I installed a heating oil line recently. Code required type L or M
(not refrigeration) tubing, and flare or soldered fittings. I used
some 1/2" OD Type L, and in one place I used a flare fitting. I've
done flares on soft tubing before, but doing this tubing was hard as
heck. It took a lot of torque to get a flare, and the flare was prone
to crack or come out off-kilter. It took several tries to get a
halfway decent flare. Unfortunately, halfway decent was not enough,
and the fitting has developed a slow leak.
Am I doing something wrong? Can type L be flared? Does it need to be
annealed somehow first? Do I need a better tool (the one I have is a
fairly cheap tool)? Or should I solder on a short piece of soft tube
and flare that?

Thanks,

Kelly

On Apr 20, 12:33 pm, wrote:

Am I doing something wrong? Can type L be flared? Does it need to be
annealed somehow first? Do I need a better tool (the one I have is a
fairly cheap tool)? Or should I solder on a short piece of soft tube
andflarethat?

Answering my own question here... First, correction, it is 3/8" OD,
not 1/2... Also, I picked up a better-quality, "heavy-duty" tool at
Home Despot, and this tool seems to do a great job. The older tool
was cheap, chinese quality, and tough it worked fine on soft copper,
not at all on type L.

Kelly

Look up annealing copper

wrote in message
...
I installed a heating oil line recently. Code required type L or M
(not refrigeration) tubing, and flare or soldered fittings. I used
some 1/2" OD Type L, and in one place I used a flare fitting. I've
done flares on soft tubing before, but doing this tubing was hard as
heck. It took a lot of torque to get a flare, and the flare was prone
to crack or come out off-kilter. It took several tries to get a
halfway decent flare. Unfortunately, halfway decent was not enough,
and the fitting has developed a slow leak.
Am I doing something wrong? Can type L be flared? Does it need to be
annealed somehow first? Do I need a better tool (the one I have is a
fairly cheap tool)? Or should I solder on a short piece of soft tube
and flare that?

Thanks,

Kelly

On Apr 20, 4:12*pm, "Jeff" wrote:
Look up annealing copper

wrote in message

...

I installed a heating *oil line recently. *Code required type L or M
(not refrigeration) tubing, and flare or soldered fittings. *I used
some 1/2" OD Type L, and in one place I used a flare fitting. *I've
done flares on soft tubing before, but doing this tubing was hard as
heck. *It took a lot of torque to get a flare, and the flare was prone
to crack or come out off-kilter. *It took several tries to get a
halfway decent flare. *Unfortunately, halfway decent was not enough,
and the fitting has developed a slow leak.
Am I doing something wrong? *Can type L be flared? *Does it need to be
annealed somehow first? *Do I need a better tool (the one I have is a
fairly cheap tool)? *Or should I solder on a short piece of soft tube
and flare that?

Thanks,

Kelly

You have to do what ever an inspector says, but, refrigeration copper
is the same as type L. The only difference is it is filled with dry
nitrogen and capped, and listed by it's outer dimension rather than
the inside (or nominal) dimension like just about all other types of
plumbing piping) . The refrigeration tubing will be marked with "ACR"
and usually also "Type L" listed on it. What you are having a problem
with is the difference between hard and soft copper. You should not
try to flare hard copper. To turn hard copper into soft copper is
pretty easy, though, especially if just doing a small section of it on
small sized tubing. Just heat it up with a torch until it turns dull
red then let it cool down. I think It is best if you let it air cool
but I have dipped copper in water to cool it quickly at times and it
still turned out ok.