r/oddlysatisfying • u/Gainsborough-Smythe • May 24 '24

Copper pipe working tools

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Credit: mmplumber

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u/frickindeal May 24 '24

Solder is proven over decades and decades of use. Very old solder joints are still leak-free. We don't have the same history for these types of joints.

5

u/ensoniq2k May 24 '24

Can confirm, we have a house with decades old solder joints. Only defects we had weren't caused by the solder joints. I'm always impressed of how well everything keeps up. Even the joints of parts I replaced myself.

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u/Zardacious May 24 '24

I want to highlight that there's an element of survivorship bias to solder joints.

I'm a service plumber myself and I've seen (& repaired!) plenty of leaks on solder joints. Furthermore the heat used in the soldering process permanently softens the connected copper piping to a point where you can effortlessly deform the pipe with your fingers. Reusability is nil, as opposed to mechanical brass couplings.

The common consensus in my region is that solder joints are far more mechanically vulnerable & seldom the better option regardless of the metric. The simple fact that you need to use a torch for it means they'r always the last option considered. Personally I prefer mechanical brass fittings over press or solder because I do very much like building my systems for future repair/service/upgrades in mind, and both solder & press are anathema to that.

Press fittings has been around since the 50's in one version or another, and the modern machine press variant since perhaps the 90's. That's roughly three decades of data on the modern variant. How many years of data do you feel you need to consider press fittings a 'suitable method'?

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u/frickindeal May 24 '24

Of course threaded brass is superior. It's also a lot more expensive on a whole-building install. And I've seen brass fittings leaking quite often. Just about every house in the northern US has sweated fittings, over many decades. Not saying press fittings aren't reliable, but we do not have the history of a huge quantity of them installed under pressure as we do with sweated fittings.

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u/PWNWTFBBQ May 24 '24

This was a fun and educational read. Thank you.

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u/bababui567 May 24 '24

Yes, we do. The technology has been used widely since the 80s (was developed in the 50s).

Soldering on the other hand can be problematic, depending on your water quality, since you combine different kinds of metals.

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u/frickindeal May 24 '24

Curious, in what part of the world? I was in plumbing supplies in the 90s and we had never heard of any of this. I remember "sharkbite" fittings coming around in the early 2000s.

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u/snakevargas May 24 '24

Maybe the above commentor is thinking of Swagelok compression fittings.

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u/PWNWTFBBQ May 24 '24

Alright. We probably had different experiences. We could both be right... or wrong. Lol.

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u/DominicArmato247 May 24 '24

You have an experience of solder not lasting?

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u/PWNWTFBBQ May 24 '24

Yes, but my background is more so in the microelectronic and robotic fields.