(Note: I’m not a plumber, but I play one around the home, so if you have any corrections or enhancements to this, let me know.) Now I’ll go through what it takes to solder together copper pipe and fittings. Soldering: This is what connects these bits together. Always wear safety glasses! It may look funny to some, but I would rather look funny than have no ability to look! If you don’t believe me, just ask my brother who cut the iris of his eye when he was a kid – no fun! Descending soapbox now… You can use a utility knife or other sharp tool, but be careful if they are not hardened and tough, because we are talking about metal cutting here and metal is bad for your eyes. You simply put the blade inside the pipe and turn it around until the ridge is scraped out. Most copper fittings are like this – larger in inner diameter than the pipe’s outer diameter. It is important to note that a fitting has a larger inner diameter than the pipe it receives. You can get ‘elbows’ – 45 degree bends, 90 degree bends, unions to connect two pieces of pipe of similar or dissimilar sizes, three way connections called tees or T’s, even threaded ends. Pipe Fittings: The specialized bits of pipe you use to connect things or do turns are called fittings. Not really ½ inch at all now, is it? Just a taste of the strange naming conventions engineers encounter. I used type L that has the dimensions of 0.625-inch outer diameter and 0.545 inch inner diameter. A larger schedule means thicker walls for example, a ½” schedule 80 pipe is thicker walled than ½” schedule 40 pipe.Ĭopper pipe is a little different because it is more like seamless tubing and is usually specified as Type M, L or K. So take it easy when tightening, use Teflon tape and your results will be great.Ĭopper Pipe is actually some of the easiest stuff to make plumbing systems with if you learn the jargon and a few tricks.Ī general word about pipe – OK – a few words! It’s important to remember that pipe is specified by a nominal size and wall thickness, or schedule. I’ve seen brass and steel spilt from over-tightening and of course, plastic will for sure. This means that as the threads tighten, they also start to press harder on the wall of the receiving fitting. Not everyone is aware of the fact that pipe threads have a taper to help them seat. This might be fine, but it also might over-tighten the other fittings, which can crack the parts. If you don’t and you have a long combination like above and only hold the end, you will have to tighten ‘through’ each fitting until finally the last one tightens. Also, it’s important to remember that as you combine fittings, you should always ‘hold’ each fitting with a wrench or vise. This means that if you make a “thumbs up” with your right hand – if you turn the nut/fitting in the direction the curled fingers on your right hand, it will move in the direction your thumb points. If you have had physics or engineering, you can use the “right hand rule”. Turing clockwise is for tightening and counter-clockwise for loosening. A good tool it to use is “righty tighty – lefty loosey”, referring to the direction of turning as viewed from the ‘end’ of the threads. When you wrap pipe threads, you always want to go in the same direction as you would go while tightening the fitting.
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