Help! Horrible soldering job....

[Funlovingfool1970]

Hi all. I'm in the middle of a build using Samohon's pot still design. I'm having an extremely hard time soldering, and to be honest....it looks like TOTAL CRAP and fails the leak test. I read all the articles on how to properly solder, but still did a lousy job. I've tried to reheat and reapply solder. It either beads up and rolls off, or flows through the joint and into the pipe. I've only soldered the first 4 pieces together= the 2" riser/column to the elbow, and the short piece of 2 inch pipe "nipple" from the elbow to the 2 x 1 reducing coupling. I've considered trying to reheat and take it apart, but I'm afraid it won't be easy and I might ruin the fittings. That is a depressing thought considering how expensive 2" fittings are. Is there anyway to safely take it apart without damaging the parts? Is there any other methods I can use to maybe salvage it? If worse comes to worse, could I just use flour paste to plug up the leaks? Any other advice yall have would be great. I simply cannot afford to dump anymore money into this project, and may call it quits if I cannot find a solution that doesn't involve buying new parts. Thanks.

[Brutal]

Heat it up and get everything back apart. Then get to sanding everything back smooth so it fits together nice.

Here is something you will likely never hear on these forums again. Go to YouTube. Search "sweat soldering copper pipe" and watch some people do it. Soldering is one of those things that you can read about all day, and still get it wrong. But if you just get to see someone do it, it will all make sense.

After watching the videos get away from YouTube! A huge amount of the distilling related information there is complete horse shit.

Stay safe. Happy stillin'.

[OBX Phantom]

Sounds like your copper is not clean enough, or maybe you are not using enough flux. You should be able to pull it apart fairly easily by keeping the heat on it and twisting as you pull it apart. Then once you have it apart, get a rag and heat the solder until it is melted then wipe the excess off before it hardens again. After you have done this get some medium grit emery cloth and sand it until it is good and clean and fits back together. Now that it fits back together coat it good with some water soluble flux then heat the outer bell part of the elbow until it is hot enough to draw the solder into the joint, . Get the entire fitting well warmed up then slowly work your way around the fitting holding the solder right against the joint and the torch down on the bell of the fitting. Be careful not to over heat it and burn the flux. It's really pretty easy.

Posting the same time as brutal

[Deerhunter]

Reheat and pull apart. Once apart reheat again and wipe solder off with a wet rag. You should be able to get most of the solder off of your fittings. Use quality silver solder and a quality flux. Harris makes a liquid flux that is just fantastic !!I will never use paste again. Also keep in mind your fittings and pipe need to be clean. Also, another tip when soldering is not to use a lot of solder. If your soldering 2" pipe you will use 2 inches of solder for that joint. If your soldering 3/4" you use 3/4" of solder. 1" use 1" of solder and so fourth. When your solder begins to run you'll see it suck in.

When your solder beads and falls off. This could mean your fittings and pipe are not clean or your not using enough flux, or your pipe is not hot enough. Try using mapp gas. Its hotter then propane. Also practice on some scape. Or buy some 1/2" pipe and couplings ( there cheap enough ) and practice on that before you use your 2".

[Funlovingfool1970]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I don't own a vice grip or channel locks big enough to hold the pipe. So I'm having a really hard time finding a way to firmly hold it to twist and pull it apart without burning myself. Any advice how to hold it to get it apart would be great. My flux is quite old, so that may be an issue. Plus, the diameter of my solder is rather large. Not sure if that matters. I had no problem soldering the SS ferrule to the bottom of the 2" column using the sta-brite kit. But I used the regular flux/solder for everything else. Am I screwing up my copper by reheating it so much?
For the moment I'm gonna concentrate on separating everything. So please give me some ideas on how to hold and twist/pull using regular tools or household items. I tried using pliers and channel locks on the lip, but it deforms the part, making it hard to impossible to refit. Thanks

[shadylane]

Get two blocks of wood. Bolt them together with bolts that are too long. Drill a 1-7/8 hole in them.
Loosen the bolts, slip the pipe in and tighten the bolts. When your done, the homemade clamp can also be used for making flanges on 2" copper pipe.

[Truckinbutch]

I'm answering here to be encouraging and not offensive . Please take it for what I mean .
>I was once mechanicly challenged , too . A good friend of mine , a world reknowned arms manufacturer , addressed my issues in this manner :"The first feller that did this didn't know what the hell he was doing , neither . He just kept whackin at it until he got what he was after . We just get to profit from his mistakes . Your only limitation is how much effort you want to put into it ." That started me on my quest to learn . I've been relatively successful in that quest .
>MichiganCornHusker once stated here that I could build anything from a covered wagon to a space ship . Bit over rated , perhaps . The fact is that the more you challenge yourself ; the more you improve .
>Copper is a very forgiving metal to work with .

[Funlovingfool1970]

Yay....I got all these pieces apart! Now all I got to do is clean up the pieces. I had already built a 5 gallon pot still out of smaller diameter pipe and it turned out pretty good. Not sure what went wrong this time. Might be my old flux. Don't think the lid was on good while stored. May have to bite the bullet and get another harris sta-brite kit. It flowed wonderfully while soldering the SS ferrule. Wonder if the $15 kit would provide enough solder? It's quite thin. Thanks for the advice and encouragement everyone.

[biker geek]

a trick to get unwanted solder off is to heat until the solder melts, then use a damp(almost wet) rag to QUICKLY wipe off the liquid solder. this works well for the outside of a pipe, but is not great for the ID. I used a dremel to remove the lumps when I had to rework mine. I also recommend the Harris flux. It won't scorch like the paste does.

[sltm1]

If, and only if, you have a fireproof area, simple like a gravel driveway, you can heat the pipe till the clump of solder inside is molten then with a quick flip (not a huge full arm throw), pointing to your safe area, the solder will shoot out of the pipe.

[Funlovingfool1970]

Thanks for the help. I'm convinced it's my cheap flux paste. I looked it up online and it had all negative reviews on every website. Not even experienced plumbers were able to get good solder joints using it. I did a test on some scrap pipe using the harris liquid flux versus the cheap paste. The harris flux worked as it should, the flux paste caused the solder to bead up and roll off.

[gemcutter]

to get the solder off the inside of a 2" fitting just find a piece of scrap pipe,wood handle or even pvc that fits LOOSELY inside the 2" fitting .Get an old cotton sock and pretend it's prom night and wet that sucker, heat the fitting up and stick it in while it hot and slide it around ...no burned fingers!

[Deerhunter]

With the right solder and flux you'll get the hang of it. Go with the Harris Stay Clean liquid flux. You'll be pleased with the outcome. With practice you'll get superior results. Also, remove excess solder and wipe away flux when done. You'll end up with a nice clean joint.

[Truckinbutch]

With the right solder and flux you'll get the hang of it. Go with the Harris Stay Clean liquid flux. You'll be pleased with the outcome. With practice you'll get superior results. Also, remove excess solder and wipe away flux when done. You'll end up with a nice clean joint.

Now , it can't get much better than that

[googe]

I've learnt that most crap joins can be fixed without pulling apart, desoldering is a pita. I re flux the join, apply heat around it, if that doesn't work, i brush flux over the join while heating, works great every time, and I've done it with some very shocking scolding joins.

[pfshine]

Be sure to mix the flux before using, it tends to separate. If not mixed the joint will fail if it takes solder at all. Be sure to heat the pipe as well as the fitting. Don't use to much heat or you will burn the flux and the joint will fail.

[Hound Dog]

One of these can be the sloppy solder jobs best friend. I use the hell out of mine.

se333k.jpg (14.48 KiB) Viewed 1802 times