Soldering Stainless steel

[cantrell00]

So bought a keggle off craiglist. Fittings have already been installed and welded on the outside. Unfortunately the work inside was not as good in fact although the don't leak I was wondering if I soldered in the inside by heading the fitting could I effect the weld on the front?

Sorry if this is a dumb question.

That solder will melt LONG before you get enough heat on the stainless welds to damage them...

 

[bigtex52]

If it is welded on the outside and not soldered, you won't effect the welds on the outside at all. BTW, there are no dumb questions here.

 

[madscientistbrewNq]

Thank you, the guy swears he used stainless fittings and a stainless rod for the welding on the outside. He then indicates he covered each outside weld with jb weld to ensure no leaking. I'm suspect so I'm calling around to find out whether I can get it cleaned up and tig welded otherwise I might hit it with barkeepers friend, a pipe cleaner, sandpaper, acetone and the flux/8 % silver solder. I don't like the look of the joint at all. He did not dimple and I wasn't sure if I could basically redo the whole thing i.e. cut this all out. My guess is probably not...

I suppose this is what I get for not looking more carefully before loading up the truck he insists it's not rust and that it couldn't be given its stainless steel. I disagree...

 

[grathan]

That would make quite a hole when cut out. You would need a chunk of metal to replace the hole.


Adding some solder over the top of that might slow the oxidation down. Or even JB weld coating. Some people use silicone on heating elements that rust. Probably get a couple years from it even if you did nothing.

 

[madscientistbrewNq]

Yeah that's why I'm thinking of just soldering or getting it welded. If I only get 1 or 2 years out of the three keggles secondary to rusting I can say well I didn't spend a whole lot and got some use out of it. At the end of the day, I just want to get going on this system but don't want rust, etc... in the finished product...

 

[Huaco]

Try to sand and polish the area and do your best to passivate it with a paste of Bar Keeper's Friend. You may be surprised that it just might clean up really well and stay that way. Yeah it sucks that the dude did shoddy work, but try to fix what's there before you cut things out.

 

[wilserbrewer]

While a sanitary pretty weld is always preferred and required for a fermenter, it is not so critical for a boil kettle. Give em a thorough BKF treatment.

 

[wbarber69]

More than likely he either didn't back gas the weld or he cleaned it with a non stainless wire wheel. What you should do is get a 120 grit flapper disc sand the hell out of it. Clean it up with acetone and let it sit up for about a week somewhere dry with a constant room temp and low humidity to let the stainless re-oxidize as stainless. Judging by the color he didn't tig weld it but used a stick. Which pretty much means he didn't use any gas. Its very important to back gas a stainless weld or its going to rust. That's red meaning its more than likely iron oxide.

 

[madscientistbrewNq]

Yes I believe he did indicate steel rod welding not tig. Thank you.

 

[RichBenn]

I just tried a heat gun for soldering:
View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1421452236.557794.jpg
Seems easier to control the heat than using the torch. It's easier not to burn off all the flux, which seems to be one of the biggest problems, IMHO.

 

[Bobby_M]

I just tried a heat gun for soldering:
View attachment 249221
Seems easier to control the heat than using the torch. It's easier not to burn off all the flux, which seems to be one of the biggest problems, IMHO.

And...... how did it come out? How long did it take to get everything hot enough? Where's the pic of the finished product?

 

[RichBenn]

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1421532156.753016.jpg
I had first used a torch(propane), but had a side that looked sketchy. So i cleaned it up, added more flux, then put the solder on once it began to flow.

Note this was not a good test. This was my first time soldering stainless so I didn't have the technique down. I think it took slightly longer to melt with the heat gun, but not much, if at all.

Google turned up someone that recommended this way to control the heat better, which is why I tried it.

Out of curiosity, I put a thermocouple in front of the gun and got it well past 425 C very quickly. I think Stay-Brite and flux is more like 400F, so there is no problem getting things hot enough. This particular gun has adjustable heat, which helps preheat evenly.

 

[iamsblack]

Tried the heat gun method. Used Oatey Safe-Flo solder and Goot Super Soldering Flux. Installed a 1.5" TC fitting from Bobby (awesome service and sweet parts) - Thanks!!

I used the flux and solder because that's what I had. I have done tons of copper sweating and have several MAPP and propane torches but I wanted to try the heat gun for kicks. This was my first large stainless/stainless connection so it was a bit of a **** show at times but it is solid as hell and leak free. Not going to win any beauty contests but I'm sure I could get much better over time if I had the need to practice.

 

[Chefboubou]

What's Bobby's website???

 

[wbarber69]

Brewhardware.com

 

[Chefboubou]

Thanks!

 

[iamsblack]

I accidentally threw myself a curveball. On my boil kettle (converted sanke) I had a 1/2" nipple with nuts on each side, a gasket on the outside and teflon tape on the threads. I used a ball valve to control flow to the CF chiller. Basically a DIY bulkhead fitting. I use a false bottom screen (hop filter) with a curved drawtube that penetrated the centre of the false bottom to draw from beneath it.

I hope this makes sense so far.

Well, as a "upgrade" I soldered a spud on the outside...

and threaded in a nipple and ball valve and then realized I had no means of connecting the draw tube on the inside. I don't think I can crank the nipple in far enough to have enough threads on the inside. I'm sure there's a solution for this I just can't think of it. I don't think there's enough threads inside the spud to thread two nipples (one from each side).

??

 

[wilserbrewer]

I would remove the spud and solder the nipple with two nuts in place. A spud does not permit an interior connection.

 

[wbarber69]

Or he could replace it with a sanitary fitting.

 

[wilserbrewer]

Or he could replace it with a sanitary fitting.

Ok, I figure the solder will wick and fill all the voids as it tends to due and give a clean job. I'm surprised more people don't simply remove the gaskets and solder weldless fittings. It is a boil kettle.

 

[wbarber69]

Nipples can be varying degrees of thin and can be a pain to solder for most people. It's takes a bit of experience to be able to solder a threaded piece without screwing it up royally.

 

[MX1]

Tried the heat gun method. Used Oatey Safe-Flo solder and Goot Super Soldering Flux. Installed a 1.5" TC fitting from Bobby (awesome service and sweet parts) - Thanks!!

I used the flux and solder because that's what I had. I have done tons of copper sweating and have several MAPP and propane torches but I wanted to try the heat gun for kicks. This was my first large stainless/stainless connection so it was a bit of a **** show at times but it is solid as hell and leak free. Not going to win any beauty contests but I'm sure I could get much better over time if I had the need to practice.

Is there a thread or post on using a heat gun???
and cold it be adapted for copper, I have a CF Chiller I need to mend.

 

[Huaco]

Bobby,
Any chance these fittings will be available in the 2"TC variety soon?

 

[cantrell00]

Bobby,
Any chance these fittings will be available in the 2"TC variety soon?

They already are...

 

[Huaco]

They already are...

Ahh... Thanks. I simply overlooked them on the website.

 

[jleiii]

Is there a thread or post on using a heat gun???
and cold it be adapted for copper, I have a CF Chiller I need to mend.

Go back a couple pages, not a lot of detail on the heat gun, but everything in this thread applies except the heat source. I'm going to give this a try as well. I've got a leaking joint that I need to repair, this ought to be perfect.

I would think it should work equally well with copper. The biggest challenge will be heat dissipation down the pipes/fittings. The heat gun may not be able to keep up with the losses.

 

[jleiii]

I just realized I have the gun and probes handy...

Ace Heat gun, 1200 watts, with high and low. On low I got my probe to 400F, no problem, and on high it was 800F, and still rising.

I held a pc of .030 stainless over the gun on high and it took a good 5 min to reach a straw color, which starts around 400F, but it was only 1" wide. I guess I'll find out how it works when I try to reflow my fitting.

 

[Bobby_M]

Ahh... Thanks. I simply overlooked them on the website.

Though it's important to note that my manufacturer misunderstood my specs on the 2" version and the solder side of it is still only 1-3/8" ID.

Though this is something I have to repeat over and over, there is absolutely no fit problems with ripple elements on the 1.5" TC versions.

 

[jleiii]

I can confirm that you can silver solder stainless with a heat gun.

I put the gun inside the pot, and in about 10 minutes I was able to lift the fitting off and shake it clean of solder. A brush cleaned off the majority on the pot. The end of the gun was about 3" from the pot/fitting.

I sanded the pot clean and filed the fitting smooth. I then heated the fitting until the flux began to bubble, and just as it starts to turn black the solder flowed out and created a nice fillet around the whole fitting.

I then put the gun back in the pot, but with the bigger hole too much heat was coming through the hole, so I held it closer and worked my way around the hole flowing the solder all the way around. The I set the fitting in place and put the gun 'down' in the pot, and in about 5 min the solder began to melt. I pressed the fitting flat, and ran the solder around to fill in and build a small fillet. Heat off, cleaned, reattached valve, and done in under an hour.

The whole process may have been a bit slower, but the lower heat level actually made it much easier and neater.

 

[brewman !]

Drilled a 1.5" hole with a hole saw on the drillpress

What holesaw are you using that is tough enough to drill SS ? What RPM are you running it at ? How are you lubing it ?