To the left, 1^st picture. Two pieces of pipe with a coupling (the two pieces of pipe will slide into the coupling and meet in the middle)

First rule of soldering pipe. ALL JOINTS MUST BE SUPER CLEAN. ANY DIRT AND THE SOLDER WILL NOT TAKE, LAZY MAN WORKS TWICE AS HARD HERE.

Sand paper or wire brush, the ends of the pipe until there is absolutely no dirt showing.

Then clean the inside of the coupling, where the pipe will slide in. Good to note here:You must not touch any of the sanded and cleaned parts with your bare hands. If the part to be sanded is small or short use a clean rag to hold.

Slide all three parts together, being careful not to touch the shinny parts. Now looking at the copper pipe and the coupling you should see about ¼” of shinny copper running past the coupling. If you do not — remove the pipe, and clean enough that you will be able to see cleaned copper running past the coupling.

Apply the flux that you bought, DON’T BE SCARED TO USE A LIBERAL AMOUNT OF FLUX. Do not use your fingers; you should use a flux brush. If a flux brush is not available, use something that will not leave a residue or lint in the flux (good example: A clean Popsicle stick)

Look at the second picture. We have put the pipe together using a coupling, it is cleaned and fluxed. You have a roll of solder in one hand. A torch in the other hand,  ready to operate doctor.

Now here is the trick. You must heat the copper where the arrow is, in the middle, all around the coupling (I start at the top and work my way down). All the while you should keep the solder touching the edge of the coupling and the cooper pipe (near the top) It might stick, don’t worry it eventually it will melt.. When the pipe gets warm enough it will suck the solder in all around the joint.

You are finished when you see a little silver drop on the bottom of the joint. Picture 3

Let cool. Some wipe the little bubble off the bottom real quick. I do not touch the joint for about 30 seconds.

Clean off the remaining flux with warm soapy water and a rag.

If the solder doesn’t run around the joint, you have 3 reasons for this. First – The joint is dirty or contaminated. Second – You might have over heated the joint, soldering does not take a lot of heat. Third – Water, if there is any water in the pipe or near the joint it will have to be removed.

That’s it you have just finished soldering your first joint. NOT SO HARD

If you follow these steps carefully you will have no problem soldering pipe like a pro

Don’t forget to tell your friends where you found the free tutorial

Have a go at it. Tanks are simple to install

First step is to buy a new hot water tank. If yours was working fine then just order one that is the same size. If you found yourself a bit shy of water when the whole family wanted to shine up, buy one a bit larger. They rate them by Gallons In the US. So if you have an 80-gallon tank that’s not cutting the hot dog, get one that’s 100 gallons. If you plan on putting in a hot tub in the near future then do some research and find out how much capacity you will need to still have hot water after you install your new tub.

Next we need to come up with some tools. The typical will do, hammer and screwdrivers, we will also need some pipe cutters, pipe wrenches (two at least) you might want to have a few large crescent wrenches around as well. A garden hose will be handy.

Some materials are now needed. You will more then likely need some copper fittings. The usual would be two (¾ inch female adapters)(two ¾ inch couplings – sweat by sweat) the fittings of course will depend on the size of, and material that the original contractor used. A propane torch, or whatever torch is available, If you have to buy one here I would recommend buying the turbo torch model, heats much faster, and you are able to silver braze with it. That way if you ever decide to install your own air conditioner you are able to use it. They are really handy. Pipe dope is needed. Solder. Solder paste and brush. Sand paper or wire brushes. Soap bubbles to check for gas leaks.

Next turn off the gas valve for the incoming gas supply (see photo)

Following that we need to shut off the cold water feed coming into the tank (see photo)

After those tuff tasks wear you out attach the Hose to the water drain valve, run the hose to somewhere where the water can drain off. Sump pump or where ever. Open the valve and start to drain your hot water tank. Please give it some time to cool off if recently in operation.

Now open most of the hot water faucets in your home, let the tank drain for a few minutes. Put a small pan or bucket under the pressure release tube (see photo). Open the pressure release valve and let it stay open, this releases the vacuum your tank will create and let the water drain off faster.

While the water is draining off. Make sure you turned off the gas valve, disconnect the pipes from the gas shut off valve to the hot water tank; they usually have a union connection them and you just unscrew this to disconnect. If it does not have a union a new one will have to eventually be installed, put on your materials list. You should at this time you should also cut or disconnect the copper pipes from the hot water tank. Cut them half way up to give you some room to work when reconnecting.

The only thing left to disconnect now is the flue pipe. They usually just pop off and can be reused for the new hot water tank. If you decided to install a larger tank you might have to change the pipe sizes. The instructions for this would have come with the tank. If you are going to struggle with the gas line or the flue piping, I wrote a guide called The Ultimate Furnace Installation Instructions its $9.97 and explains how to accomplish these tasks in a step-by-step fashion. It’s fairly simple though you should not need to buy the guide. A word of caution, most of the problems that come from hot water tank installations, or furnace installations, come from the flue piping, or the gas piping, so be extremely careful in these areas.

Now you should be able to just remove the tank. Remove the cold water feed and the hot water feed pipes. We will be needing those. Also remove the pressure relief tube, that’s usually reusable.

Stick the new hot water tank in place and start to put together. The tank has marked on top which hole is for the cold or hot water feed.

I usually try to line the gas line first. That is usually the most difficult pipe to move. Make sure you use a union to connect. Once you are finished with that check the gas line for leaks with your soap bubbles. There is no room for sloppiness here, check and recheck. Turn the gas valve back off. Install the Pressure relief valve that comes with the tank; install the old tube that you took off the old tank.

Now attach the copper pipes. If you don’t know how to solder and you have copper piping, there is a free tutorial on soldering copper pipe at How to solder copper piping . It’s very handy. Copper pipes will not solder if there is any water present, so super dry there. That’s not an exaggeration it’s a fact if there is water in the pipes it will not solder. If the pipe keeps dripping. Turn of the water to the home. Open all the faucets in the home. It should dry it up in no time. If that does not work my grandfather Jake showed me how to stuff bread up the pipe and solder it together super fast. Works, but I don’t like to do it. Shut off the faucets when finished and turn on the water, check for leaks and repair as necessary.

Note: Sometimes when you mess with the water system in your home, you will pass a good bit of sediment through your piping. This will cause the screens in your faucets, and the showerheads to get clogged with sediment. You might have to clean these out to get them working when you’re finished.

Now fill the tank up with water. Turn the gas valve on again (check for leaks again) and light the pilot light. If you don’t know how to light a pilot light the instructions are on the side of the tank (next to the gas valve).

Reinstall the tubing for the pressure relief valve.

Adjust temperature settings on your tank and your done.

Let us know how it goes. Tell your friends you found it free on www.furnacebook.com

I already know the questions running through your head. Why? Why do i need this. If you have a boiler, you do.

If you have a hot water heating system, it consists of two major components. Your boiler, and your Hydronic circulating system, both operating together, but yet still very much apart.

We want you to be prepared to either know exactly what a contractor is saying to you (you should know everything you need to know about your boiler hydronics after reading this book) The book is very well written.

A few of you will even be able to fix/repair your own system, thereby saving hundreds to thousands of dollars.

Feel free to send me a beer through pay pal , if you like!! LOL

A new training manual, “How Hydronic System Components Really Work,” is available from Bell & Gossett. The 40-page manual presents new and updated information on system components and their roles in the hydronic system including:

* Operation of air relief valves, air separators, compression tanks, expansion tanks and more
* The circulator and how it moves water in closed systems
* Taking control of water hammer and velocity noise
* Low water cut-offs for hot water boilers
* Flow control options
* The point of no pressure change

For a free copy of training manual FHD-501A, visit www.bellgossett.com. About 1/2 way down the page on the left hand side is the manuel.

Write us and let us know how you liked the book.