a leaky connection solder + thread question

[jgold47]

first thanks for the help on this site that got me this far. I completed a big copper (well for me anyways) a couple of weeks ago thanks to the site.

I have only one spot where there is a leak.

I added a hose bib. I brought copper to the bib then in this order

taped the bib threads with teflon, screwed on copper female fitting, the soldered the fitting onto the supply.

I am sure you are all laughing at something stupid about that I did, but its leaking around the threads.

To fix this, am I better off leaving the soldered connection alone, backing the bib out of the threaded connection, re-taping and resecuring (this will mean screwing up the outside of the house where we had a hard time gettng everything secured and sealed). Or can I heat up the solder joint, tighen the fitting on the inside and be done.

And can you solder with that teflon tape on everything?

[Terry]

I normally solder the MA on the copper pipe, let it cool, and then tape or dope it before screwing it into the hosebib,
I like to have the solder joint on the coupling about six inches away. If tape gets too hot, it can leak at that point.

[dlarrivee]

I would usually sweat a chunk of pipe to any threaded adapter and let it cool off, then I would dope the threads and tighten the threaded adapter onto the bib... That way I know the bib is tight enough and won't need a slight turn to stop a leak and have the hose bib cockeyed.

Once your pipe stub and faucet/hosebib is in place you can measure for your coupling/elbow/etc. and sweat that connection safely away from the threaded portion.

Also as far as fixing this, if you're leaking from the threads and not the sweat connection I wouldn't go anywhere near the threads with heat...

Cut the pipe wherever it's easiest to work on, redo the tape/dope, tighten it on the bib, and use a coupling to mate everything back together.