Ayuh,... If there's ANY water in the fittin', you'll never ever get it hot enough to melt the solder,...
Forget 'bout it,...
If it ain't leakin', it's a Good sweat fit,....
Ayuh,... If there's ANY water in the fittin', you'll never ever get it hot enough to melt the solder,...Or could I apply heat with water still in the fitting to see if I can just melt the solder off?
Good suggestion. I'll give that a try. Thanks!Gizzygone:
Remove the blob of solder with a file.
I had heard in several places not to do it until the joint has cooled, and only to remove any residual flux? Something about the shock could cause cracks in the solder itself, or the brass fitting?when you researched soldering ...did you find that its best to wipe the joints after applying solder ...if youhave a glob there ..it won't anything honestly leave it alone...the next one will be better:wink2:
I use my finger :vs_karate:been soldering for 40 yrs ....trust me wipe it when its hot.. don't have to be rough with it...just use the end of a rag..stops exactly what happened to you ..imo.
Only a potential problem if you use a wet rag. Use a dry rag.I had heard in several places not to do it until the joint has cooled, and only to remove any residual flux? Something about the shock could cause cracks in the solder itself, or the brass fitting?
No, removing excess solder with a wet or dry rag won't cause any cracking of anything. Copper, brass and especially solder are all ductile materials. None of them are brittle enough to crack from thermal shock. The only reason people use a dry rag or dry paper towel to remove excess solder is that it works better than a wet rag or wet paper towel, NOT because of any risk of thermal cracking. GLASS will break from thermal shocking. Steel can also break from thermal shocking, but in those cases the steel is red hot and is plunged into an oil bath. Oil cools steel faster than water because of the envelope of steam that forms around the steel when it's plunged into water. You don't have those kinds of extreme conditions when you solder.I had heard in several places not to do it until the joint has cooled, and only to remove any residual flux? Something about the shock could cause cracks in the solder itself, or the brass fitting?
And I'd like to retract that because it's simply wrong. I wanted to change it, but I was too late. This site only gives a person 30 minutes to make any changes. There's newbies in here that are just learning to solder, and it's important that I don't misinform them.The only reason people use a dry rag or dry paper towel to remove excess solder is that it works better than a wet rag or wet paper towel, NOT because of any risk of thermal cracking.