Q at the bottom if you don't want to read
Kind of an odd Q, but this was my first time with the copper welding. I was using 1/2" type L (not sure what the L means). I had to reroute the water supply lines for my new shower and install new shower valve. I ended up doing 12 joints in all. It looked so damn easy that I didn't do any practice joints. needless to say my first 7 or 8 weren't the prettiest. The last few were looking good.

Anyway I turned on my water and had one leaker. Small drippy leak. I tried to resolder a couple times, but it just seemed to amke things worse. it was just a straight coupling, so I neded up remocing it and using a new coupling. Ah presto it doesn't leak anymore.

My question is...can I trust all my joints? They aren't leaking and some of them aren't the prettiest. If they aren't leaking now is it pretty safe to say they will hold for good?

thanks, glad I found this forum. Plumbing has been my downfall in home improvement.

i am no pro but u can usually tell once u turn the water on!!!

Type L copper is used for domestic water lines, some area use Type M, (thinner than L).

As with anything else, preparation is key especially when soldering/sweating, (not welding) copper joints. The appearance of a DIY piping project is not as important as the integrity of the sweat joints which once fully pressurized is basically the only test.

Wipe off the excess flux and don't worry about how it looks, being leak free is more important.

e-plumber
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"The society which scorns excellence in Plumbing as a humble activity and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because it is an
exalted activity will have neither good Plumbing nor good philosophy: neither its pipes nor its theories will hold water." -
John William Gardner 10/8/1912 - 2/16/2002

Repair your leaking Plumbing fixtures ASAP [www.theplumber.com]
This slow drip will waste 7+ gallons of water per day.

Unfortunately, looks have absolutely nothing to do with how good a joint is. I have had joints that were 20+ years old, and looked good, come apart with only a slight bump. But if they are not leaking now, I would not lose any sleep over it, because even if they are not perfect, there is no way to tell, and if you were to take it all apart and check the joints, who is to say the one you made when you put them back together was a good one.



Edited 1 times.

OK, yeah with the water turned on I have no leaks I was just wondering if soldered joints fail very often even when showing no signs of leaking at first.

The key words are "very often". The answer to that is no, but they do fail occasionally.

99% of the joints i see fail had other factors contributing to the failure also like ground movement or the ph being off in the water itself. soldering is not as easy as people think. it takes time and practice to get it right. all of the solder joints i have seen fail were not made properly. most being the solder didnt take all the way in (just had a bead around the end holding). this creates turbulance and over time may cause the pipe or joint to fail. the grand canyon didnt happen over night you know

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PLUMBERS "Protecting The Health Of The Nation"

As you discovered, a leaky joint cannot be repaired. It must be disassembled and redone, preferably with new parts/

If you followed the two cardinal rules of soldering: CLEAN and DRY, used a good flux on both pieces, and applied heat to the fitting, not the pipe, and applied the solder before the joint was so hot that the flux burned, then there is good proabiltity that your joints will last forever.

If you missed any of the basic steps, it is POSSIBLE that you have a joint with just barely enough surface area soldered to hold, but mechanically weak.

all of the solder joints i have seen fail were not made properly. most being the solder didnt take all the way in (just had a bead around the end holding). this creates turbulance and over time may cause the pipe or joint to fail

The only way a joint can fail is if it is not made properly, whether it is because the solder did not flow properly or the pipe was not inserted all the way into a fitting. It has nothing to do with turbulence because the solder does not interact with the liquid flow.

It depends on whether or not you made them right. If you truely question whether or not your joints are good make up some test joints at angles similar to the ones you made then pull them apart and see how good they were. Look for the joints to have full coverage of solder. If the test joints are good maybe you can relax. If they are not maybe you better practice and get it right then redo your work.

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Something I realized when I started to solder that helped me. Treat the solder like wax. Just enough heat to make it flow. Too much heat and it will run off the joint. Also while the joint is still hot smooth the solder out with your flux brush. Be carefull though the flux will spatter like grease so wear eye protection.

In other words, short of an x-ray, we can't tell from here.

nor could we tell if we were there, either.

I redid a masterbath the other day. The homeowner cut and capped the water risers to one of the vanities in the basement. I noticed one of the caps had a slow leak. After reworking the water lines, i picked up the cut off cap, and pulled it off the with my fingers. The flux must have kept in on! If that was me, the cap would have blown off the second I turned the water on. But as hj sez, homeowners can do something stupid and come out smelling like a rose, but if a pro did it, it would be a disaster.

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"You can't get there from here"
Berry/Buck/Mills/Stipe

I was called to an old house that had a small (still) moist area on their hardwood floor in the living room. They said it "just showed up one day". After investigating, I cut into the plaster wall and saw a drop of water dangling from the copper ell to the front hose bib. I cut the copper pipe coming up from the basement and going to the hose bib. While looking at the leaking joint I didn't see anything there. No green crust, no discoloration of any kind, but most of all NO SOLDER. So I twisted slightly and the pipe to the hose bib pulled right out of the ell. It hadn't leaked for 40+ years with no solder whatsoever. Explain that.

It probably leaked at first until the joint "rusted" tight.

i missed a tee in a wall. turned the water on and it held for 3 days @ 80 psi till the electrician was cutting something and vibrated the wall

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PLUMBERS "Protecting The Health Of The Nation"

It can be a particular problem if you use a tinning flux, because the solder in it can hold the copper together to some extent when the flux part "evaporates".

How about the screw that found a pipe years ago and only started leaking when it rusted out...

e-plumber
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"The society which scorns excellence in Plumbing as a humble activity and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because it is an
exalted activity will have neither good Plumbing nor good philosophy: neither its pipes nor its theories will hold water." -
John William Gardner 10/8/1912 - 2/16/2002

Repair your leaking Plumbing fixtures ASAP [www.theplumber.com]
This slow drip will waste 7+ gallons of water per day.