Doing some plumbing and was ordering some pex to copper adapters. The female end gets soldered onto the copper pipe. For whatever reason I read the reviews ( sharkbite brand) and was shocked to see all bad reviews. Everybody said that the cast brass end was not able to be soldered to the copper pipe. One guy did say that silver solder was required and then it works fine. I've done a fair share or soldering copper and even some of the cast brass threaded adapters ( which are made for this application) and have never used silver solder. What's the deal? Is it just this brand or is silver solder what you are supposed to use? Thanks in advance for any clarification.
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Soldering cast brass adapter to copper pipe
- Thread starter mc1984ss
- Start date
regular lead free solder will be fine on cast brass. needs a bit more heat to get it to temperature.and of course it needs to be clean & fluxed.
Clean the pieces WELL.
Remove dirt, grease, oil, paint, whatever. Also remove the oxides with a plumbing brush and/or sand cloth or similar until you get BRIGHT clean shiny metal.
Flux well with the appropriate flux.
Use a lead-free plumbing solder. The last two rolls of 'plumbing' solder that I bought were both the (same) 'silver plumbing solder'. Oatey brand IIRC. Pretty much all that Lowes and Home Depot carried now. A bit more expensive than 'plain' plumbing solder (even the lead free stuff) used to be from what my maybe-faulty memory remembered, but nowhere near as expensive as silver-containing brazing filler.
Assemble the joint, start applying heat to the pipe first, then after that has started to heat you then start applying heat to the fitting while also dancing the flame back and forth between the fitting and the pipe. Apply solder to the joint and when the heat in the metal melts the solder, apply the solder and let it wick into the joint. Don't overheat the joint (and the flux and the solder)!
I just did some plumbing work recently. Had some copper piping and copper fittings and brass fittings (valves) as well. The silver solder worked fine for me.
Clean, flux, heat, let the solder wick in. Done.
Clean the flux with a damp rag when done. The 'modern' flux is pretty corrosive if left in place.
Remove dirt, grease, oil, paint, whatever. Also remove the oxides with a plumbing brush and/or sand cloth or similar until you get BRIGHT clean shiny metal.
Flux well with the appropriate flux.
Use a lead-free plumbing solder. The last two rolls of 'plumbing' solder that I bought were both the (same) 'silver plumbing solder'. Oatey brand IIRC. Pretty much all that Lowes and Home Depot carried now. A bit more expensive than 'plain' plumbing solder (even the lead free stuff) used to be from what my maybe-faulty memory remembered, but nowhere near as expensive as silver-containing brazing filler.
Assemble the joint, start applying heat to the pipe first, then after that has started to heat you then start applying heat to the fitting while also dancing the flame back and forth between the fitting and the pipe. Apply solder to the joint and when the heat in the metal melts the solder, apply the solder and let it wick into the joint. Don't overheat the joint (and the flux and the solder)!
I just did some plumbing work recently. Had some copper piping and copper fittings and brass fittings (valves) as well. The silver solder worked fine for me.
Clean, flux, heat, let the solder wick in. Done.
Clean the flux with a damp rag when done. The 'modern' flux is pretty corrosive if left in place.