Flux Paste

Okay...

I'm curious exactly when I would use Oatley No. 5 flux vs Oatley No. 95 flux.

Thanks,
Steve

I don't know because I don't use either of them...

For new work where there is no water present and the work is clean and easy. I use NOKORODE® Aqua Flux™. http://www.rectorseal.com/index.php?site_id=1&product_id=240

For repair work which is what I do most often where I'm fighting the water and other factors. I use NOKORODE® Regular Paste Flux.http://www.rectorseal.com/index.php?site_id=1&product_id=239

Oatey #95 Tinning Flux is my friend

in the copper biz.

Here's a little issue I encountered last week at a restaurant:

Pizza dough is hand made at this restaurant. a real fine dust of flour ends up on everything throughout this building.

This fine flour dust embedded into my open mesh sandcloth when I was working on the job replacing the water heater.

The solder joints weren't affected on the heater replacement, but the next solder job I did at another house gave me problems, bad ones.


Removed the main valve which was a gate valve and tried to sweat in a new ball valve. Absolutely could not get copper to solder to brass, always leaked.

Had somebody bring me new sandcloth, new wipe rag, new tin of flux, new flux brush before I made any more attempts to solder.

My flux wasn't the problem, it wasn't separating in the tin. It was the fine dust on a relatively new piece of sandcloth associated with the wipe rag I use to wipe off excess solder and flux from the piping.

Lessoned learned but I lost a couple hours on that job in total. Customer probably was thinking it was my first day on the job.

I should of asked him if his electric water heater had a gas shutoff. LOL! <<< I've had a rookie ask me that before.

Another guy who lasted 3 days kept going to the breaker panel to shut the gas off to the gas water heater in the basement. 3 miserable days for him because he lied about his experience to get the job and me and two other guys tore him a new *** for trying to get extra money on the hour.

the tinning flux is the best

I dont know which is which right now

but all we use is the tinning flux....in the green can..

it for certain will tin the pipe for me or

any of the cross-eyed apprentices that might solder

pipes on occasion....

it really has nothing to do with skill or ability to solder......

its more like overkill to be extra , extra sure

I dont have to go back out later on that night.........

I use nothing but pre tinning flux.

I end up with maybe 1 leak a year if that.

Just recently I had my first leak in about 3 or 4 years!

Actually, neither is legal on potable water. H-20-5® Water Paste Flux or H-20-95® Water Soluble Tinning Flux are both water soluble and thus acceptable.

California-legal is not a nation-wide standard. Old fashioned paste flux will continue to see use. One genuine gripe against tinning flux is/was its ability to create separate globs of solder, which could flow downstream and cause problems. (and indeed, the first time I saw a plumber use it, a tiny glob wound up in a toilet fill valve, and had to be removed)

Wet_Boots said:

California-legal is not a nation-wide standard. Old fashioned paste flux will continue to see use. One genuine gripe against tinning flux is/was its ability to create separate globs of solder, which could flow downstream and cause problems. (and indeed, the first time I saw a plumber use it, a tiny glob wound up in a toilet fill valve, and had to be removed)

Click to expand...

That may be but I have never had that happen in all the years I have been using it.

I can't imagine how it would do that, but Im sure it did.

If I have to start using that crappy water soluble stuff I will quit plumbing. I had a can of that stuff made by dutchboy or some thing and I hated it. How do you solder a tee without all the flux burning out of the last side. I use the nokarode or oatey tinning flux on just about everything. Be careful not to use excessive amounts, but use enough for good coverage.

California-legal is not a nation-wide standard.

I got the lecture on fluxes from a CDA employee. He explained that when a copper piping system fails, which does occur on occasion, the lawyers send in the forensic bloodhounds to take tube samples. First thing they look for is absence of reamed joints. Second is the presence of flux, which can eat away the walls of tube. If they find either of these conditions, the installing plumbing contractor is going to be in a world of hurt, regardless of his geographic location. The guy even had cross section samples of tube rotted out by flux residue. That's why I use water soluable. After extensive trials my company selected the following as the closest to regular flux in overall performance.

Do you have any issues with the Nokarode water soluble flux, I love the other? Maybe it was just the brand I was using. It will become a standard at some point down the road more than likely.

That's why I said to be careful about excessive amounts of flux. I read someplace that the protective green layer won't happen in the bottom of copper pipe with too much flux laying in it and that is what leads to a lot of failures.