Rate my soldering

[PaulV]

Hello, what do you think about the quality of this soldering in a log cabin?





Mine, as in I own it, having paid a professional to do it.


Thanks

Edited by PaulV on Tuesday 7th May 15:44

[netherfield]

Should had a heat shield against the wood, soldering a bit heavy, but if it's leak proof what the hell.

[r3g]

Was the soldering iron spoon shaped?

[Gary29]

Rough, but as above, if it works, it works.

[ferret50]

Copper pipe, not pushfit plastic.....as written above, if it dont leak do not worry!
End fead fittings do tend to look a bit messy, but I did no better when I tried solder ring fittings thirty odd years ago!

[Mercdriver]

Insufficient heat before touching the solder to the joint I think.

[Mr Pointy]

In the last picture the 90° bend is way over 90° - not sure how you managed that. You definately need to invest in a heat mat before you burn somethng down.

[Tye Green]

over-enthusiastic use of flux / heat /solder !

to make a perfect joint:

• clean the first 20mm of the pipe with steel wool
• clean inside the corner fitting with the steel wool (wrap wool around a pencil or screw driver etc)
• wipe the inside of the fitting with a film of flux (kitchen tissue / rag etc with flux on it)
• insert pipe
• wipe the outside of the assembly with WD40 / oil etc
• heat
• apply electronics type solder - rosin cored
• wipe joint with rag after

done correctly all solder will be capillaried up into the joint and none will be visible afterwards although some like to see a nice solder ring after completion.

[kambites]

Looks fine to me as long as it's not on display (which from the surroundings, I'm guessing it's not).

[trickywoo]

Depends. If it was cheap I’d not be too bothered. If they wanted £££ and cash on top, not so much.

[Richard-390a0]

Mr Pointy said:

In the last picture the 90° bend is way over 90° - not sure how you managed that.

Came to say the same thing!

[Rob.]

I'd say my soldering is neater, and I'm a) rough and b) not a qualified plumber!

[119]

At worst it needed a wipe.

Close the doors and move on.

[PaulV]

119 said:

At worst it needed a wipe.

Close the doors and move on.

There are no doors, this will be visible.

[trickywoo]

PaulV said:

There are no doors, this will be visible.

Typical tradesmen clowns in that case.

Actual tradesmen will be along in a minute to say they had you pegged as a PIA and did the minimum as a result.

If their accountant did such a poor job and the vat man called them as a result they would be the first to complain and not pay.

[ghamer]

Poor,v poor.

[shtu]

The lack of heat mat,
The lack of wiping the pipework with a damp rag while it's hot,
The globs of solder dribbling down the pipes,
The wonky angles,

all point to someone not very good at soldering. "Tradesmen" will be here soon to tell us all that it's all crimp fittings or pushfit these days, doesn't matter as long as it's watertight, get with it grandad, etc.

Overall, it'll probably be fine, but it's not a neat job. Go look at the "plumberparts" youtube channel and watch his soldering.

Box that in and you'll forget about it eventually.

[Black_S3]

Certainly not the worst I’ve seen…. That said it’s out of sight and not leaking, with definitely enough solder in the fittings, sometimes the instagram plumbers with what looks like perfect soldering leave behind them the sketchiest fittings. Buy the guy a heat mat as a tip though.

[LordLoveLength]

Too much solder and not enough heat.
Don’t use electronic roisin core solder, clean the pipe and fitting and wipe flux on.
Get a reel of plumbing solder - it’s thicker than electronic stuff. The trick is to make a bend in it about an inch from the end.
Then when the joint is hot, feed it in up to the bend, and no more!
If you get a bright ring all around the joint you’ve used the right amount. Adjust as needed, but putting a bend in it means you know how much you’ve used and you will get consistent results.

[mickk]

The chippy needs a revisit as well.