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Removing a soldered fitting from stainless

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zazbnf

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I recently acquired a 10 gal stainless beverage dispenser on ebay hoping to use as a mash tun. It has a bulkhead fitting soldered in, however the solder joint is cracked both inside and outside due to a dumb*ss seller on ebay and their poor packaging for shipping.

I considered trying to repair the solder joint as is, but this thing is filthy as well and I don't think I could get the existing solder and fitting clean enough to ensure a bond with the space restriction inside this thing.

I would like to remove the existing fitting, clean up the stainless surfaces and either start over and solder or have a new fitting tig welded in. I have extensive experience in electronics and surface mount component soldering, but next to no experience in soldering potable connections or the materials used to do so.

My question is, can I just heat this back up and wick the old solder off using a copper braid similar to solder wick? Do I need any special chemicals to clean up the stainless before starting over? Any other advice before I get started?

I have skimmed through the soldering stainless thread and didn't find any information related to reversing the solder procedure.

Thanks in advance for any advice.
 
Clean it up well with a stainless wire brush, apply some Harris Stay Clean flux (or other stainless wetting flux) and refloat the solder. That's assuming it's solder and not brazing filler which would have a silver content too high to solder.
 
Clean it up well with a stainless wire brush, apply some Harris Stay Clean flux (or other stainless wetting flux) and refloat the solder. That's assuming it's solder and not brazing filler which would have a silver content too high to solder.

Ok, I went out to give the wire brush a try, however this has now brought up a new concern. The solder is much softer than I would expect from silver solder, additionally there was some kind of white oxidation on the inside joint. The solder joint after brushing is a dull grey color, and you can see little grooves in it from the stainless brush.

My best guess is this thing was built in the 50's. The spigot had a bakelite handle. Would the white oxydation be lead oxide? Can you even solder stainless with lead based solder?

Thanks,
 
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