Soldering On!

Last post detailed the demo work done to prepare for pipe and valve replacement. In today's post I'll show you how I installed the replacement plumbing, along with some safety tips.

On with the show!

As you can see, the work area was quite confined. Floor joists, foundation wall, exposed insulation, vapour barrier, and annoying TV cable were each obstructing things in their own way.

I decided it would be best to solder up as much of the job ahead of time in a spacious area. I'd be practicing in relative ease, before trying my hand in the tight basement confines.

This was a good move. I aborted by first "join" part way through. Trying to solder a threaded adapter onto the valve was a no-go. I couldn't heat the valve enough without potentially damaging the rubber valve seal. I later learned I could have disassembled the valve to remove the valve stem prior to heating. Oh well. Chalk that one up as practice.

Tip #4: Do as much of the work as you can in an open area. Ventilated too!

First thing to do was arrange the work area with all the tools I'd need for the job. Soldering pipe is essentially a five step process:

1. Clean the joint (any contacting areas)
2. Apply the flux (to those contacting areas)
3. Fit the pieces
4. Heat the joint
5. Apply solder
   

No doubt the pros whip a joint together in a blur, but for my first time I didn't want to miss anything. I scrubbed the contacting surfaces with some sandpaper until the area was bright, shiny copper. Copper naturally oxidizes, leaving a green substance called copper oxide. Even if you see no green, it's present on all but fresh copper. This will prevent a good solder joint from forming, leading to leaks. I used 80 grit all-purpose paper to sand it clean. I think that may have been too coarse. In future I'll use finer paper. I was confident it had done the job though, and pressed on.With the surfaces clean on both pieces (the valve and the 45deg elbow), I cracked open the solder flux. The flux acts to wick the solder into the joint, all the way down. This helps create a good join. Any excess flux will wash away with the first flow through the pipe as it's water soluble. I was told that flux should not be left on the outside of the pipe as it can accelerate the oxidization process. To combat this, I kept a wet rag nearby. The solder flux was a white creamy substance, and is easily applied with a small brush. You can buy these brushes from any hardware or plumbing supply store. You'll want to coat the entire area over which the pieces will be in contact. Following this I fit the elbow into the hose valve. Naturally it was a perfect fit, and the piece bottomed in the valve as it should.

I sparked the propane torch and immediately realized that I was hyper-alert about where the flame was pointing. I guess this is a good thing so that I don't burn the house down... or myself. With the valve sitting upside down, I directed the flame at the joint, moving it around somewhat to evenly heat the area. It heated up much quicker this time. I think that's because of the increased contact area between the pipe and valve vs. the threaded contact. When the flux began to sizzle a bit I began touching the solder to the joint. The key is to touch the solder to the side opposite the heat (the top in my case). If the opposite side is hot enough to melt the solder, you can be sure the entire section is. At first I broke a couple solder pieces off pressing it against the joint. The means it'sgetting close, but still isn't hot enough. Once it was hot enough to melt fully, slight pressure against the joint caused the solder to flash over the joint, circling the pipe and filling the flux gap. Perfect.

After wiping down with the wet rag - it will sizzle a bit as the water is boiled - I did a quick pull-test (ie. pulling mighty hard) and decided the joint was a good one. With the 45 successfully attached to the hose valve I felt ready to move on to the pipe section. Same process as the last, I sanded the joint, fluxed it up, fitted, heated, soldered, and wiped. Beautiful... well... not beautiful. But functional. As an engineer I figure those are one in the same.

After a quick cut, I was able to slide this piece into the house from outside, filling the hole the old one had come from. The weight of the valve made the pipe more stable in the upside down position. I decided to go with that instead of trying to balance it upright. I'd mark the pipe inside the basement, and flip it just before soldering. If I'd tried to balance, it might have rotated a bit as I worked, and I'd have to keep checking outside to verify it was upright. Much easier this way.

The cut had worked out perfectly too. The valve and attached pipe were the perfect length to match up with the old pipe through the new 90deg elbow, and the piece I cut off was perfect to match the old pipe to the 90deg. What luck!

Being an expert pipe joiner (2 joins under my belt) I felt ready to attack the rest in the confined basement space. I opted to do the small pipe and 90 elbow first, followed by connecting the pipe from outside to the 90. Again, this order was chosen to give me more practice before super-constraining myself with the last connection. Baby steps.

Repeating the joining process was fairly easy. I was able to fit the pipes and then use one hand for the torch and one for the solder. Again, being hypersensitive to where you point the torch is good. There were lots of things I could burn in that area. Probably wouldn't have ignited a fire, but could have burned holes in vapour barier, scorched insulation, scorched wood, burned through cable TV, etc.

Tip #5: Drape a wet rag over the pipe on either side of your work area. This will prevent the pipe from heating up in areas you don't want heated (the rag will generally keep things below 100deg C as the water boils off it). Don't try to solder pipe with water in it. It's virtually impossible.

My joints in this area weren't the best. Fluxing the connections was difficult with no visibility behind the pipe. I grabbed a small mirror and taped it to a makeshift handle to get a look behind. This was a good move as I found areas with no flux that I would have missed otherwise. Similarly, I tended to apply more solder than needed here, resulting in a couple of large solder drips hanging below the connections. Evidence of amateur plumbing, but the joints are solid.

With all connections soldered and wiped down, I was ready to do a proof test on the piping. I shut the outdoor hose valve, shut the indoor shutoff bleed valve, and SLOWLY opened the shutoff valve. Water under pressure filled up the new piping and I was extremely pleased to hear... NOTHING. Silence is golden when you're testing a plumbing job. I went outside again, and hooked up a hose and sprinkler. Turning the big red handle allowed water to flow. The flow was much stronger now. I guess the kink really was constricting. Turning the other way shut off the flow, as expected, and again I listened. Nothing bad from outside. One more trip inside to look for drips, and it seemed all was well. I turned the shutoff again, opened the bleed valve to drain the downstream section, and that was that. THE PLUMBING WAS BACK IN GOOD SHAPE!

I'll probably monitor the integrity during the first part of watering season next spring, but I don't expect any failures; I really soldered the piss out of those joints. :)

Future posts will detail the removal and replacement of the wet basement insulation, as well as the process of buttoning up the area after it's all done. Hope you're keeping up!

Cheers.