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Weird question I guess, but I’m second guessing my handiwork.

I’m a DIYer, watched a bunch of youtube. For two separate projects I soldered 16 joints and 6 joints. (1/2” and 3/4” copper) For both when I turned the water on nothing leaked… so quite obviously I have done something wrong.

So my question is: If it’s holding now, when is it going to fail on me?! Thanks!!

I reemed, and wire brushed all joints both inside and out, thin layer of flux on pipe and fitting and then heated from the bottom. Then applied 1/2” or 3/4” of solder (depending on joint size) - basically until I saw a drop at the bottom of the joint. Then waited a few minutes and wiped them down and inspected to see if I could see a little solder in the joint all the way around.

jsharpe
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    This question is entirely speculative and therefore off topic. – isherwood Mar 27 '23 at 12:42
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    What causes solder joints to fail/leak most times is pipe movement. You have a pipe flopping around it will leak/fail much faster than a property supported pipe. – crip659 Mar 27 '23 at 12:46
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    Amongst the myriad tasks that can easily go wrong first time you attempt them, soldering water pipe joints is one of the easiest to diagnose. Gas is harder, refrigeration harder still. Ethernet crimping is the worst, but that won't leak/explode if you get it wrong ;)) – Tetsujin Mar 27 '23 at 16:33
  • @Tetsujin with ethernet, you can get it hilariously wrong and still "work" (accidentally making a cross-over cable, then the auto-sensing switch corrects for that). or you remove all noise-reduction and turn the cable into 10Mbps. – Nelson Mar 29 '23 at 01:10

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You are joking about your abilities. Confidence comes with experience.

If the joints were going to fail they would have shown leaks within seconds of you turning the water back on.

RMDman
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