DIY Home Repair: Sweating Copper Pipes

How to Fix a Leaky Pipe and Save Tons of Money on Plumbing Repair

Home builders first started to use copper pipes for residential water systems in the late 1950s. Copper was used because of it's rot resistance and ease of use. This resulted in substantial savings on installation and labor costs.

Until the late 1970s, the solder that was used to make the connections in water systems was half tin and half lead. This presented a potential health risk because lead was slowly released into the water system. To make a bad situation worse, whole-house water softeners made the water corrosive, and aided the breakdown of solder.

Modern plumbers use solder that is 95 percent tin and only 5 percent lead. This makes copper a safe and inexpensive option for use in residential water systems. For the modern handyman, copper is a blessing. With some practice you can become quite competent at sweating it. "Sweating" is a soldering technique that creates strong joints in copper piping.
Remember: Safety is no accident! You should wear eye protection and fireproof gloves when you are soldering or working with flux. Flux is toxic, so extra caution is required. Also, keep open sleeves tightly closed if you are going to be working with overhead piping. We are going to be working with fire, so inspect the area that you're going to be working in. This is likely to be a tightly confined space. Sometimes you'll need to set up a fireproof heat shield between the solder joint and flammable material that is nearby.

Since some household appliances require a cold water supply to properly function, be sure to turn off any equipment that might be damaged by a loss of water. Ideally, you should do this at the breaker box. Boilers or other heating systems, evaporative (swamp) coolers, hot water heaters, and dishwashers are among the kinds of equipment that might be affected by cutting off the water supply.