Need to solder

[maple flats]

I have a crack developing on the valve assembly of my Leader evaporator that controls the sap depth. It started to come apart last season but lasted good enough. What i have is where a brass fitting is soldered in a hole in a section of SS to form the close off feature of the primative valve the fitting has begun to seperate from the ss. I have an elec soldering iron and the lead free solder. What kind of flux is used on ss? I have been told to file the iron clean, rub on some salamoniac and tin it. Then I clean both sides of the joint to be re soldered with a brass or ss brush, flux it and then solder by holding the iron against one side while I apply the solder on the opposite side but I do not know what flux to use. Been told it should be a liquid flux but what kind (acid?) Thanks in advance.
maple flats

[mountainvan]

not sure what kind, but I bought some flux for stainless from bascoms years ago. they might still have some.

[Teuchtar]

American Beauty makes those heavy duty soldering irons and has a great website with technical information including how to properly tin the new soldering iron. http://www.americanbeautytools.com/
Bascoms still had the flux for Stainless when I was rummaging around their store a couple weeks ago. Its liquid in a bottle
I noticed they had some spare valve parts ( used ) for grimm style. Maybe they'll have used leader parts too.
Good luck.

[ontario guy]

here is what i would do.

In my opinion you only need solder if you are soldering to stainless.
first question. Is your solder cracked or is it separated from the stainless? If it is just cracked support your fitting, get out your trusty torch and heat up the fitting/pan till the solder flows (your crack should change) now remove the flame and add some solder aboutn the fitting. wait a few seconds and you have afixed valve fitting.

If the solder is separated from the stainless it will be much the same thing. tip your pan on its side so the valve it up. You will need flux because you are trying to stick solder to stainless. Use the Kester brand of liquid flux there is a 3 digit number 5??, you can get is at your local hardware store. Don't put any flux where you don't want solder to go. Use some masking tape to outline your fitting (this is to make your job look nice) now repeat the same procedure as the other one.

Have fun.

[maple flats]

The solder is cracked, no seperation from the SS
Thanks,
maple flats

[digman_41]

If you are talking about the small piece on top of the float box assembly you should be able to remove it from your pan. If thats possible then you need to be sure that you have the fitting upright. The most important thing I have found out about soldering is that in order to make the solder stick the metal must be perfectly clean. Once you have the area shining and free of all material other than clean solder you can proceed. You can get flux from the Leader evaporator Co. It's called sta-clean flux make sure you pre-heat the fitting from the inside before you attempt to apply the solder. I'm afraid your electric solder iron will not transfer enough heat to the metal to make the solder melt and pull at the same time. I used an old electric iron it was about a 1lb tipped unit to start the solder melting,then switched to a traditional iron heated with a propane torch to make the finished joint. Whatever iron you use must be properly tinned. Also it helps to dip the tip of your hot iron in soldering salts just before soldering. It is less complicated than it sounds if you follow the rules. Try practicing on another piece before you move to your pan. I heated my antique iron up with an cutting torch and beat the tip into a right angle, this makes it much easier to fit into corners. P.S. apply more heat from your iron to the fitting than the stainless as the s.s takes less heat to stick. Hopes this helps Mark

[maple flats]

Thanks for the help. I soldered it last nite and I think it will work. Not quite as pretty but the crack is repaired. I had little problem getting new solder to flow and it went on quite smoothly until I tried to raise the iron, left a little area of rough. I will try just hitting that area with a torch to saee if I can finish it a little neater. Definately not the same as soldering copper pipes which I did as a plummer when I was in the heating business if I was installing baseboard heat. (except that was 50/50, not leadfree)