Al Carrell: In most homes today you're going to find some copper pipe in the plumbing. Now copper pipe is joined by a technique called sweat soldering. It involves putting the two fittings together and then soldering it so that it is water tight. A lot of people would never even think about getting involved in sweat soldering. In fact, most people think that sweat soldering means you really have to sweat over it, because it's probably going to develop a leak. It's one of the easiest things you can do. The materials you need are very simple. You need a propane torch. You need solid core solder, and I'd get the lead-free kind. You also need some paste type flux and then you need an abrasive. Now, I'm going to use an emery cloth. That's just an abrasive you can buy at any hardware store or you can use steel wool. I'm going to use the emery cloth on the outside of this tube and on the inside I've got a little wire brush that's made for that. Once the stuff is really shiny clean, then apply the flux and then make sure that the two pieces are going to fit together. And if they do, then fire up your torch. You want to be sure to keep the solder away from the flame. Heat up the metal so it's hot enough to melt the solder. And then as you can see, it's starts flowing in there so it goes on down and you've got the whole thing sealed up and it's water tight.
Episode 020 1995 - 96 Season
| Wallpapering | Garage Door Problems | Buying New Appliances | Sweat Soldering | Closet Redo | Verifying Cash to Close | LIST |
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