feed line to evaporator

[Brad W Wi]

I'm going to be plumbing my supply line to my new evaporator soon and have a question on doing it. I plan on running 1 1/2 " PVC line over head to the evaporator area. I plan on using pipe to drop down to the evap. The pipe will be going near the stack and I plan on metal pipe going down to the evap.My question is with a stainless evap. tank should I run brass or copper pipe to it? Will I get any I think it's called electrolisis with the two different metals?? Or should I spend the money and go with stainless pipe??

[Dave Y]

Brad,
I Know cooper can be expensive, But I use it every chance I get. I don't beleive you would get any adverse reaction from two different metals. I recently plumbed my evaperator and I used cooper all the way back to the storage tanks. I like to work w/cooper better than plastic. I feel cooper does a better job.

[HanginAround]

Brad, the process is called galvanic corrosion (often mis-named electrolysis). If your metals are separated by an electrical insulator, like rubber or plastic washers, or teflon tape, it doesn't happen. Plus, even if it did it will likely be yrs and yrs before it was an issue. Stainless and copper don't have a very high galvanic potential between them, so I don't think you have to worry.

[maple maniac65]

If you ever get to the sugar house some morning and your feed line is froze :oops: It is a lot easier to thaw a copper pipe than a plastic one that will just burn.

[maplehound]

The plumber I use told me that brass containes lead. So I would use it very sparingly.
Ron

[Dave Y]

Maplehound,
I have seen your photo album. With all that tubing you have hung all over the place I can'believe you have a plumber. You only need to now two things to be a plumber. Crap won't run uphill and payday is fridays.

Seriously I think copper is the best for plumbing water and sap at the sugerhouse. just use silver solder and map gas and you won't go wrong

[Breezy Lane Sugarworks]

And copper is less porous than plastic, so less bacteria will built and is easier to clean.

[Fred Henderson]

All the manufactured home in this country have plastic pipe in them.

[maplehound]

Dave Y,
MY neighbor and fathers best friend is a plumber and he does most all my plumbing in the house for me. He mostly laughs at the plumbing I do myself. So when I need something soldered I get him to do it. I hae never had any luck solldering pipe and he thinks it's nothing.
Ron

[maple flats]

Soldering is very easy. Just a few things to remember, the joint to be soldered must be completely clean, both physically and chemically, do this with a clean brush, or plumbers cloth for physically clean and the proper flux for chemically clean. Next use the proper solder for what you are soldering. To solder heat the joint about mid point in the insertion overlap and heat it until the side opposite the flame melts the solder as the torch is pulled away, while you touch the solder to the joint seam. This applies to joints up to about 1.5 or 2" pipe size, larger you may need to heat from more than just 1 side if your torch is not large enough. The other thing to remember is that you can not solder with any water/sap in the pipe if it is close to the soldering as the heat will draw the water etc to the joint and water can not get hot enough to melt solder. Good luck.

[Dave Y]

couldn't have said it any better. I learned to solder almost 30 yrs ago putting sprinkler systems together in denver. New is very easy,Repairs can be stubborn at times. But if you do it the way maple flats explained it there is normally no problem.

As far as all the homes in americia w/plastic plumbing a large percentage of the water comsumed is treated w/clorine killing the bugs. that does not happen with maple.

[Fred Henderson]

Well boys as I said some place before that I am a pippefitter by trade. Took me 4 years of trade school to get that title. We use to use a paste that was self cleaning, just wipe it on both fitting and pipe, stick them together and solder. Now I see CU fittings on the market that has a ring of solder already in them. Ship fitting, some are brass with a grove machined in them with a ring of silver solder in it. When puttting them together you have to use a oxy/acct torch to heat them up because sometimes you are working with 3&4" dia.

[royalmaple]

Couple of other good points is after you clean the pipe ends dont touch with your hands, since oils and grime won't help the process.

And if you want a nice professional no drip look, keep a wet rag handy and once you got the solder sucked into the joint, kill the torch and wipe the pipe off quickly. Nice and purdy.

won't look like sea gull sh*(*.

[maplehound]

Or you can just call your neighbor and let him do it. :P :) :) Makes him feel like he is part of the operation. :)

[SteveD]

40 years ago an old plumber I was helping showed me a trick to deal with the small amount of water in the pipe acting as a "heat sink" type problem while soldering. He said just push a slice of bread onto the end of the pipe a few times..like a cookie cutter. The small "cookie" of bread will sit up inside the pipe and absorb the dripping water long enough for you to solder the joint...later, when the water is turned on, the bread is softened by the water and is pushed out of the pipe. I have used that trick many times since. The cheap white "wonder bread" types work best.

Steve

[Fred Henderson]

I have used that trick many a time but as we get away from our trade in retirement we tend to forget.

[oneoldsap]

Copper doesn't melt, thats a good feature in your feed line!