How To Solder Copper Pipes Like A Pro
Roger shows us how to solder copper pipework like a pro.
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00:00 Preparation
01:54 Applying flux
02:56 Cleaning pipe
03:42 Soldering fitting
04:12 End feed fitting
05:17 Fluxuator
06:16 Heat matt
07:04 Pipe clips
07:47 Blow lamp
08:06 How much solder?
08:52 Soldering
10:23 Final thoughts
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#solder #soldering #plumbing
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Few tips, make sure the pipes are super clean, when soldering any fitting start on the easiest joint first as the heat will travel tovthe harder to reach joint, dont over heat, if the flame turns green you have over heated the joint and it will leak ive been a plumber for 45 years and trust me follow these simple rules and you will be an expert in no time
I love you showed "how to" and "how not to" and showed what it looks like. You can learn quite a bit by both. Thank you.
Love that tip about bending the solder into portions.
Exactly. I'm not new to soldering as DIYer but never knew how much solder to use so I naturally put too much "just to be sure". 😂
Clearly explained and demonstrated, good job!
Someone like me has to watch this over and over before I try it. lol Hello, good teacher, Skill Builder.
Roger is an excellent presenter - just the right blend of knowledgeable, skilled, and engaging. As a jeweller, I'm new to this specific kind of soldering, so I feel lucky to have stumbled upon your video before wading through a lot of other inferior content on KZhead - thank you!
Wow, thank you!
This guy is very likable and easy to follow. Thanks
Honestly seen a lot of soldering videos but for the first time I understand flux .... excellent video
This came about just at the right time for me. Replacing an outside tap very soon and the new tap I bought has a Yorkshire fitting. I was going to look up a tutorial because, whilst it seemed obvious how to use it, I'm always keen to sanity check (especially as my soldering experience is all with electrics). You've saved me a search, and also stopped me from unnecessarily buying a specific soldering torch for pipework, as I now realise the gas torch I have will do the job 👍 Cheers. 👍
Tempted to give this a thumbs up before I've even seen the end as Roger is a great tradesman and I know this will be a great video. Really enjoy the channel mate
I did
Thank you for this masterclass. You are a Jedi master of pipework!
Thanks Roger this vlog you did in plain english if you get me, simple and well explained great job
Rodger is such a great teacher.
What an absolute masterclass. As usual.
Thank you, very informative. soldered electronics before, just didn't know the flux would flow the solder all the way around for you. Good video.
i like your soldering video. Very clear and helpful and timely. Hoping to join copper tap tails on new Kitchen mixer tap to pipe work on the back wall but the sink is 3 inches proud of the wall because we had deeper worktops fitted. I hate flex hoses on taps, I want to replace it with all copper. First timer here. Thank you.
Excellent. Very helpful. Thanks. God bless.
Just started learning how to solder at college last night! This is the best 'learn how to solder' video I've seen on youtube so far, and I've spent all morning watching them all. Cheers mate, really simple but sound advice and tips you gave out!
Hey Richard would you mind telling me the class that you took I’m trying to look into getting into a class that offers things like that.
Excellent training video thanks
Beautiful soldering
wow clean as hell. thank for this.
Thanks, good job explaining!
cheers - this video was very helpful. don't need to call a plumber anymore. sorted it out myself without any issues
Great film, thank you Roger. 👍👍👍
Excellent presentation! Thank you!
Great tutorial as always 👍
Also very neat soldering roger
Thanks for the good tips mate.
Really interesting, I have a tiny, tiny leak on a push fit joint and I suspect the pipe if just slightly distorted, I think a solder joint might just cap it off. I will give it a go!
Excellent advice and tutorial as usual Roger.
Thanks 👍
Great video, thank you Sir. My house was build in 1945 and I am doing a bathroom reno myself. Your video will surly help this first time solderer :) Thank you!!
Glad it was helpful!
I'm just a DIY 'er . Some where along the line I picked up working your way UP as you solder. The theory being, heat rises. Probably nothing to it.
Outstanding! Thank you.
I like to use scotch brite for cleaning, gets around all bends and into tight corners better. As for air pressure testing, especially on compression fittings, I’ve noticed it takes much less pressure than water to leak- thought that was interesting.
Great video Rodger, very useful
Nice & clear, esp. for beginners. One small appendium, IMV you are going in too close with the flame, and with MAPP gas, higher temperature, its easy to overheat the joint & burn the flux. I nearly always use a torch with butane/propane mix, lower temperature, takes a few seconds longer, but less likely to burn the flux. Also, butane mix a lot cheaper! I use the MAPP torch on bigger fittings when needed.
Pro Tips: When soldering a wet water supply pipe (for repair) ball up some loaf bread and stuff it into the pipe. Also, after sweating the pipe and while it is still nice and hot (right after applying the solder), brush on more flux to clean up the solder joint if you have made a mess of it. Not emphasized on this video: in order for the capillary action to work ideally, the heat from the torch should be applied to the fitting opposite of where the solder is applied (and well into the center of the fitting). This is to draw the solder into the joint effectively. Avoid contacting the flame with the solder!
I mark my solder with a Sharpie marker about every 1/2 inch to gauge how much is in the joint. Just subscribed!
Great job 👏
Love copper . Those pre-solder are great (I double up and solder on edge ( belt & braces Roger lol )
Excellent and to the point
Yep, you pronounce soldering correctly. We Americans don't. Lol. Great video, I have a lot of copper pipes in the basement and our plumbers where I moved are dreadful. I need to know how to solder so I am on the hunt for good videos. This vid was great. Thank you.
Excellent! Thanks for this!
Thanks, very helpful
Thanks Roger. My dad taught me to always heat the pipework leading into the joint first and then move towards the fitting, and make sure you run the heat around the circumference of the fitting to ensure even heat.
Hi Chris I think copper is such a good conductor that it heats fairly evenly and quickly. If you mess around too long the flux evaporates so, in my opinion, just get on with it.
I'd always heat at the centre of the fitting, not the pipe itself
Great stuff Rodger,,, I'll be interested to see pressure test on pipework, it's something I haven't done yet but would save me alot of heart ache going forward.
I had to buy a jet swet tool for $60 and sweat in a ball valve because my valves off my water meter don’t hold. I replaced old softener with whole house filter. Looks really nice, I even tappconned mounts and 3/8 rod hangers coming off foundation wall. I used bread trick once prior, it does work you just have to act quick.
Regarding not using a naked flame in some places, I've used a paint stripping electric heat gun to solder Yorkshire fittings on 15mm pipes and it worked fine. Took longer to heat the pipe up but the solder flowed fine and made a good joint.
Great!
You read my mind - I've got a black and decker heat gun with a soldering attachment ... and some yorkshire fittings. I'll give it a go!
Plus use customers electric.
Got set of pipe tongs and heads from a charity shop gor £1 As a joke Work well enough though Take time to heat tho Used on that one joint a little too close for comfort to wall Rest i did old way from habit and speed
That flux tool is rad, I want one!
Very good job !
amazing skills
Thank you. Just finished City and Guilds level 2 Plumbing and Heating which I really enjoyed! It was a great course. Anyway soldering was a weak point initially, but I got much better with practice, and thank you for some really good tips. I use wire wool rather than emery but that's because it was what I was shown Cheers.
When I first did my Craft City and Guilds we had to learn how to wipe lead joints still got the scar to prove it, as molten lead flowed out of my moleskin onto my wrist never happened again after that
@@andybb Ouch! I was sorry the don't teach lead working anymore, but not a bit sorry to miss out on the molten lead experience you describe!
@@42RHD Very much so do miss lead work though. We even learned stain glass window techniques as well and digging wells,oh the good old days lol
@@andybb Stained glass window leading would be brilliant! Not so much the digging wells though!
Great video, thanks. As a keen self builder, done all that you've shown, but nice to see the experts say the same. End feed always looks so nice and neat, especially with formed bends. PS. I always deburr the pipe inside :)
I'm a retired electrician/plumber (and never deburred) but am glad that you're a patient perfectionist. I always use wire wool pads to clean before and after although, I only use before soldering if the pipe is in an awkward place and I really don't want to go back and re solder it. Yes you're right, end feed are so neat when soldered correctly. I had a guy change my boiler a couple of years ago and his soldering was so good that you couldn't even see any solder on the end feed joints. I had to put my glasses on and shine a torch on the joints to just make out a very fine silver ring inside the joint. This guy was a master plumber. You often see plumbers cake solder all over the joint and pipe. I sometimes used solder ring joints for convenience or when I only had a couple of joints to make and they're not so bad. I also used compression fittings when cutting into the mains to fit a shower or washing machine as the pipes were often constantly wet and you also have a certain amount of adjustment with compression fittings, also you can easily turn an existing elbow into a tee joint. I must say that I've never used the new push fit plastic pipe and fittings so far (apart from old waste pipe fittings) and I feel that many builders have started to use the new push fit systems so they can fit kitchens and bathrooms without having any real plumbing skills. I've often come across their work under a bath, in an airing cupboard or in a loft. Just loads of unsupported un clipped spaghetti all over the place. Happy plumbing my friend.
@@alemgas No my friend. I had worked in electronics for some time and so I found electrics quite easy to get into as it's much simpler than electronics. So I was completely self taught and set up as a self employed electrician for about 4 years. There were no laws to stop you doing this back in the 70's 80's and 90's (and there still isn't now, apart from the part P tax} and my work was often passed by the MEB and MANWEB, when I worked in Wales and I was often complimented on my good workmanship. I sometimes worked on site contracts beside college trained electricians and I also worked for two quite big well known companies. Some of the workmanship from some of the so called trained electricians was appalling. Many of the sparky's just signed up to be an electrician on careers day at school and so that's what they ended up doing. But many of them didn't have a natural aptitude for the job. I feel that I did. So I got into plumbing because people were asking me if I could fit electric showers. So I fitted an electric shower in the house where I still lived with my parents. My dad did the plumbing and I did the wiring and it worked out fine. I then had a go at the plumbing myself and found that it was quite easy using compression joints. I Then bought a blow torch and experimented with solder ring joints in my garage and that was a massive game changer. The joints were so cheap and neat and they didn't leak. So I was now a plumber. I installed washing machines, kitchen sinks, bathrooms and outside taps. I also fitted gas cookers, fires and boilers. Some of the plumbers I worked with on building sites were qualified plumbers but also did gas work because it was basically just plumbing. We had the necessary gauges and test equipment to for leaks but of course, it wouldn't be enough these days as it seems that nothing can be done on a boiler these days without an hours worth of computing. So no my friend I am certainly not a dabbler. I was a carpenter when I left school in the early seventies and later did painting an decorating. I've also been a carpet fitter. I started work at the age of seventeen and retired at the age of 48 so I've crammed a lot in. Oh and yes I've seen many "electrician" dabblers along the way. Kitchen fitters are the worst who think they're electricians. They don't understand that when you reduce a cable size you need to fuse it accordingly. Thanks for your reply.
@@truthseeker7794 Nice :)
@@seane6616 Thanks Sean. I'm just sipping a glass of newcastle Brown now. What's your line of work my friend.
THANK-YOU MATE !!
very good video thanks
Had a kitchen to replumb a while back. Plumber was there to fit some radiators. Said he didn’t have time to replumb it so I did it myself. He was watching me constantly and I ended up with a leak and he danced about the room 😂😂 ohh how I laughed a few days later when he had to come back for a leaking radiator
Fantastic content 👌 👏 👍
Great video thank you
i just couldnt believe you let that flux sit on your right hand the whole time. good video.
What is the problem? It is Laco not Everflux.
Rodger master class is phenomenal! Thanks for making it available.
I worked for a local authority. We weren't allowed to use end feed on potable water only Yorkshire as it was guaranteed lead free solder. We went virtually all crimp for instance purposes.
Awesome vid mate. I'm about to attempt to fix a shower breach myself because my insurance company only covers the rendering & paint. Wish me luck.!
I do my own plumbing. But it was nice to know how much solder to use on the none Yorkshire joint. I'll remember that. The good old bur or not to bebur the cut joint.
Thanks Rodger--another great video-I’m a retired Spark, but have soldered a few pipes in my time--I would concur with you, regarding cleaning the flux from the pipes--absolutely vital--I live on a private estate here in Northern Ireland, and quite a few of of the houses have has leaks in the original copper pipes, and the general consensus is that it was down to the plumber not cleaning the flux from the pipes--
Thanks for sharing
Is it a case of using abrasive to remove the flux? Any other methods?
@@neil_down_south Flux is an acid, so wiping it off with a rag well dampened with something like Windex will neutralize it.
It might depend on what flux exactly you are using. Also not deburring is said to cause leaks close to the joints not exactly at the joints, but close.
Brilliant
I like your videos a lot. With this one I was checking if I was doing a good job these days, since I'm building myself a new central heating system with 2000l buffer tank. Cutting copper pipes and soldering is so rewarding. I had to fix one joint where copper to brass joint is screwed in to iron fitting and it was leaking, since I've put too little sealant string. I separated it in a minute with no problem, fixed the threaded joint and resoldered back together. If only it would be a bit cheaper. Copper pipes are really expensive.
Nice info on the set up. I was hoping you would talk about another key thing to understand and that is the science around heat and how the solder reacts to it to draw it into the connections.
Hi Jay The trick with all these videos is not to overwhelm the viewer. Some people care about the science and others don't
Normally Great advise, I would always advise heating the bottom fitting 1st, as heat rises.. never use a wet rag as you say the fitting can crack wait until it has suitable cooled down..
Solder comes from the same root word as solid. Solidus "solid", solidare "fasten together". It's the French that turned the Latin into soudur which is where I assume the American pronunciation came from. You can call it so'der if you like, just make sure your joint is so'id.
Honi soit qui mal y pense. Funny always thought ‘Mericans dropped the L to sod off…
American here and I'm curious about the L getting dropped in our pronunciation too. I'd seem silly if I was the only local pronouncing the L so I just go with it.
great video
Nice vid, i greatly appreciate it...
Great video, going to set up a test rig like yours before I tackle the pipes in the bathroom for the new slimmer towel radiator. What happened to the plastic clip? Cheers!
That’s a fun video! 👍
To add a bit of extra solder to a solder ring fitting is just daft, you may as well save some money & just use end feed fittings. A lot of my pipework is in chases behind tiles, feeding showers & basins so the low profile of copper end feed fittings is essential.
after ive taken the heat away i use the flux brush again to clean the joint while its still hot then use the wet rag to clean it down while warm and it makes the joint/solder super clean and easy to see, i check the joint with a little torch and a tiny dentist mirror to look for pinholes, has never let me down to this very day and i feel that extra confident to move on knowing that chances are there not going to be a leak, the worst thing is to do alot of soldering like when doing a full system and not be super sure as you move along cause if you do a system and fill it and you have a leak theres gonna be alot of work to back track on to find a leak
I air test section by section then I can put the floorboards down with the pipes under pressure. I can then reinstate the room and move on.
I've always found those pipe cleaners/deburrers, the ones with the stiff wire heads, work well to start with but as they wear they make less contact with the pipe, and it's back to steel wool
You are right, though I don't like steel wool because it is bitty
top job
Greatest ❤
Wow what a great video.
Thanks!
As a DIYer I ended up buying an expensive blow torch because the cheap one flared when upside down and the tip heated up and I burned myself. I also use a mirror to check that the solder has flowed all the way round.
Thankyou
Hi, Rodger. A great video tutorial on the best methods to get good solder joints. Have you ever used the electrically heated 'hot tongues' to heat end feed or solder ring fittings. I liked the idea of hot tongues as there is no naked flame risk involved.
That sounds like something I would like to use. I despise using naked flame. Comes with my irrational fear of fire.
Thanks!
Thank you John that is very good of you.
Thank you. You should be working with Miami 305 Plumbing ;)
First time seeing pre flux fittings before!
It is not genrally required because you get flux inside the pipe end. I just do it out of habit
Very cool
hot
As a DIY plumber I'm chuffed to learn that I've been doing it right all along but using the Yorkshire pre-soldered fittings. However, I apply far less flux, using my finger to apply the slightest trace of flux on all the surfaces. This means it doesn't run down the outside of the pipe and makes a much neater job. And I've never had a leak yet ... if you see what I mean.😉
Interesting. I shall try that and if it doesn't work, I'll be coming for you. You tryna mess up my work???
i use my heat to burn/blow it away or just wipe it, solder should follow the heat into the fitting.
Try the grey flux with added powdered solder. MUCH, much neater jobs and once the flux turns to silver (from grey), you apply the solder. It is thicker, so less ugly "spills".
Try applying flux with finger splits, you only do it once! Tradies fingers always split during cold weather 😅
@@paulstokes393 Good point but my fingers split during the winter whatever. Super Glue to the rescue!
I personally do prefer old fashioned copper pipe and soldered fittings, they have stood the test of time, unlike modern stuff. I also like to wipe round the joint with the flux brush while hot to wash the joint leaving it clean and shiny followed by a wet cloth to remove flux. Takes a bit longer but im no longer in it to make money, i only do stuff at home now, like James, I had enough years ago and went to work for somebody on a permanent site. 👌 Just a comment, the middle brach of the tee, the side facing the camera didn't seem to get the full solder flow.
Thanks for the tips. If a connector is de-soldered and removed, can I clean the pipe and solder another pipe / fitting onto the old solder or do I need to cut it off ?
I’m a heating engineer by trade. Not bad on the soldering. But just a few things. you should start from the lowest joint and work your way up, never top down; when you get to the top joint the heat should be then hot enough to instantly feed your flux in with little heat. Also mapp gas is a pain in the arse for soldering, gets everything too hot too quickly, strongly suggest always soldering with propane on a gentle heat and take your time 👍🏻
What you say works in reverse, start from the top and the fux runs down. Then when you do the bottom you have only to apply a little heat and the solder will draw up. You can then remove the heat and avoid the solder runnning down the pipe. With your method the heat is still in the bottom when you do the top so it can run. Also Mapp gas is now just propane but they kept the name Mapp.
Missed opportunity to call the Fluxuator a Flux Capacitor! 😁
In the States a lot of plumbers call it "sweating" or like you mentioned "sottering" :)
Love you! 😂🥰
plumber parts I can't believe I called it plumber's parts
@@SkillBuilder ha! Everyone does! 😂🙈
Hi Roger. Good video. I have been following your videos for some time, and always enjoy your content and help. Regards this video, i go back to the Eighties decade when i did a little DIY on my home copper pipes in Yorkshire and add solder joints. They turned out well, and i enjoyed the process. I am commenting today with a question for you. In Australia where i live, doing your own plumbing and electrical work is illegal for the general public. I think changing washers over is the limit for the general public here. What is the story over there in Great Britain regards the public doing their own plumbing work? Cheers, Greg.
@@jonh1808 doing your own electrical work is high-risk. and stupid really. all electrical work should be done by a qualified electrician. why risk a fire or even worse, somebody gettin' toasted....
👍Very Good!
Any comments on lead vs. lead free solder for plumbing? As an electrical engineer I miss the days of leaded solder - worked so much better - I see you can still buy leaded solder for plumbing. Putting aside the fumes, what would you recommend?
The best videos on the internet. Al Gore invented the internet, you know. You know that, right?
I have a hairdresser bottle very fine mist lightly spray over helps it cool wuicker
Next show us how to make a fusion generator so we can heat some water to put through the plumbing!
One thing I always recommend is , concentrate the heat mostly on the pipe and wait until the solder appears when using fittings with solder . Regarding cooing down , just wait approx 30 seconds to apply water when colling , this also insures no flux remains , because hardened flux can hold water for a while but you could end up having a recall.
I have had unsoldered joints hold up with the flux alone for several hours. It is scarey
You should let them cool down for at least a couple of minutes before applying any water... the rapid cooling has been known to cause hairline cracks in the solder on occasion
Concentrate the heat on the fitting not the pipe...
@@treborterb Ok
Found flux pin hole that had held on brazed joint for 4 years at 250 psi on fridge pipe once
Best soldering video on KZhead……
Thank you