I hope I did this right

[rworell]

Hey everyone so glad to finally join up. I've been learning for some time in this forum.

Ok, I replaced a silcock last night. sweated the 1/2" copper pipe to the silcock no problem. Then I had to get dirty and sweat an elbow (90) on to the existing pipe and new silcock pipe. Well needless to say it was extremely close to my Floor joists so I put some tin foil between my pipe and the wood.
It was extremely hard to work with so I took a deep breath and started to heat up the elbow. After a bit of time the first joint sucked in the solder pretty good, then next to do the other joint on the (90). Well i couldn't see well and I made a freakin mess. It looked bad but I thought I probably got the job done.

Well, you guessed it I turned the water on and psssssssss out came the water out of a couple of small holes or voids that didn't take. In my horror I immediatly shut the valve off of the water line and preceded to reflux the joint and heated up the elbow till it started to turn the flame a greenish tint. Then I melted more soder around the joint and wiped it clean.

Turned on the water and NO LEAKS! This morning still no leaks. My question is. Is what I did ok?? Will I have problems down the road??

Thanks in advance,

Rich

[jimbo]

Normally, we would recommend that once you put water on that joint the first time, then the only proper repair is to take it completely apart.

Given how hard this job was, and it it is in a spot that won't flood grandma's bedroom if it leaks, I would be inclined to leave it, but keep a close eye on it.

I am sure some guys will recommend having a plumber come in and redo the whole thing. That would certainly be the "best" thing to do. Sometimes in life, you take a deep breath and put you money down on 00 hope for the best. Everything is a crap shoot!

[Redwood]

I did a coin toss and it came up that your okay!
Hopefully, I'm right!

[rworell]

Yeah I hope its good as well. I could redo it in the future. Its in the basement as well so if it does leak it will only dribble on the floor.

I did leave the line full with water pressure overnight with the outside spicket on , attached to a hose with the hose nozzle in the off position. and had no issues this morning. So hopefully it will be good.

Thanks again

Rich

[hj]

Absolutely no way to tell what its condition is. If the original joint was almost okay and it leaked because the solder blew out, then you should be okay. But if it leaked because you did not get any solder into the joint and your refluxing and soldering just created a bead of solder holding the joint together then you will have a problem. Your joint is probably somewhere between the two extremes but there is no way to tell without taking the joint apart and looking at it.

[rworell]

HJ, from reading your comment. I believe that is what my problem was. I know that soder got into the seam, but due to my horrible angle and working space, I'm pretty sure the water that pissed out was where there wasn't any sodder or it didn't go in all the way. I had a hard time putting the soder on that side of the joint.
So when I refluxed it I'm pretty sure soder did finally go into the joint but I did put a bit more soder on it then I probably needed. I then wiped it off with a wet rag. It does hold, but like you said I'm probably in between the two extremes. Some of the joint might just be covered over by soder, but all I can do is wait till I can get some more pipe or just see if it leaks again.

Thanks for your input

Rich

[Gary Swart]

As others have said, it may be just fine and it may develop a leak, no way to really tell for sure. That said, I'll tell you if it was mine, I suck it up and redo the whole joint. BTW, for a flame shield in tight spots I have a #10 can that I took the bottom off of and split down the side. Then I cut a U so I can slip it over a pipe. That works pretty well for occasional use. If I were a pro and doing lots of work in tight areas, I'd probably want a professional shield. Always keep a spray bottle of water ready just in case you do get too close to the wood.