A quick question about reheating and adjusting a soldered copper joint

[Basil W. Camic]

I’m a complete and utter rookie at plumbing, so if this sounds asinine, that is why.

I’m in the process of replacing all the galvanized pipes in my house, and ran into a problem today with a section of pipe that I had already soldered. I needed to swivel an 90 degree elbow approx 5 degrees after it was already soldered. I reheated the elbow, which remelted the solder and repositioned the elbow to where I needed it. Is this acceptable or a big no-no??

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

[src4Participant]

This is an acceptable thing to do,however I usually run another bead of solder around the fitting at the same time.

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Steve Clark

[Bruce TParticipant]

in the UPC code book it says its unacceptable without re-sanding and re-fluxing the joint, but I do it all the time, and everyone I know does it!
Today as a matter of fact, I met with the plumbing inspector at a job in Santa Monica CA.
he made me re-heat a soldered joint out of its socket so he can inspect it for full bore reaming.
after inspection,I re-heated the pipes so that they fit back into their 90’s and applied a little flux and a new bead of solder in front of him!…
First time in 10 years that I was actually made to perform this test!
The visual ream test is actually part of the sign off card in Santa Monica!
(first time working in that city!)
Thank God I had an extra $50 on me so he would sign me off!

» This message has been edited by Bruce T on 08 June 2002

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