Hi all Had a little pipework to alter at weekend using 15mm pipe and end feed fittings Did a dry run with pipe and fittings to ensure all good, then gave a good clean up and deburr and then brushed with flux. When I went to immediately reassemble, ready to solder, the fittings grab the pipe and are really difficult to fully engage and get correct orientation Flux was La-Co Regular Soldering Flux Paste Don't often solder and this was a new, unopened pot of flux Many thanks for any advice
How are you cleaning them up? I use cleaning strips which will often cause fittings to stick (but they are easier, quicker, and kinder on the hands than wire wool so stick with them). I seem to find La-Co to be the best flux for not sticking! One tip is to stick a spare bit of copper in any fittings to twist them around rather than using your hands/grips.
Neither have I with La-Co. Powerflow is the flux that I've had the crabbing problems with, especially when using 22/28mm fittings.
Cheers all but that was definitely the flux I was using and the fittings didn't grab until I used it Cleaned up pipe and fittings with steel wool and a little tool to deburr cut pipe As I'm DIY and don't do a lot of soldering, have a bag of odds and ends re end feeds and I would guess, several differant makes Pipe was new though, make sounds like Wednesday ! All fitted lovely after cleaning as I did a 'dry run' just some pipe, coupler and couple of elbows (even if differant makes) All slipped apart easy but after using flux, was difficult to set up ready to solder
Oh right, I was under the impression that you should always clean up the fittings first, regardless of the flux used I thought that cleanliness was everything with soldering - even giving brand new pipe and fittings a quick shimmy over with steel wool Thanks anyway for replies Is it generally ok to use a mixed batch of makes when using copper pipe and fittings
No reason why not, but some makes are better than other, same with pipe, I usually use Yorkshire,occasionally Wednesbury, had a few lengths last year of some other brand, & it was a bugger to solder.
Yep, I have been using Powerflow recently and definitely the number of grabs has increased. So, certainly, I would say that some makes do seem to grab more than others.
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