is my soldering stable???

I am remodeling a bathroom and some of the copper soldering work has to be done in the crawlspace in tight and DUSTY quarters. Looking at the joints weeks after the work was done shows patina all around the soldered connections. The joints are dry to the touch and I tried to wipe it with a paper towel and have not found any trace of water. Nevertheless, could this mean that I have pinholes, SLOWLY leaking water that dries immediately but corrosion of the pipes would pose a long term problem?
I feel a bit guilty of not keeping the joints clean enough as dust was inevitable in the air all the time and most likely got into the joints as well. I would hate to finish the tile work just to tear it out a few month later to fix leaking pipes.... . Thanks for any insight on this.

Did you wipe the joints with a damp cloth while still warm from soldering? The will clean the flux residue off. I don't know how sensitive solder is to dust, and it's a relative term anyway. You don't have to work in a sterile room, but neither would you want the pipes to have visible dirt on them. If you cleaned the fitting and pipe end immediately before applying the flux and soldering, I would think there would be no problem with dust in the air, but perhaps some of the pros will chime in with more practical experience. Usually the reasons for poor solder joints are not cleaning the fitting and pipe end, no flux or too little flux, poor heating technique, or moisture. The latter two are the most common.

Just wipe the joints with a rag and then use steel wool to make them shine, and you'll be fine, No pun intended,

Thanks for the advice . I cleaned the joints and used plenty of flux. I checked some of my sweats (at least two dozens) that I did in the shop and none of those leaked. My worry about the work in the crawlspace is that if a joint does not leak now then is it expected to open up in the future - Is that something that commonly occurs? Does it happen at all?

The only way you are going to have a sudden and catastrophic blow apart of fittings is if you didn't have very much solder penetrate the joint because of poor technique and experience. It sounds like you didn't clean the joints thoroughly after finishing up (very common). Just clean the joint(s) like the other guys are telling you and you should be fine.

As far as worrying about the joints leaking in the future, all plumbing degrades and is at risk of developing leaks, and you can't tell if and when a leak will develop. As long as the installer used proper techniques and quality materials, then everything should be solid for at least a number of years. It sounds like you cleaned the pipe and fluxed enough, but that you are worried about dust specs settling on the pipe and fitting before being joined before the soldering process began while you were moving about in the crawlspace. Everything should be fine since it didn't leak when you first pressurized the system, but if you are that bothered by it, then just cut it out and start from scratch, and few dollars and an hour or so is all it will take to put you at ease.

joints

Sorry to rain on your parade, but I have not seen joints develop the white encrustation because of excess flux. BUT I have seen many that had it because of the small seepage he mentions. The joints will not come apart but they will just get scuzzier as time goes by.

hj said:

Sorry to rain on your parade, but I have not seen joints develop the white encrustation because of excess flux. BUT I have seen many that had it because of the small seepage he mentions. The joints will not come apart but they will just get scuzzier as time goes by.

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He didn't say he had white encrustations.....

Patina is the word of the day.

patina

Patina is a discoloration of the metal due to exposure. Normally, patina would NOT cause any concern because it would look the same as discoloration from the heat of the torch. IF he has a question about the appearance, I would suspect it was because of something else, such as an encrustation around the joint, and since the flux would have been evaporated by the flame, the only other cause would be a miniscule seepage.

Thank you all.... I take the advice and re-visit some of those solder joints.