[TheForge] Soldering copper tubing in an AC unit

[Paul Sperbeck]

HVAC refrigerant piping usually requires a brazing process.

The person who is performing this work at the present time is not 
qualified to perform what is being asked of him.

I have made thousands of brazed joints over my career in my professional 
opinion the actions of this fella are unprofessional at the best. I 
would also question his credentials, and if your boss hired him knowing 
that he is unqualified and unlicensed, it is possible that he is 
exposing himself to legal action as well.

Handling of refrigerants for hire requires training and a level of 
expertise that this guy does not possess.
see:
http://www.epa.gov/ozone/title6/608/technicians/certoutl.html
While agreement with the EPA in not in my wheelhouse, it is the law and 
you are required to follow it or suffer the consequences.

You cannot repair tubing by sloping brazing compound over the pipe, 
which should never had a hole burned in in the first place. For all 
brazing systems, the pipe must be heated to roughly between 
1,150°F/621°C and 1,550°F/843°C.

see:
http://www.silfos.com/htmdocs/product_support/how_to_info.html
http://www.copper.org/applications/plumbing/techcorner/soldering_brazing_explained.html


His bending procedure is a joke, fire him and hire someone who has the 
knowledge to complete this work correctly, unsupervised  on the job 
training is not acceptable in this instance. By inference, I would also 
have your new technician re-check any other work this guy has performed

paul

On 04/06/2012 07:55 AM, Bruce . wrote:
> I don't know whether HVAC might be different, but for copper water
> pipe, a simple propane torch is recommended.  (I HAVE  used hotter
> torches for such work, but only when I needed to keep a nagging water
> drip away from the area to be soldered.)
>
> The copper should never get red, as the solder doesn't need such a
> temperature to melt and flow.  Soldering, as opposed to brazing, can
> be done with a copper-tipped soldering iron (which IS heated to barely
> red).  Hotter than that is brazing.  The distinction is a bit
> arbitrary, but important.  Torches are more convenient.
>
>
> On Fri, Apr 6, 2012 at 7:53 AM, CGRAF<adveniam at att.net>  wrote:
>> Depends on the solder, and the guys touch.
>> Burning holes tells me he is a bit on the hamfisted side.
>>   Air acetylene always worked for me.
>> I think we were using sil/phos or something like that. It has been more
>> than a few years.
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