Pre-soldered fitting

[Plumbcatastrophe]

anyone using these that you get at HD? Looked pretty good and the helper said all you needed to do was clean and flux? Do you need to add more solder or can you? Pros and cons?

[dubldare]

Seen 'em, haven't tried, won't use 'em unless they're the the only fitting available.

Not saying they don't work, but I already know how to solder and I'm not afraid of doing it.

[jk60]

Check this out:

http://www.terrylove.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5044&highlight=pre-soldered+fittings

[Mike F]

I was just at HD today. I saw those fittings and there was no real price difference, but the amount of solder looked really chincy. I'll stick to soldering my own.

[jk60]

It was mentioned before by others that the amount of solder looks insufficient. I've used these presoldered fittings recently and the amount of solder appeared adequate to me. Visually the solder flowed well and formed a nice fillet. I suppose you can cross section some soldered samples if you want a more definitive data on the quality of the solder joint using these fittings. It was also mentioned that these fittings have a thinner wall then standard fittings. I've measured them and they are about 15% thinner.

[Gary Swart]

This has come up a couple of times recently. They seem to work OK, but you have to have all the pipes that go into the fitting in place because once you heat the fitting, all of the solder liquifies. I'm think especially of a tee, but elbows and couplers have the same requirement. I personally think its a gimmick aimed at DIYers who think it will make sweating joints easier. I can't see the big deal myself, what's the big savings?

[TonyBagadonutz]

I personally think its a gimmick aimed at DIYers who think it will make sweating joints easier. I can't see the big deal myself, what's the big savings?

I am most definately a DIYer and I also see it as a gimmick.
What's the big deal? You get a few bad joints, you learn, you do it right..next.

I'll stick with "regular" fittings. :)

[Gary Swart]

I've only had 2 joints that were "bad". The first on was on about the 4th or 5th joint I had ever sweated, and it wasn't bad. The second wasn't the fault of the solder, I had gotten in a hurry and forgot to apply flux. Stay with the tried and true.

[Dunbar Plumbing]

Home Depot in my area has been selling them for months now...and just this week I noticed that they are reducing the pricing on some of the combination tees. Some of these fittings were 3 and 4 dollars a whack. :eek: They say not to use a turn brush on these fittings as they may loosen the solder. I was given a couple sample boxes of 1/2" tees and couplings and tried to **** them......not a soul bothered to even bid on them. :mad: