I did all the plumbing in this house. All the shutoff valves are ball valves with teflon seals. (Look into the valve. Teflon seals are white.) I soldered all the connection and had zero leaks or failures.
Clean both the valve and the copper pipe with steel wool, apply flux, fit together and solder with a propane torch. Apply heat to the joint area until the solder melts on contact with the joint and flows into it.
When soldering, cleanliness is not next to Godliness. It's way out in front.
Ted
Interesting. What did you discover on the disassembled valves that accounted for the leakage when the valves were heated in the "open" position?
- Michael
deformation of the Teflon and calcium deposits where the Teflon was in contact with the edges of the hole. When the valve is closed it is in full contact with the ball.
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Yep! The Turbo Torch is the best thing to hit the market. They will easily solder 1" copper fittings. Try that with the standard propane torch! (Ain't gonna happen).
When soldering ball valves, clean perfectly to bright metal, flux sparingly, get the heat in as fast as possible, solder, and cool it with a wet rag. That removes the unwanted flux and heat. I've done several of them with no failures.
Harold
But Harold, I have sweated 1" before with propane without any problem.
Lane
Air acetylene is the hot ticket, or mapp or propane with a Turbo tip. Do not waste time to disassemble the valve. Clean valve with wire brush. And Copper with emery cloth. Cleaning is the most important step. Use Self cleaning flux. It is stronger and cleans better. Sweat them the same day that you clean them. Heat the valve at the fitting only, not the pipe. Sweat other end immediately. Heat only enough to get solder to flow. Heat opposite sides of the joint or on larger tubing heat around the perimeter keep torch moving do not Dwell in one spot. You can actually get it hot enough to burn the flux. And the joint will never sweat properly unless you take it apart and re clean it. Get in and out quickly. That is where the air acetylene comes in. The turbo torch with propane is acceptable up to about 3/4 Diameter. Start counting in your head as soon as you apply the heat. after doing a couple you will get the feel for it and you can do them pretty fast. If you burn the seal you got it waaaay too hot. If you have to wipe the joint you used too much solder. It should have a small fillet. Good luck. RR
The rule I've heard is you need about 1/2 inch of plumbers (1/8 dia) solder to do one joint on 1/2 inch copper, 3/4 for 3/4 inch, and so on.
I always wind up using a bit more though, and have to flip off the extra drop at the bottom with the solder.
Jim
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