Hi there....

I'm going to cut short a piece of lead pipe that's used for mains
cold. I need to cap the end of the lead (it's a branch off the main
pipe and not used) and tried the "folding over and flattening"
technique, which looked like it worked, but a few hours afterwards it
weeps a little.

I was thinking of heating up a piece of metal to act as a soldering
iron and using that to melt the end of the lead pipe. thus sealing it.

Any advice?

Cheers

Simon

On 14 Apr 2007 14:03:03 -0700, "Simon" wrote:

Hi there....

I'm going to cut short a piece of lead pipe that's used for mains
cold. I need to cap the end of the lead (it's a branch off the main
pipe and not used) and tried the "folding over and flattening"
technique, which looked like it worked, but a few hours afterwards it
weeps a little.

I was thinking of heating up a piece of metal to act as a soldering
iron and using that to melt the end of the lead pipe. thus sealing it.

Any advice?

Cheers

Simon

You will need some flux to get it to run together.Make sure the edges
to be joined are bright and clean.

On Sat, 14 Apr 2007 21:03:03 UTC, "Simon" wrote:

I'm going to cut short a piece of lead pipe that's used for mains
cold. I need to cap the end of the lead (it's a branch off the main
pipe and not used) and tried the "folding over and flattening"
technique, which looked like it worked, but a few hours afterwards it
weeps a little.

I was thinking of heating up a piece of metal to act as a soldering
iron and using that to melt the end of the lead pipe. thus sealing it.

If that doesn't work, join it to a small piece of copper tube and cap
that off....I had to do something like that years ago...

--
The information contained in this post is copyright the
poster, and specifically may not be published in, or used by
http://www.diybanter.com

On 14 Apr 2007 21:56:26 GMT
"Bob Eager" wrote:

On Sat, 14 Apr 2007 21:03:03 UTC, "Simon" wrote:

I'm going to cut short a piece of lead pipe that's used for mains
cold. I need to cap the end of the lead (it's a branch off the main
pipe and not used) and tried the "folding over and flattening"
technique, which looked like it worked, but a few hours afterwards
it weeps a little.

I was thinking of heating up a piece of metal to act as a soldering
iron and using that to melt the end of the lead pipe. thus sealing
it.

If that doesn't work, join it to a small piece of copper tube and cap
that off....I had to do something like that years ago...


I watched my dad do this about 40 years ago. He cleaned the lead
inside and out - I think he had to swage the lead to get a short length
of 15mm copper a tight fit inside - then fluxed it all and wiped a
solder joint with a blowlamp and asbestos pad. Then capped the copper
with a compression-end.

Apart from the asbestos pad (there is a modern equivalent), you could do
the same today.

R.

"Bob Eager" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 14 Apr 2007 21:03:03 UTC, "Simon"
wrote:

I'm going to cut short a piece of lead pipe that's used for mains
cold. I need to cap the end of the lead (it's a branch off the
main
pipe and not used) and tried the "folding over and flattening"
technique, which looked like it worked, but a few hours afterwards
it
weeps a little.

I was thinking of heating up a piece of metal to act as a
soldering
iron and using that to melt the end of the lead pipe. thus sealing
it.

If that doesn't work, join it to a small piece of copper tube and
cap
that off....I had to do something like that years ago...

--
The information contained in this post is copyright the
poster, and specifically may not be published in, or used by
http://www.diybanter.com

Soldering copper stubs into lead isn't easy if you haven't had
previous experience, and it is easy to fill up the pipe with solder!
The basic method is to tin the end of a piece of copper pipe, and
flare the lead to take it such that it is a good tight fit but leaving
a funnel of lead arround the copper. Then gently, everso gently warm
the scraped clean and fluxed lead and copper feeding with bar solder,
aiming for a temperature where the solder is 'pasty' but will fuse to
the lead and the tinned copper. When the funnel is full, build up a
cone round the copper and wipe it smooth with a flux impregnated cloth
(should be moleskin!)

If this daunts you there is a range of compression fittings called
'leadlok' that grip the outside of the lead pipe with brass serrations
and seal using an 'o' ring though I must say I've not found them
infallable.

AWEM

On Sun, 15 Apr 2007 06:46:44 UTC, TheOldFellow
wrote:

On 14 Apr 2007 21:56:26 GMT
"Bob Eager" wrote:

On Sat, 14 Apr 2007 21:03:03 UTC, "Simon" wrote:

I'm going to cut short a piece of lead pipe that's used for mains
cold. I need to cap the end of the lead (it's a branch off the main
pipe and not used) and tried the "folding over and flattening"
technique, which looked like it worked, but a few hours afterwards
it weeps a little.

I was thinking of heating up a piece of metal to act as a soldering
iron and using that to melt the end of the lead pipe. thus sealing
it.

If that doesn't work, join it to a small piece of copper tube and cap
that off....I had to do something like that years ago...


I watched my dad do this about 40 years ago. He cleaned the lead
inside and out - I think he had to swage the lead to get a short length
of 15mm copper a tight fit inside - then fluxed it all and wiped a
solder joint with a blowlamp and asbestos pad. Then capped the copper
with a compression-end.

No, I just used a Johnson coupling.
--
The information contained in this post is copyright the
poster, and specifically may not be published in, or used by
http://www.diybanter.com

Andrew Mawson wrote:

Soldering copper stubs into lead isn't easy if you haven't had
previous experience, and it is easy to fill up the pipe with solder!

Apparently this method is no longer water council approved anyway. So
leadlok connectors or similar are the way to go.

The basic method is to tin the end of a piece of copper pipe, and
flare the lead to take it such that it is a good tight fit but leaving
a funnel of lead arround the copper. Then gently, everso gently warm
the scraped clean and fluxed lead and copper feeding with bar solder,
aiming for a temperature where the solder is 'pasty' but will fuse to
the lead and the tinned copper. When the funnel is full, build up a
cone round the copper and wipe it smooth with a flux impregnated cloth
(should be moleskin!)

Works quite well with a small crucible of molten solder that you "splash
on" as well.

If this daunts you there is a range of compression fittings called
'leadlok' that grip the outside of the lead pipe with brass serrations
and seal using an 'o' ring though I must say I've not found them
infallable.

The one I have used seem ok (can't remember if it was an official
"leadlok" though), but you do need to do them up very tight.


--
Cheers,

John.

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| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
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On 15 Apr 2007 08:58:04 GMT
"Bob Eager" wrote:

Johnson coupling

Learn something new every day.
R.

On Sun, 15 Apr 2007 16:05:41 UTC, TheOldFellow
wrote:

On 15 Apr 2007 08:58:04 GMT
"Bob Eager" wrote:

Johnson coupling

Learn something new every day.

It's what the PM advised, a long time ago. We've moved since then, but
the old house is 50 yards away and it's still connecting the pipes
AFAIK....!

--
The information contained in this post is copyright the
poster, and specifically may not be published in, or used by
http://www.diybanter.com

Thanks for all the replies... the melting the pipe option was soon
discarded and I went immedialtey to plan B - lead line (like lead lok,
apparently). Had to have two goes to make it watertight - the first
attemp the outside of the pipe was not perfectly round and smooth...
after much medium-then-fine sanding the second attempt sealed it
fine.... fingers crossed itstays that way! I'll be ripping out the
lead at some point, so only needs to last until then!

Thanks again for all the help!

Simon