Joining Steel Pipe To Copper

Sand the area of the copper you will be soldering with an emery cloth.

Joining steel pipe to copper.

Unroll 6 to 10 inches of solder. If you re building a project that requires you to join a copper and stainless steel part this article will teach you how to do it. The union has threads on one side for the steel pipe and a female slip joint for a solder connection to copper pipe. There is no great problem connecting these two metals.

Soldered joints with capillary fittings are used in plumbing for water lines and for sanitary drainage. In this video this old house plumbing and heating contractor richard trethewey explains how to join steel and copper pipes. In my case i was building a homemade pot still and needed to bond the stainless steel tri clamp ferrules to a 2 copper column. Use garden hose to drain water from heater s tank.

Join the copper to the steel as the two metal pieces or pipes will be connected. Mechanical joints clamps nuts bolts etc welded connections brazed connections. Solder top half of union to copper. Apply soldering paste or flux to the sanded area.

Remove the rubber gasket from dielectric union. Cut copper pipe just above the corroded connection using a tubing cutter. They are commonly connected or joined via. Solder the brass half to the copper pipe thread the steel half onto the galvanized steel pipe with teflon tape then join the two together tightly with the joining nut.

The manual root pass procedures for cu ni are basically the same as for other alloy piping but the welders may notice the weld metal does not flow as well as an austinetic stainless steel. Whenever you join copper water lines to galvanized steel pipe you should be concerned about the corrosion caused by joining two dissimilar metals called galvanic corrosion an electrochemical reaction occurs that causes the steel pipe in this case to rust and clog up. This is a very common joint in the brewing and distilling industry and knowing the proper way to join these two dissimilar metals. Solder coupling and small length of pipe to end of existing copper water pipe.

If you are soldering a dielectric union bend the last few inches to a 90 degree angle. There are several categories of methods to join copper tube and fittings. Install the lower half of the dielectric union to steel pipe. The dielectric part is the metal transition feature that prevents electrolytic corrosion from occurring as a result of the joining of copper and galvanized steel.

It s far easier to make a repair to steel pipe with copper than with galvanized plumbing pipe because the galvanized calls for cutting threads on exact lengths of pipe. Solder or brazed joints. The pipe interior should be purged with argon using the standard practices for other alloys such as stainless steel and nickel alloys. Tighten first with pliers then with pipe wrench.

These joining methods include soldering brazing and electric resistance.