Rich Greenberg wrote:

In article .com,
Phillip944 wrote:
I'll admit it... I've never soldered anything in my life. So, to
replace a corroded, leaky copper elbow joint, my father-in-law
instructed me to heat the pipe, pull off the old joint, then replace
it... after proper preparation, of course.

The problem is that I heated the old elbow, but nothing happened. I
heated the pipe & the elbow... nothing. Couldn't get it off.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, as I dread the cost of
having a plumber do what seems to be a simple replacement.

Did you shut the water off and drain the pipe?

What are you using for heat? A bernz-a-matic torch with the standard
(blue) gas cylinders will just barely heat 1/2 inch copper enough for
soldering. Any larger pipe, you need mapp (yellow) gas cylinders.



I second that - after using propane for years, I finally switched to
MAPP gas and it was truly a revelation.