10 MISTAKES Beginners Make When Soldering For The First Time (Beginner's Guide) | GOT2LEARN

I am in my sixties now. When I was younger than ten years old I remember my dad letting me help him fix things around the house. He was a "week-end" warrior, but pretty good at it. He did carpentry, plumbing, electrical, concrete, painting.... For plumbing he would let me clean the copper fittings. We used steel wool for the outside and a brush like the one in this video for the inside. He did instruct me not to touch the parts I cleaned as to not get the oil from my skin on them. He would let me watch as he assembled the parts and then soldering them together, explaining what he was doing and why. I remember him telling me to let the pipe melt the solder. My dad passed away when I was twelve... but, as a teen-ager I was able to continue to "fix" things around the house for my mom. Much to my guy friends amazement. I did plumbing on my own with confidence, replaced a gas water heater, ran electrical wires and installed sockets, lights, and switches where non had existed before, carpentry work, laid ceramic tiles, did drywall.... and all without going to any school to learn these trades. I was a self taught "weekend warrior". As a side note here. I thought I had died and gone to heaven when I bought my first hand held, power operated, circular saw. It was so much easier and the end product was so much more professional looking then cutting the wood with a hand saw. I even invited my friends over and demonstrated it by just cutting of a slice of a 2 x 4. They all looked on in amazement and picked up and closely examined the cut piece. Since then I've purchased a 12" miter saw and 10" table saw and I can't remember the last time I used a hand saw. I still keep them around but they've all rusted over time. Some of those same saws are the same ones my father used. They my even still have some of his "hand oil" or finger prints on them somewhere.

Better change the title : Leave 'beginner's out. I thought I was not a beginner at retirement age. You proved me wrong ;-) THANKS !!

Reminds me of my appy days as an HVAC tech. My boss drilled every point you made into our minds daily for months. It's all instinctive now, made us great installers.

What was not mentioned was that you cannot have an "air locked" area in your soldering, make sure air pressure can escape somewhere in the pipeline you are soldering as trapped heated air will want to push your wet solder out of the joint while your soldering if it has no where else to go

Wow! I don’t recall ever seeing a DIY video that I actually enjoyed watching from an entertainment perspective. Very well done good sir.

What I like about your video is you concentrate on cleaning the copper. I like the abrasive rolls made for plumbing but the other stuff works too. At one time I thought I needed to be very careful or it would leak. Then I experimented with some old fittings I got at a garage sale. I found that it was easy to make an ugly joint but it was almost impossible to make a leaky joint if everything was clean. If you clean the pipe and fittings use flux and get the pipe hot enough to melt the solder it won't leak. It seems to work even if you don't direct the flame in the right place or dump way too much solder in the joint. I tried every wrong way I could think of. I even just held the torch on one side until the back heated up. It looked terrible but didn't leak. In short get the copper clean use flux and it will probably work no matter how inexperienced you are. Still if it's for a real job you should be careful to make it look presentable.

I watched a plumber replace the tank in my parent's garage once and he had a dripping inlet pipe. He asked for a couple of slices of white bread, which I ran and grabbed for him. He then stuffed bread into the dripping pipe to retard the water flow just long enough to get the solder completed on that joint. He explained that the bread would then just go into the take where it would break down and then flow out and no one would ever see it. He only used the white part and took off the crusts and ate when he didn't use.

Two other things. Don't get the fitting so hot, that the solder boils out. Don't put water on joint to cool it down too quickly, as the solder will contract and cause a leak.

Lmao I remember back when I first started my plumbing career as an apprentice I was looking up plumbing videos on how to learn different stuff. I remember when I first subscribed and you had like 1k subscribers. Now it's been 4 years and I'm a Journeyman now and your channel has blown up.

Love your videos especially the cut away graphics. I’ve made every one of these mistakes at least one. GLOVES. Wear gloves. At some point you will grab a hot part. I’m referring to us ‘handy men’. Also think ahead to where you will place a torch that is still lit. When you are in an awkward position is not the time to figure it out.

This is just such an excellent example of a tutorial video about plumbing tasks. Well thought out, planned, executed, easy to understand. I've done tutorial videos for my team, your's is far superior. Nice work. Your video will become my own company's in-house video (replacing my own!) to train our own people on how to sweat copper tubing. Many thanks and keep up the great work.

Another excellent video. I appreciate that you get right down to business, stay on point, and don’t add any “cutesy” stuff or stupid music.

Great hack about cutting the handle off the brush and using it in a drill, but ONLY operate the drill in the direction the handle is wound. Don't ask me how I know this. Dude, I learn SO MUCH from you, glad to see your channel growing!

Well...my first question is "where were you 60 years ago". I suspect there have been some problems with soldering I did back in those days. Excellent video by the way. Those safety tips were right on the money. I come from a family of do it your selfers so projects like this were always common place. YouTube makes it a lot easier and you can gain the experience of others who know what they are doing. Thanks.

This has me second guessing every joint I’ve soldered. Lol. But more confident for the next ones

Incredible tutorial, thank you. If only I had this 40 years ago. I never cleaned my flux afterwards. Another tip if you solder close to other fittings. I always cover the adjacent fitting then with a wet rag, preventing then that from getting loose if I solder close by.

Thank you for this video. My problem with soldering is that when it gets sucked in the joint real fast and clean I would always second guess myself if enough solder went in. Over time I have gained alot of confidence in my plumbing skills. Thank you again my friend.

Another good thing to have nearby is a one or two gallon pump spray bottle filled with water. It’s a cheap water fire extinguisher, just don’t forget to pump it BEFORE you start soldering . It works great in confined spaces where you might not be able to get the nozzle of a powder extinguisher.

Very Good. Easy to understand. Now I know how far in the solder should flow.

I click like on your videos as soon as they start because I know I will always learn something. Thanks and keep them coming!