In practice, how long do you think solder paste/flux lasts?

I had some about 10 years and still worked ok.

Put a big dollup on your breakfast eggs - .. if they taste a little off .. .. better toss it. .. that might be ketchup, though. Dunno. Always glad to help. John T.

Mines probably 20 years old and still works.

But it is cheap to replace probably.

Use the new water soluble formula. The old stuff causes climate change

Oakey says the shelf life is 2 years!

And unlike prior times, it didn't smoke as much as I thought it should.

It is cheap and I'd be happy with a two-ounce tin, but all that Home Depot has a 6-ounce bucket. Still little but I've run out of room in my plumbing tool box and my plumbing tool drawer.

I once found a bunch of plumbing parts on the top of a full-size trash barrel in the middle of a parking lot in an industrial park, comlaete with a nice plastic tool box in good condition. That might be where I got one container of flux. But now I have 3, Oatey No. 5 and No. 95 and Kester. I must have bought one of them, but I can't remember which is which or which I used the laat time.

Also I read that one is supposed to stir the stuff, to pick up oils that have sunk to the bottom. I dont' think that's happened, and I think it's for large containers than 2-ounce, but I'll try it.

I never had trouble before, at least 8 joints, I think I'll test it on something I'm not actually soldering.

The flux was clumpy but I thought it would spread out when hot. And I've not used a MAPP flame before. It seems almost too hot. I was suspicious that I'd done a bad job before I put it together. Using a Sharkbite slip joint so that make saking it apart pretty easy. And I have more pipe and another threaded end. It will be done in a day or two.

I saw that for sale. A lot of it. Probably doesn't apply to me, becasue this might be the last joint I solder in my life, and tying up a whole container of flux for one joint would do more over-all damage than I'd save.

Hmmm. Is it using the old stuff, or making it, that causes climate change? If it's making it, my stuff is already made. Unless the stuff I have really has expired and I have to buy new. Looking at my question above, maybe that's what you were thinking about

I've used 40+ year old fluxand it worked

Thank you for your anecdotal contribution.

Don't question King Pelosi's climate change narrative. Just follow orders. (Note Pelosi's preferred pronoun is King.)

I'm just spitballin' here but maybe it would be better to switch to Viega Propress fittings and a lithium battery powered M18™ FORCE LOGIC™ press tool. (The batteries are made with imported lithium mined by 8-year-old virgin slaves, I think.)

I'm still using a tin of flux that I bought in the 1970's (may have even been in the late 1960's).

I don't think I'll ever need another.

On Sun, 12 May 2024 19:54:16 -0400, micky snipped-for-privacy@fmguy.com wrote as underneath :

snip

Electronic fine solder paste info: The solvent is not IPA, it is pure gum turpentine (NOT substitute) - BUT once the paste has dried/thickened substantially due to evaporation / age then it cannot be revived properly. If you catch it when still a (thicker) paste then gum turpentine will thin it successfully but the writing is on the wall to get some fresh in, it will not solder beautifully like when fresh! I would guess at about 3 years being about the limit even if kept very carefully airtight and refrigerated etc... C+

I've got some old resin core solder where the core has crystalized - still works but not sure if it is as good as it was when new