If you decide to solder them yourself here are a couple things I would like
to add to previous posts.
1. Dry fit everything first
2. Clean all fittings until bright,
3. USE FLUX, on all joints (tinning flux is best)
4. Don't use acid core solder.
5. Keep a heat shield and fire extinguisher handy.
"Ralph Mowery" wrote in message
nk.net...

"Doug Kanter" wrote in message
...
I'm trying to decide whether this would be a good time to learn how to
solder copper pipes. Here's the scenario:

Point your forefingers at each other, similar to the way they'd end up
if
they were stuck into one of those Chinese handcuffs kids get at birthday
parties. Now, move them apart about a foot. They represent two 3/4"
pipes
facing each other, on the basement ceiling. Right now, that gap between
them
is occupied by a water pressure regulator I need to replace. The
regulator
has female fittings molded into its housing, and the pipes have male
fittings. The pipes continue UNINTERRUPTED for 10 feet on either side,
so
I'm guessing the pipes were not rotated into the regulator. Rather, I
think
the regulator's female fittings may be threaded in such a way that
rotating
the whole regulator tightens both sides at once.

Or: the male pipe fittings, which are separate pieces from the pipes
themselves, were cranked into place, and then those fittings were welded
to
the pipes.

Based on what I see, anything that would need to be soldered is plenty
far
away from anything heat sensitive, like beams, wires, etc.

My question (which requires psychic powers to answer):

On a "trickiness for beginners" scale of 1 (easy) to 10 (check your
flood
insurance), where does it sound like this job falls? A 3x margin of
error
is
acceptable for all guesses, and horror stories are more than welcome.
Bring
it on!


While you could learn to solder (its not difficult) the easiest way would
be
to get some of the plastic compression fittings.

There are 3 things about soldering pipes. Clean the copper very bright ,
both pieces. Absolutly no water near the joint. No movement of the
pipes
once the heat is removed untuil the solder has setup.