Difference between silver brazing and soldering?

Jimmy_Jazz · Post by **Jimmy_Jazz** » Fri Feb 10, 2006 8:01 pm

Hey,
I'm in the process of building a reflux still, I have most of the parts that I need now, but I am a little confused about how I'm meant to join them.

First of all I have a 2'' copper column which I am attatching to a brass flange, which will attatch to the keg. From what I've read, its a good idea to silver braze this sort of thing, so I'm getting my mate's dad who is a plumber to do that for me.

But for the other parts eg. the intake from the column to the condenser, it says to use silver solder. Is there a difference between silver soldering and silver brazing (i've read that silver brazing is often incorrectly refered to as silver soldering, but are they two seperate things?), can I just silver solder these other parts together with my propane torch? If so what sort of solder should I be looking for?

knuklehead · Post by **knuklehead** » Fri Feb 10, 2006 8:30 pm

Silver soldering and brazing are the same thing, using much higher heat then regular soft soldering. You could get your mate's dad to silver solder all the parts together or if you want you can just use a regular blow torch and do it yourself with a soft solder.

Jimmy_Jazz · Post by **Jimmy_Jazz** » Fri Feb 10, 2006 8:36 pm

By soft solder are we talking about the lead/tin stuff used for electronics? Or is there a different "lead free" soft solder used for plumbing type stuff?

Post by **Tater** » Fri Feb 10, 2006 9:02 pm

Do a search on this sight .Lots of posts on soldering

Jimmy_Jazz · Post by **Jimmy_Jazz** » Fri Feb 10, 2006 9:35 pm

Alright, thanks. I just did a search through posts on soldering, and I just want to make sure I have things straight now: Normal lead-free solder has a low enough melting point that it can be melted with a propane torch, but for silver solder (higher melting point) you need to use MAPP or an Oxy setup. Correct?

knuklehead · Post by **knuklehead** » Fri Feb 10, 2006 9:46 pm

You got it Jazz