[TheForge] OT frozen pipes

[Andy Gladish]

PEX is handy, I used it where I had to snake some feeds in a complicated  
path, but occasionally rats get into the walls in our neighborhood and  
they'd make short work of plastic pipe. Not so with copper.

Shark Bites are really handy for a quick repair, but it introduces an  
element of complexity into what would otherwise be an incredibly simple  
and sturdy joint. Brazed copper is the closest thing to having contiuous  
unbroken material. Ten or fifteen years out, a lot of folks will most  
likely find that non-solder joints are needing replacement. As one elderly  
contractor here is fond of saying, "There's never time to do it right, but  
there's always time to do it over."

Solder joints on copper are hard to miss if you follow three simple rules-  
it has to be clean. Really clean it, inside and out, steel wool is enough,  
as long as it's bright and shiny.
It has to be dry- probably everyone knows by now how to use a piece of  
Wonder Bread to soak up water seep if you can't get the valve to  
completely shut off.
Solder "wants" to run into tight joints, so apply the heat on the female  
side of the joint, and apply the solder to the OPPOSITE  side, since it  
also "wants" to run toward heat.
It's like forge welding- once you get it to work it's incredibly easy, so  
don't give up before you "get" it. Practice on scraps- ten good joints and  
you'll probably never miss another one.
Andy G.