12mm to 10mm adapter

[fred]

Is such a thing available? I wish to connect 10mm copper pipe to a water heater with a 12mm connection. Is there an easy way ? I'm not great at soldering.

[Chris Green]

I'm pretty certain you should be able to find a compression fitting to do this, try BES. Yes, here you go:-

[Andy Burns]

There are compression reducers if you don't fancy the end-feed solder reducers

[alan_m]

Is the 12mm actually a 1/2 inch tap connector screw thread?

[alan_m]

Assuming a water connection.

[fred]

No its into a water heater on a boat

[Paul]

And spotless cleanliness should not be interpreted as "mechanical grinding". In the small amount of experience I've had, using too much abrasive on a pipe to a joint, spoils the fit. You want some sort of "chemical cleanliness". Which is what the flux is supposed to provide, but seldom does.

The solder has to flow and wet the surface freely, instead of working in fits and starts and leaving gaps. The flux is supposed to encourage that. It works slightly better if the pipe is still smooth with *original* smoothness, not some hasty file-work or work with 50-grit paper.

The minute I touch abrasive to work, it's game over for me.

For a professional, you use a pipe cutter, not a hacksaw. A pipe cutter leaves a very nice end on the pipe. A hacksaw does not. A hack saw leaves burrs. And no, using a file on the end of the work is also a bad idea.

The very first thing a plumber does, on the job, is discover all his pipe cutters are busted :-) That's usually how it starts.

Paul

[tabbypurr]

I use fine sandpaper to prepare pipes, and they solder no problem. Flux is absolutely not sufficient, spotlessness must occur first. I've seen too man y failures at this cleaning stage, the guilty party then unable to work out why it won't solder. IME mechanical grinding is the easiest & surest way t o get completely clean copper. You might get an acid bath to do it quicker, I don't solder enough pipe to really consider that option.

NT

[Adrian Caspersz]

Hacksaw, pipe?

Oh, memories, we used to have a real expert on that around here ...

[fred]

Damn me but I tried a Google search and didn't turn up anything useful. Manythanks

[Andy Burns]

Careful, I was thinking you wanted to connect 10mm tube to 12mm tube, so those fittings probably won't directly do what you want, but would be ok if you didn't mind a short section of 12mm pipe leading to the 10mm, might look ugly though ...

[Fredxx]

The very first thing a plumber does, on the job, is

I use stainless steel scourers. No mess, no sand left behind.

A new pipe is often clean enough, but I agree it is wise to clean to be confident of a good joint.

Which is OTT.

[charles]

Isn't steel wool an abrasive?

[Dave Liquorice]

Good old acid flux was good enough on it's own with new pipe. The modern non-acid isn't as good. Old pipe and the oxide has to be mechanically removed, a quick rub around with a strip of 120 grit ali oxide paper will do that.

Not surprised if your using a file or 50 grit.

So does a pipe cutter, how large depends on how enthusiastically the pipe is cut. 2 rounds and there will be a large burr, 20 much less but still there. The burr from a pipe cutter is less obvoius as it's contigious around the edge. My pipe cutter has a hardened steel triangle stored in the frame for removing the burr.

[Paul]

Yes.

I just noticed a proportionality, between how aggressively I prepped a surface, and how it didn't give me the result I wanted later.

The solder is flowing by capillary action. The space between pipe and joint is reasonably tight. If you're aggressive with the cleaning (sandpaper), then you'll find the pipe kinda "floating" in the joint. It's no longer a tight fit.

I don't have enough abrasives here, to find something that cleans the copper, yet doesn't change the OD of the pipe appreciably. Maybe some wet 1200 grit would work or something. I don't have anything like that here.

For solder to "set" properly, you must not disturb the molten solder while it cools. This means, if one of the work pieces is "floating", you need something (not your hand) to hold it in place until it cools. Disturbed solder, is mechanically weaker solder.

Paul

[Fredxx]

Wow, you have be sanding very aggressively to make such a big difference in tube diameter.

As I have said before, I use plain stainless steel scourers. Cheap and very effective.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I'm a lover of EverFlux. I've tried soldering really grotty tube that was lying around for ages as a trial, and on removing the fitting it was perfectly tinned.

But still clean the tube with wire wool or cleaner strip.

If you are using a rosin flux, you do need to make sure things are clean, though. With vicious stuff like EverFlux, make sure you wash any excess off with water afterwards.

[charles]

Steel wool.

[PeterC]

Same here, although if one end is rather old I've some grades of abrasive pads - don't know what the abrasive is - then SS to remove any abrasive. The pad can be stuffed into the female part and does a good job.

[Andrew]

Even better. Bilge full of LPG gas ?? !!!! :-)