SS soldered pans question.

[briduhunt]

I am looking at a system that has SS soldered pans. The pans are old any may even be lead soldered. My question is can a welder clean off the solder and weld the pans or will the pans fail?
Any info would be greatly appreciated.

Brian

[maplecrest]

welding those old pans they will warp. your best bet is to use them as they are. solder as needed and try not to get the soldered areas too clean. covered the lead will not leach. or have leader re solder them.as i did back in the early 90,s was pricey then and will be now

[Haynes Forest Products]

Trying to clean up the metal to tig weld would be so labor intensive that it would be expensive and would most likley fail. You would have to completly disassemble the pans clean the solder off with heat and grinding.When you take them apart they would look like a deck of playing cards that got wet and you dried in the hot sun. Build a new jig to keep in place to reweld and if you were welding it back together and hit just a small amount of old solder it would not weld and then.........OH SCREW IT dont even try. sorry

[Jeff E]

All I have been using is soldered pans, ss and tin. I would not be afraid of using them, and like maplecrest said, don't be to agressive in cleaning.

Also, check with the manufacurer on their use of lead free solder. I have a SS soldered rig now that is lead free. I plan on using it many years...

If yours are lead soldered, and you absolutely want to be rid of the lead, sell them and get a newer set up.

[WF MASON]

99% of soldered pans can not be welded becouse of the grade of stainless they are made of has a coating . Its like trying to weld galvanised.

[RileySugarbush]

WF Mason,

Just for my information, what different kinds of stainless is used for the welded and soldered pans?

[WF MASON]

To my knowledge (which is very limited) 300 grade is weldable 304 308 316 ect, 400 grade 403 ect is not or at least the soldered pans people have insisted I try welding. It an't pretty.