Hi,
I am wondering how "safe and effective" is to use compression method instead of soldering for joint of copper pipe and fittings? I am not comfortable with soldering, but not sure using compression is "water-tight enough" for joint or not, thx.
I'm not a big fan of compression fittings for domestic water but............many homes have them & they work just fine.
I'm old school, when working in copper I solder.
The compression fittings are faster but potentially troublesome & harder to work with down stream IF repairs are needed,
cheers Bob
If done correctly the compression fittings are just as good as the soldered connections. I work in a very large plant and we have thousands to millions of copper and stainless steel connections using the compression fittings. Anywhere from a few pounds of air to several hundred psi of various chemicals.
I'm a fan of solder, but compression has a place. Mostly used for attaching faucets and toilets to the main line. If I was plumbing a new house today, I'd use Pex tubing.
Due to the propensity of compression fittings to fail, I only use compression fittings where they will be visible. Solder for everything that will be concealed.
Compression fittings can last for years and mostly they do last, but they are much more likely to fail over time than soldered joints.
For the most part (in typical residential plumbing) hard copper pipe is soldered except for a few things like supply valves at sinks, After that they are useful for repair but I wouldn't use them in a new setup if only for the vastly higher price per connection. Soft copper tubing usually uses compression fittings.
Besides do they even have compression fittings for elbows, tees, 45s, caps. One great advantage for repair is that they can actually be connected without shutting off the water (yeah, its messy and you probably need to open a faucet to keep the pressure low) or completely draining the pipe.
I like to replace the supply valves for my cloth washer and other supply valves under sink. I guess that soldering may be the better option here. Thx.
I agrre with all the above posters who would not use a compression fiting execpt in places where they can see it (although I don't even use them there). I simply don't trust them.
Probably OK for that but I prefer to solder on a male threaded adapter then attach the valve to that. Makes it easy to change out in the future.
This reply probably does not apply but...
Cold welding is possible and definitely will not leak. Oxygen-Free High Conductivity (OFHC) copper is used in vacuum tubes. The vacuum seal is formed by pinching of the copper exhaust tube with a tool that looks like a bolt cutter but has rounded jaws. The copper flows and becomes vacuum tight.
Probably, this is not what you mean by a compression fitting.
Bill
-- Ferme le Bush
This is all you need, don't sweat it. Pun intened
I'll bet that stainless stuff is flare / JIC fittings.
Hello:
I have a strong preference for solder. I've used an industrial type of compression fitting in my lab with great success....but the hardware-store type of compression fitting seems to be rather hit-or-miss. Sometimes they work, sometimes they leak.
Suggestion: You might consider buying a few feet of 1/2" copper pipe, a dozen solder fittings, solder, torch, tubing cutter, flux, cleaning brush, etc.. Cut the pipe into 2"-3" lengths. Find a good book in the library on soldering, follow the directions. Practice soldering a few dozen joints. You will gain experience and confidence.
Cleaning is the important step.
Best -- Terry
I am inclined to solder, but in a house I had for 35 years, I was reluctant to solder some pipes near the water meter. I was putting in a "wet" darkroom for photographic work. I made it a point to CLEAN the tubing well, and to lubricate it well (threads, pipe) before using the compression fittings. For the 4 additional years I owned the house, I had no problems at all with the compression fittings. Clean was the trick, I believe.
Actually, I did practice a couple of times like you mentioned, but I cannot tell whether the thing I solder is leaking or not. I never try on real thing since I fail, I may end up calling emergency repair(the thing I want to replace the valves under the sink which can not be shut off without shutting off main valve), it may be costly than just call a plumber to do it for me.
I am able install successfuly a water hammer arrester for the dish washer using two soft copper pipes. It seems to me that only soft copper is suitable for compression fittings at least as the Balck & Decker home repair book suggests. But the book also mentions that copper with type M is also suitable for compression fittings. The house I own is over 25 years old, not sure what type of copper was used originally.
Please write us instructions how to "done correctly".
That makes for a good seal, and also easy service. You can also compression on a valve. Seen em.
Did you also notice that that plant has an entire crew of maintenance workers to constantly check and repair anything that breaks or fails? And hundreds of instruments in the control rooms to let you know when something is leaking or losing pressure?
If you have those in your home, and all of the compression fittings are exposed, then I would recommend going with the CFs everywhere.
I've had problematic compression fittings over the years... Often I get fed up enough with them and change them to flared fittings... It seems that with compression fittings, there is a certain amount of force that you can use to tighten the fitting -- too little and it will leak, too much and it will deform the fitting and also leak... With flared fittings, it seems that you can really torque it down and it won't deform and start leaking... YMMV, of course...
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