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

Most old pipe is imperfect, and IME glooped olives are quite reliable. I think maybe some are trying to reinterpret things.

If I came across a pipe so badly damaged it couldn't accept a fitting, I'd replace it.

Do you have any insurance?

If a pipe is lightly damaged but can take an olive, it is simply an insurance policy to add a sealant, just in case there is a void under the olive.

What is so difficult about that?

Only what is compulsory.

What is so difficult about replacing the pipe to ensure that there can't be a problem ?

It won't be light damage to a pipe if adding gunge to an olive sorts it.

Sure. But how is that relevant to the discussion so far?

It's completely pointless & doesn't ensure there can't be a problem.

incorrect. Old pipes with minor surface imperfections are widespread. Olives aren't designed to cope with that, but add a smear of gloop & they do fine.

Nope, it eliminates the possibility that the union won't work properly.

Corse it does.

There is also the problem with applying gunge to an olive on a good pipe. The olive may not be compressed enough to to produce a sealed join but the gunge will stop it immediately leaking. Later when the gunge has dried out a bit or water has eroded it the connection leaks.

I think LS-X and others like it harden on contact with water. It's not the sort of stuff that dries out?

LS-X specifically states it will never harden, that's what makes it useful in edge cases ..

Ok, I mean losing it's fluidity? And retaining elasticity? To a lay person I would call that hardening irrespective of what is claimed by the manufacturer.

Minor surface imperfections can be removed by proper cleaning. As you should do at any joint.

no they can't. This is getting like a pantomime.

I wan'y going to bother replying. But... If you remove an old run of pipe you're left with the end of another run of old pipe. And thus the chance of a bad joint is not eliminated. I expect all of us bar Rodney were aware of that. If you reply I'm not likely to bother. You're a moron.

Yeah, even you sometimes notices what a hole you have dug for yourself.

But not one that you have no viable alternative to a compression joint with, stupid.

Wrong, as always.

My experience with plumbing is only DIY but over the years I've done a lot of it including joining on to old copper pipework and I've never come across a pipe so badly damaged that is couldn't be cleaned to take a compression fitting without having to resort to applying any gunge or tape to the olive.

Even painted pipes can be cleaned enough at the ends to take a solder or compression fitting.

Any copper pipe can be soldered of course.