Solder copper pipe WITHOUT flame or blow torch

Today I show you how to solder copper pipe WITHOUT a naked flame or a blow torch.

Ever wondered if you can solder copper pipe WITHOUT a blow torch or naked flame? Ever worried about buring down the house whilst fixing that copper pipe leak? Well this week I review the Pipemaster Professional Plumbing Tool. It's 'OK'....but I'll leave it up to you to decide. We solder straight couplings and elbows. We also solder capillary fittings too.

#Plumbing #Plumber #PlumbingAdvice

[plumberparts]

*IF I HAVE TO READ ANOTHER COMMENT ABOUT THE PLIERS ACTING AS A HEAT SINK I'LL PULL MY HAIR OUT!* 😂 I did film it without the pliers and it still didn't work.

[skoronesa]

I'm an American plumber.

I got one of these years ago. I kept it on the van for a while but never used it for work. I tried it a couple times at home and admittedly I was impressed. Originally I wished it fit around the fitting, BUT that wouldn't always work because not all fittings are the same size. Once a touch of solder gets in the joint the heat transfers to the fitting much more quickly.

I still use my torch everyday, but for someone with less flame control it's certainly preferable to burning a house down.

[nigel]

I've got a set of these and they don't get a huge amount of use, but if I'm working in a confined space like a airing cupboard where it's super tight, they give me more peace of mind when I leave the job that the flame from my torch didn't do any damage or more importantly, leave anything smoldering away that I didn't or couldn't see. These days I'd probably use a push fit though.

[rikmoran]

You shouldn’t use metal grips to grab the heating elements as it diverts the heat away from the pipe. That’s why the 22mm took longer.

[miscman]

Doesn't look like they "hold tight". Good review James

[gteaz]

I have an Antex Pipemaster, I've twisted a hair band around the grips, this does keep the iron tight on a pipe.
I plug in iron, prep all pipes, heat 15mm pipe for 30sec, add flux, heat sleeve for 20secs, solder.
Same applies 22mm but add 10secs to heating as there is more copper to heat.

[pauldearden]

Could it be that on the 22mm pipe when you held the clamp on with the grips a bit of the heat dissipation went fractionally into the grips.?

[-Nobody-]

Thats interesting… i was always under the school of thought that to get the tightest fitting you heat the fitting not the pipe, therefor the space between the fitting and pipe opens up a little more and more solder can run in, therefore when tje fitting cools there more solder material in the joint creating a tighter clamp when the joint cools to room temp… if you know what i mean.

[dantronics]

As an electronics technician, we always tin the wire with a bit of solder to aid conduction, I'm certain this same method would work with the pipemaster, I came on here to say about the conduction of the molegrip but notice 175 comments already mention it, by the way if you was using the torch would you be heating the pipe or the t?

[victoryfirst]

Very well done fella. I do believe the word is Master Plumber which comes to mind.

[Subgunman]

Hey I used heavy rubber strapping to pull tight the handles, no issue with the heatsink issue. Too bad we can't use an induction heater to heat up copper but I see a problem at slipping the coil round pipe that it would become entrapped into the mess. Now if someone could come up with a split coil induction heater for copper it would be nice.

[barrywhittingham]

For the cost of them, have you considered just getting two and having one each already set up for 15mm and 22mm?

[iandusud]

This would have helped me on a number of occasions where fire risk has been a real concern. On the other hand copper push fit fittings can be a life saver in such situations.

[morokeiboethia]

Question - I have an electric water heater, and I just did my annual draining of the tank / refill. Water heater is only about 4 yrs. old. I did not do the pressurized flush method by keeping the incoming water valve open method. I just drained the tank the way the instruction manual said to do (water hose, open relief valve, close incoming water valve, etc.) and then refilled the tank. I checked the pressure relief valve to make sure it was good and then opened hot water faucets to check the stream of water and everything looked perfect. So, then I cut the breaker to the water heater on once it was refilled. After about 45 mins I went to the faucet and turned the hot water on and noticed that the temperature of the water was suddenly much higher than it was before I started the draining process. I did not make any changes to the temp settings, heating elements, etc. and suddenly the water is really hot. I know it's impossible to say what the problem is because it could be a few things but what do you think the problem is most likely? If it were a mineral clog, wouldn't that cause the temperature of outgoing water to drop instead of going higher? And I thought if it's the heating element it's kind of unlikely that it just happened to go bad immediately after refilling the tank.

[fixedit]

I use the Ridgid RT 175 and it’s little brother. Once it gets going it’s fast but be careful of burning yourself

[virtuallyrealistic]

I can see uses for plumbing embedded in spray in insulation (flammable). I would still keep that fire extinguisher near at hand though.

[richardballinger]

Putting a pair of grips on the heat source takes the heat out of the elements, your're heating the grips.

[schrodingerscat]

These are real handy in confined spaces where a flame could be a problem and they do generally work well. However in some situations they can be difficult to get into position for instance with a pipe against a wall where you need to come in from the side so they don't replace a torch completely. You want to get the more powerful 220w version for 22mm pipe heats up the joint much faster.

[stevenbacon]

If it were a soldering iron for electronics you would "wet" the tip with some solder to make better contact with the copper, might be worth trying?

[colinfenton]

Hi James, the rothenberger or REMs units are much better. Maybe see if they will loan one for you to demonstrate. They heat the pipe in seconds.