[SOLVED] How do you solder a dripping pipe? Solved

No, they need to be bone dry before soldering.

Just keep heating and drying it

Not a chance in hell if you want a reliable join. The pipes will have to be dry. If you have a wet vaccuum cleaner you can suck water out of the pipes using something like a rolled up plastic carrier bag to seal the gap bewteen the water pipe and the vacuum cleaner pipe. Follow up with just heating the pipe gently with your blow torch to dry it out.

If its only a drip or two of water dry vacuum cleaner, with a bag, can be used but dispose of the wet/damp bag imediately.

I had a situation where I couldn't get a pipe dry, or wasn't going to be able to in a timely fashion so I used a compression joint, it's been good for as long as I can recall.

Cue leak....

Some folks still suggest plugging both pipes with a bit of bread which will temporarily stop a small "drip" of water which is left in the pipe and once the system is re-filled the bread simply breaks down into harmless little bits to be lost in the system.

I've never been able to bring myslf to try this method, if goes against my logic. Just have to wait for the dripping to stop because I found that if you heat any pipe with water left in it, the pipe starts to steam dragging heat away and it appears to pull more water into the area presumably to replace that which has turned to steam.

VERY light moisture in 22m can be dried back perhaps 6 or 8 inches buy winkling kitchen roll into the open pipes to dry them and making the joint rapidly.

Rapid heating/soldering is the new discovery I made this summer. For decades I've always done as I was taught in college, to evenly warm both pipe & fitting before applying leaded solder, but now having run out of leaded solder I was forced to use lead-free. Best success was achieved by lightly fluxing (with a small paint brush) both pipe and connector socket and then rapidly heating just the fitting from one side and applying solder to the opposite side of the joint (end feed obviously). Aparently the old method takes too long to get up to the higher temp required for lead free solder. and flux migrates (runs away) from surfaces whereas Quick/Hot (MAPP torch) ensures flux remains on both mating surfaces and solder flows towards the heat from the end feed. (Not the same technique for Yorkshire fittings I doubt)

Finally, I also learnt that if you have lots of joints in close proximity to make do them in stages and allow cooling between each joint or solder starts re-melting and running out of joints already made especially important when going from 28mm to 22mm and then numerous 22mm connectors.

Just my fingings I wish I'd known at the start of the progect!

Cheers - Pete

Quite right, water will just make it impossible to do, Have a try. I have in the past tried to solder wire together in the rain and that did not work either!

Brian

Some have had success with high heat (e.g. MAPP gas) torches, but it might be harder in hard water areas, where any water you boil off will deposit scale deposits into the joint.

What is the aversion to a compression fitting? The things have been used in such circumstances for decades and have proven very effective.

That's the old boys' trick. I did it once, about 30 years ago, and it worked. (Plumber who lived across the road, who didn't want to get involved, told me what to do.)

And for gas on a boat compression fittings are a requirement over a soldered joint. However that might be down to the effects of fire, but it's still a high vibration environment, and only subject to gas tight checks every 4 years.

If you have a device that can blow air - like a decent compressor - blow the water out. You'll not solder one still wet.

Not just that, but a chance of steam from the water pushing out past the solder.

I properly made-up compression joint should be good for the life of the installation. My parents have ones that have been there from the early '70s.

Indeed, but as soon as you tempt fate. I have no real concerns...

I use the exhaust on my wickes wet/dry vac to blast out quite hot air if I need to dry things, - like radiators that I took into the garden many years ago to 'powerflush'

The only thing that works is to stop it dripping.

One interesting short video on facebook had a gadget made from

Clearly only works with gate valves tho.

Google can't find it.

So use push fit. :-)