ebinmaine 67,506 #26 Posted March 18 7 hours ago, JCM said: Pictures of some copper ART work Fixed it 1 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JCM 9,167 #27 Posted March 18 Whose better than you. @ebinmaine 41 minutes ago, ebinmaine said: Fixed it 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
953 nut 55,232 #28 Posted March 18 2 hours ago, JCM said: excess flux on the tube and fitting should be wiped clean after soldering. The Copper pipes from the hot water boiler to the air handler at my church had been installed about twenty years before we had an unexplained wet spot on one of the drop ceiling tiles. Upon inspection I found green corrosion on every fitting along all eight 2" supply and return pipes. The sloppy installers had not wiped down any of the fittings and they were all ticking time bombs. They were repaired using some crimp couplings with internal "O" Rings. Fortunately this ocured in the summer so there wasn't any 180 degree water flowing through them. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tractorhead 9,064 #29 Posted March 19 (edited) 7 hours ago, JCM said: One main reason copper tubing fails is after it is cut with a tubing cutter it needs to be reamed / deburr before sanding and applying flux, If not corrosion and pins holes may occur from turbulence..Also excess flux on the tube and fitting should be wiped clean after soldering.Type M tubing is more likely to corrode . Most codes now require type L. Exactly what i learned in my training time several moons back.. turbulences results in kavitation what causes that it washes copper out of the pipe - until it leaks. Deburr is a main underestimated reason for that. the difference between M and L is unknown for me. Our Copperfittings we dealing with and pipes have about 1mm thickness. i see sometimes the cleaning after Soldering is an important point, but also often be forgotten. @953 nut You said Upon inspection I found green corrosion on every fitting along all eight 2" supply and return pipes. The sloppy installers had not wiped down any of the fittings and they were all ticking time bombs. That‘s also my experience over time. I be a old school craftman. we learned to check every step we do twice, to be safe when we leaving out work. If we must repair, we exchange as much as needed but as less as needed. The result was in 99% sloppy Work - while not deburr or not cleaned after soldering. but to say it is a worse material because of sloppy work - hum... Calc is a different story i know about. i just have seen once one problem with a blown pipe what was material failure. all other was typical craftmans fails. Edited March 19 by Tractorhead 1 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JCM 9,167 #30 Posted March 19 @Tractorhead THANK YOU !! Type L has a heavier wall thickness and blue lettering on the outside wall instead of red as Type M has. 1/2'' M wall thickness is 0.028 and 1/2'' L is 0.040. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Handy Don 12,232 #31 Posted March 19 (edited) 9 hours ago, Tractorhead said: i see sometimes the cleaning after Soldering is an important point, but also often be forgotten. I was fortunate to be taught to use a damp rag to wipe down the hot joint. “The sizzle tells you it’s clean” said the plumber who kindly showed me some tricks! I’d hired him to plumb a pretty complicated hydro air heat, domestic HW, and solar HW system that I had designed. It would have taken me days to cut and fit all the piping and valves and then solder everything together--he did it in about six hours from my detail design. Postscript: He asked for a copy of the design so he could use it in the future for other clients--and he did! Edited March 19 by Handy Don 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites