinder with a 35mm diameter nozzle attached via a flexible hose. It will usually manage, but I wouldn't want to have to use anything smaller.
Colin Bignell
I bought one of those when I couldn't get a spare canister for my Camping Gaz one, and although it worked ok, it leaked an entire canister over the period of a few days.
My all in one Camping Gaz one is ok for 28mm. But if I was doing a lot of this I'd get one with a separate cylinder.
Some essential features:
Something like a Bernzomatic TS2000T. Easily obtainable from B&Q Warehouse, amongst others. Ignore the small Go-Gas/Taymar type things which give a broad cool flame for paint stripping, rather than a hot localised flame required for plumbing.
I agree with the above and also with this torch test:-
Nick
In message , Nick Brooks writes
I agree too, next time I need to mix some concrete I will definitely go for the Rothenburger! :-)
Now I ask myself, do I truly trust this review!
Regards, BraileTrail
A bit bizarre that no Bernzomatics were tested either, given that they could well be the most commonly found in practice.
Christian.
Most common would most probably be the trusty old Primus 2000 like what I've got, then the Rothenberger. Bernzomatic is not quite so common if you look at what th pros use. ..
SJW A.C.S. Ltd.
I've usually seen Bernzomatic. However, I've only seen a few, so I doubt my experience is statistically significant.
Christian.
Aren't these all a bit expensive - and rather large to store - for a one off job? I suppose they might be worth it if you're going to burn off a lot of paint as well, but despite being a tool junkie I've not found the need for anything bigger than a decent all in one blowlamp.
At which point Security removed you from the store?
Depends what you want to use one for. However I was pointing out popularity, not price or ease of use. I got mine for nothing, and it does all I want it to do. ..
SJW A.C.S. Ltd.
It basically depends if you do any 22mm. A five quid Taymar simply won't work properly for this. You'll probably burn away any surround combustibles without melting the solder.
Besides, they're great for lighting barbecues!
Christian.
Yeah I know - I didnt read the reviews cos I've already got one, but I was TRYING to be helpful N
I take it that you are thinking of doing only a few small jobs at the most? I managed perfectly well for a very long time using Taymar, Coleman, Camping Gaz and Parasene torches.
The Taymar, Coleman and Parasene use the screw-in type of cartridge, the Camping Gaz uses the standard blue "bomb" type cartridge as used in small camping stoves.
All of them are adequate for fittings up to 28mm and I have also used one of these torches for wiped joints on 4 inch copper guttering.
I now have a couple of Bernzomatic torches which are "better" in that they have smaller heads but produce enough heat for even very large jobs. But they aren't, no matter what has been said here, essential.
TBH if as I suspect you're going to do a few jobs and that's it then I would go for the Coleman or the Camping Gaz. Shop around and you get Camping Gaz blowlamps for under a fiver.
No offence meant, I was trying to be amusing. Seems I only succeeded in being (perceived as ) flippant. :-(
Regards, BraileTrail
I use unleaded for domestic water, in fact nowadays I use unleaded for everything except rainwater goods.
Err is that "without success" as in couldn't solder the joint, or "without success" as in never got hot enough to allow the solder to flow?
In the first case I would blame technique, in the second I'd question if you had any water in the tube.
That would also indicate trying to work "wet" to me.
Bizarre. I've renewed all of the pumbing in three houses now working from 10mm up to 28mm using capillary joints, swaged joints and yorkshire fittings , and it's only last year that I bought a Bernzomatic so that I could have the luxury of a small, light handheld gas torch.
I don't know what your problems were, but I wouldn't blame the Taymar. I can of course only report what I have seen with my own eyes.
The solder not flowing. It was hot enough to get the flux fizzing away merrily, though.
It was definitely totally drained down. I only soldered new sections of pipe. The fact that the proper torch soldered it in seconds tends to support this. The joint to the preexisting pipework was done with a compression ball valve as there was no way to drain between the rising main and the connection point.
I suspect the main difference is that the sort of torch I'm talking about is even smaller than you imagine or had a wider nozzle. Or maybe it had started to run out of gas without me noticing. It worked fine for 15mm, though. The main problem I think was the width of the flame, making it difficult to concentrate the heat in one area. I think, perhaps, the wide nozzle was the feature most preventing me soldering it. Also, I was using a ceramic tile as a heat mat. Maybe a proper reflective heat mat would have given that last push to the temperature. It was obviously very close, but no cigar.
Christian.
snipped-for-privacy@malloc.co.uk (Steve Firth) wrote in news:1g9b444.1xxs0evy0ub2kN%% steve%@malloc.co.uk:
I'm glad I didn't ask for advice - I'd be thoroughly confused.
I just went to B&Q on wrinklies day and got a nice one with screw in canister and spark ignition.
It's been fine up to 22mm, and does it so easily I can't see 28 being all that hard
mike r
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