We are in the middle of renovating a kitchen and bathroom. House was
built in 1925, and kitchen pantry was converted to a bathroom I'm
guessing in the 1950's. Current plumbing vent for the bathroom is 2"
copper run on the exterior wall of the house. This vent will be moved
into the wall cavity. (Already have the walls ripped out and holes in
top plates drilled.) Hired plumber will be doing most of the work.

I'd like to reuse the current copper vent pipe inside the wall. I have
no sound reasons for wanting to reuse the pipe other than I just like
the idea of reusing old materials rather than always buying new, even
if it adds to the cost of the job. We'll be asking the plumber about
this, and I anticipate that his answer will be that it is way easier
and cheaper to just run new PVC inside the wall than trying to clean up
the pipe enough to sweat new couplings on as sections of the pipe are
stuffed up the wall cavity.

Also, current waste pipe for the toilet is 3" (I think) copper. This
had to be cut in one place as part of the renovation, so it would only
take one coupling to reconnect the existing waste line to the new
stuff.

So my question is, how hard is it to sweat a 2"+ diameter copper pipe?
I've done plenty of 1/2" and 3/4", so I know how easy it is to do that,
but does it become exponentially more difficult to sweat larger
diameters? Is the plumber going to run screaming from our house if we
ask him to do this? I assume he will want to just rip everything out
and re-run PVC, so should we let him do this?

Thanks for any insight anyone can give me.

Ken

Any real plumber will have a torch that can easily solder 2" copper
pipe. The real issues are how accessible it all is, how easy it is to
get to the right spots to cut/solder it, and how much harder or costly
it will be to do that instead of going with ABS

"Ken" wrote in message
oups.com...
We are in the middle of renovating a kitchen and bathroom. House was
built in 1925, and kitchen pantry was converted to a bathroom I'm
guessing in the 1950's. Current plumbing vent for the bathroom is 2"
copper run on the exterior wall of the house. This vent will be moved
into the wall cavity. (Already have the walls ripped out and holes in
top plates drilled.) Hired plumber will be doing most of the work.

I'd like to reuse the current copper vent pipe inside the wall. I have
no sound reasons for wanting to reuse the pipe other than I just like
the idea of reusing old materials rather than always buying new, even
if it adds to the cost of the job. We'll be asking the plumber about
this, and I anticipate that his answer will be that it is way easier
and cheaper to just run new PVC inside the wall than trying to clean up
the pipe enough to sweat new couplings on as sections of the pipe are
stuffed up the wall cavity.

Also, current waste pipe for the toilet is 3" (I think) copper. This
had to be cut in one place as part of the renovation, so it would only
take one coupling to reconnect the existing waste line to the new
stuff.

So my question is, how hard is it to sweat a 2"+ diameter copper pipe?
I've done plenty of 1/2" and 3/4", so I know how easy it is to do that,
but does it become exponentially more difficult to sweat larger
diameters? Is the plumber going to run screaming from our house if we
ask him to do this? I assume he will want to just rip everything out
and re-run PVC, so should we let him do this?

Thanks for any insight anyone can give me.

Ken

With a big "turbo torch" it is done daily. The average plumber may not have
such a tool. Never seen one at a rental yard.

Last one I saw the flame end was 4 inches in diameter and they used dual
gasses. Oxy and Acetylene. Took a skilled journeyman about 30 minutes a
joint. No flammable materials anywhere near.

Since this is for a vent I would think about a "no hub" connection.

Glad this post is about plumbing because the last answer is as full of ****
as any sewer i have ever seen.
No turbo torch, no oxy assist feed. Average plumber will have a BTank that
will handle job, prob is the labor to clean the couplings off old solder.
Average joint only needs a minute to heat.

--


Remove the obvious to reply. Experienced and reliable
Concrete Finishing and Synthetic Stucco application in the GTA.
"SQLit" wrote in message
...

"Ken" wrote in message
oups.com...
We are in the middle of renovating a kitchen and bathroom. House was
built in 1925, and kitchen pantry was converted to a bathroom I'm
guessing in the 1950's. Current plumbing vent for the bathroom is 2"
copper run on the exterior wall of the house. This vent will be moved
into the wall cavity. (Already have the walls ripped out and holes in
top plates drilled.) Hired plumber will be doing most of the work.

I'd like to reuse the current copper vent pipe inside the wall. I have
no sound reasons for wanting to reuse the pipe other than I just like
the idea of reusing old materials rather than always buying new, even
if it adds to the cost of the job. We'll be asking the plumber about
this, and I anticipate that his answer will be that it is way easier
and cheaper to just run new PVC inside the wall than trying to clean up
the pipe enough to sweat new couplings on as sections of the pipe are
stuffed up the wall cavity.

Also, current waste pipe for the toilet is 3" (I think) copper. This
had to be cut in one place as part of the renovation, so it would only
take one coupling to reconnect the existing waste line to the new
stuff.

So my question is, how hard is it to sweat a 2"+ diameter copper pipe?
I've done plenty of 1/2" and 3/4", so I know how easy it is to do that,
but does it become exponentially more difficult to sweat larger
diameters? Is the plumber going to run screaming from our house if we
ask him to do this? I assume he will want to just rip everything out
and re-run PVC, so should we let him do this?

Thanks for any insight anyone can give me.

Ken

With a big "turbo torch" it is done daily. The average plumber may not
have
such a tool. Never seen one at a rental yard.

Last one I saw the flame end was 4 inches in diameter and they used dual
gasses. Oxy and Acetylene. Took a skilled journeyman about 30 minutes a
joint. No flammable materials anywhere near.

Since this is for a vent I would think about a "no hub" connection.

"Glad this post is about plumbing because the last answer is as full of
****
as any sewer i have ever seen.
No turbo torch, no oxy assist feed. Average plumber will have a BTank
that
will handle job, prob is the labor to clean the couplings off old
solder.
Average joint only needs a minute to heat."

I got a good laugh out of it too. Turbo torch with 4 inch diameter
flame and 30 mins a joint to solder a 2" copper pipe. LOL He must
have been smoking a joint and watching a shuttle launch!

SQLit wrote:

"Ken" wrote in message
oups.com...

We are in the middle of renovating a kitchen and bathroom. House was
built in 1925, and kitchen pantry was converted to a bathroom I'm
guessing in the 1950's. Current plumbing vent for the bathroom is 2"
copper run on the exterior wall of the house. This vent will be moved
into the wall cavity. (Already have the walls ripped out and holes in
top plates drilled.) Hired plumber will be doing most of the work.

I'd like to reuse the current copper vent pipe inside the wall. I have
no sound reasons for wanting to reuse the pipe other than I just like
the idea of reusing old materials rather than always buying new, even
if it adds to the cost of the job. We'll be asking the plumber about
this, and I anticipate that his answer will be that it is way easier
and cheaper to just run new PVC inside the wall than trying to clean up
the pipe enough to sweat new couplings on as sections of the pipe are
stuffed up the wall cavity.

Also, current waste pipe for the toilet is 3" (I think) copper. This
had to be cut in one place as part of the renovation, so it would only
take one coupling to reconnect the existing waste line to the new
stuff.

So my question is, how hard is it to sweat a 2"+ diameter copper pipe?
I've done plenty of 1/2" and 3/4", so I know how easy it is to do that,
but does it become exponentially more difficult to sweat larger
diameters? Is the plumber going to run screaming from our house if we
ask him to do this? I assume he will want to just rip everything out
and re-run PVC, so should we let him do this?

Thanks for any insight anyone can give me.

Ken


With a big "turbo torch" it is done daily. The average plumber may not have
such a tool. Never seen one at a rental yard.

Last one I saw the flame end was 4 inches in diameter and they used dual
gasses. Oxy and Acetylene. Took a skilled journeyman about 30 minutes a
joint. No flammable materials anywhere near.

Since this is for a vent I would think about a "no hub" connection.



That had to have been on a government job. Were there 5 or 6
"inspectors" standing around watching and a guy with a fire
extinquisher?

--
Robert Allison
Rimshot, Inc.
Georgetown, TX

wrote in message
oups.com...
"Glad this post is about plumbing because the last answer is as full of
****
as any sewer i have ever seen.
No turbo torch, no oxy assist feed. Average plumber will have a BTank
that
will handle job, prob is the labor to clean the couplings off old
solder.
Average joint only needs a minute to heat."

I got a good laugh out of it too. Turbo torch with 4 inch diameter
flame and 30 mins a joint to solder a 2" copper pipe. LOL He must
have been smoking a joint and watching a shuttle launch!


I brazed 2-5/8"(?) AC lineset for a 50 ton commercial unit with a
oxy/acetylene torch. Each joint probably took a couple of minutes.
Soft solder would have been faster!
Greg

When I used to do a lot more heating and AC installs, the boss and I used to
work together on solder joints like that. It was a sight to behold. Two
bespectacled Mormons, with ball caps, clip on sunglasses, pockets full of
pens. Two mapp torches, and two rolls of solder. We'd talk about anything
and everything while the pipe heated. Hit it with solder, wipe it off, and
get on to the next one. That was the good life. Never ridicule nerds, they
are the only ones who can fix your furnace and AC.

--

Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
www.mormons.com


"Ken" wrote in message
oups.com...
We are in the middle of renovating a kitchen and bathroom. House was
built in 1925, and kitchen pantry was converted to a bathroom I'm
guessing in the 1950's. Current plumbing vent for the bathroom is 2"
copper run on the exterior wall of the house. This vent will be moved
into the wall cavity. (Already have the walls ripped out and holes in
top plates drilled.) Hired plumber will be doing most of the work.

I'd like to reuse the current copper vent pipe inside the wall. I have
no sound reasons for wanting to reuse the pipe other than I just like
the idea of reusing old materials rather than always buying new, even
if it adds to the cost of the job. We'll be asking the plumber about
this, and I anticipate that his answer will be that it is way easier
and cheaper to just run new PVC inside the wall than trying to clean up
the pipe enough to sweat new couplings on as sections of the pipe are
stuffed up the wall cavity.

Also, current waste pipe for the toilet is 3" (I think) copper. This
had to be cut in one place as part of the renovation, so it would only
take one coupling to reconnect the existing waste line to the new
stuff.

So my question is, how hard is it to sweat a 2"+ diameter copper pipe?
I've done plenty of 1/2" and 3/4", so I know how easy it is to do that,
but does it become exponentially more difficult to sweat larger
diameters? Is the plumber going to run screaming from our house if we
ask him to do this? I assume he will want to just rip everything out
and re-run PVC, so should we let him do this?

Thanks for any insight anyone can give me.

Ken

"SQLit" wrote in message

Last one I saw the flame end was 4 inches in diameter and they used dual
gasses. Oxy and Acetylene. Took a skilled journeyman about 30 minutes a
joint. No flammable materials anywhere near.

If it took 30 minutes a joint, he was far from a skilled anything. Even a
hack can to that type of joint in just a couple of minutes.

Thanx for supply of another reason to hate mormons and nerds in the same
post.

--


Remove the obvious to reply. Experienced and reliable
Concrete Finishing and Synthetic Stucco application in the GTA.
"Stormin Mormon" wrote in message
...
When I used to do a lot more heating and AC installs, the boss and I used
to
work together on solder joints like that. It was a sight to behold. Two
bespectacled Mormons, with ball caps, clip on sunglasses, pockets full of
pens. Two mapp torches, and two rolls of solder. We'd talk about anything
and everything while the pipe heated. Hit it with solder, wipe it off, and
get on to the next one. That was the good life. Never ridicule nerds, they
are the only ones who can fix your furnace and AC.

--

Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
www.mormons.com


"Ken" wrote in message
oups.com...
We are in the middle of renovating a kitchen and bathroom. House was
built in 1925, and kitchen pantry was converted to a bathroom I'm
guessing in the 1950's. Current plumbing vent for the bathroom is 2"
copper run on the exterior wall of the house. This vent will be moved
into the wall cavity. (Already have the walls ripped out and holes in
top plates drilled.) Hired plumber will be doing most of the work.

I'd like to reuse the current copper vent pipe inside the wall. I have
no sound reasons for wanting to reuse the pipe other than I just like
the idea of reusing old materials rather than always buying new, even
if it adds to the cost of the job. We'll be asking the plumber about
this, and I anticipate that his answer will be that it is way easier
and cheaper to just run new PVC inside the wall than trying to clean up
the pipe enough to sweat new couplings on as sections of the pipe are
stuffed up the wall cavity.

Also, current waste pipe for the toilet is 3" (I think) copper. This
had to be cut in one place as part of the renovation, so it would only
take one coupling to reconnect the existing waste line to the new
stuff.

So my question is, how hard is it to sweat a 2"+ diameter copper pipe?
I've done plenty of 1/2" and 3/4", so I know how easy it is to do that,
but does it become exponentially more difficult to sweat larger
diameters? Is the plumber going to run screaming from our house if we
ask him to do this? I assume he will want to just rip everything out
and re-run PVC, so should we let him do this?

Thanks for any insight anyone can give me.

Ken

We have done exactly this quite a few times. I suspect he saw a
repair job on large, heavy copper water line. We have used two
rosebuds (there is your 4" diameter flame) to get the moisture out
of the line. To get the copper up to solder temperature we
certainly do use oxy acetylene on 4" heavy wall copper. A B
bottle will work, but I think you would be hard pressed with a
typical propane torch.
The OP is talking about soldering light weight 2" and I agree that
soldering dry thinwall pipe is quite doable with a good propane
torch.

(top posted for your convenience)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Keep the whole world singing . . . .
DanG (remove the sevens)




"SQLit" wrote in message
...

"Ken" wrote in message
oups.com...
We are in the middle of renovating a kitchen and bathroom.
House was
built in 1925, and kitchen pantry was converted to a bathroom
I'm
guessing in the 1950's. Current plumbing vent for the bathroom
is 2"
copper run on the exterior wall of the house. This vent will
be moved
into the wall cavity. (Already have the walls ripped out and
holes in
top plates drilled.) Hired plumber will be doing most of the
work.

I'd like to reuse the current copper vent pipe inside the wall.
I have
no sound reasons for wanting to reuse the pipe other than I
just like
the idea of reusing old materials rather than always buying
new, even
if it adds to the cost of the job. We'll be asking the plumber
about
this, and I anticipate that his answer will be that it is way
easier
and cheaper to just run new PVC inside the wall than trying to
clean up
the pipe enough to sweat new couplings on as sections of the
pipe are
stuffed up the wall cavity.

Also, current waste pipe for the toilet is 3" (I think) copper.
This
had to be cut in one place as part of the renovation, so it
would only
take one coupling to reconnect the existing waste line to the
new
stuff.

So my question is, how hard is it to sweat a 2"+ diameter
copper pipe?
I've done plenty of 1/2" and 3/4", so I know how easy it is to
do that,
but does it become exponentially more difficult to sweat larger
diameters? Is the plumber going to run screaming from our
house if we
ask him to do this? I assume he will want to just rip
everything out
and re-run PVC, so should we let him do this?

Thanks for any insight anyone can give me.

Ken

With a big "turbo torch" it is done daily. The average plumber
may not have
such a tool. Never seen one at a rental yard.

Last one I saw the flame end was 4 inches in diameter and they
used dual
gasses. Oxy and Acetylene. Took a skilled journeyman about 30
minutes a
joint. No flammable materials anywhere near.

Since this is for a vent I would think about a "no hub"
connection.

Edwin Pawlowski wrote:

"SQLit" wrote in message

Last one I saw the flame end was 4 inches in diameter and they used dual
gasses. Oxy and Acetylene. Took a skilled journeyman about 30 minutes a
joint. No flammable materials anywhere near.

If it took 30 minutes a joint, he was far from a skilled anything. Even a
hack can to that type of joint in just a couple of minutes.

Maybe it was standing full of liquid H or something so it was hard to
heat!

DanG wrote:

We have done exactly this quite a few times. I suspect he saw a
repair job on large, heavy copper water line. We have used two
rosebuds (there is your 4" diameter flame) to get the moisture out
of the line. To get the copper up to solder temperature we
certainly do use oxy acetylene on 4" heavy wall copper. A B
bottle will work, but I think you would be hard pressed with a
typical propane torch.
....

That was my read of what he must have seen, too....

According to Ken :
So my question is, how hard is it to sweat a 2"+ diameter copper pipe?
I've done plenty of 1/2" and 3/4", so I know how easy it is to do that,
but does it become exponentially more difficult to sweat larger
diameters? Is the plumber going to run screaming from our house if we
ask him to do this? I assume he will want to just rip everything out
and re-run PVC, so should we let him do this?

In a job I once worked on, the (master) plumber had to fish a long run
2" copper _through_ the floor joists. Meaning he had to solder
the pipe between each and every joist.

[This was half of a duplex - in "commercial" work, you have to use
copper even for DWV. Here at least... He did quite a bit of
other large-diameter copper too.]

He was using an acetylene torch without oxygen. A small tank
with a hose to the torch.

It didn't take him very long to do 20ish connections.

Not a big deal - to him at least ;-)

You might find it relatively difficult to do yourself with a
standard cheapie propane torch, but if you used MAPP/MPS
cylinder instead, it should be considerably easier. I use MPS
gas myself now, because it's considerably quicker - especially
if I have to solder something outdoors in high winds ;-)
--
Chris Lewis, Una confibula non set est
It's not just anyone who gets a Starship Cruiser class named after them.