Plummer help soldering

[FordDude]

More like unsoldering. I am trying to heat a joint to pull it apart. There is maybe 1 inch of 3/4 copper pipe coming out of the house in the backyard, then the soldered joint. Cleaned all the paint off of the pipe heated with MAP gas being careful not to overheat the copper. Tried twisting, pulling and rocking back and forth. It will not budge. Not sure how old the joint is, a guess would be older than my teenage daughter. :hs

My next thought was to dremel it apart.

Plan "C" would be cut it off and use a Coupling. Plan "A" was to use a 90 and go down T with my hose bib down some more with a brass valve for future water needs.
Here is what is looks like now. Oh and this my rental house. It was leaking, but I put a new washer in the hose bib and fixed that problem for now.

Cliff notes: Can a really old soldered joint be pulled apart?

fd

 

[Ponyman66]

If you're reaching the point of super heating the copper then the solder is already melted. Keep in mind that copper joints have a slight interference fit. Make sure you're heating the entire joint though, not just one side or part of the way back. Everything close (like the hose bib) are also going to act as a heat sink and draw some of the heat away. You might want to try a strap wrench on the section you're removing (and as far away as possible from the joint), then gently twist back and forth after you've got the joint heated well (and keep the heat on).

 

[Anonymous]

Was you able to melt the solder? If there's water in the pipe it may be keeping it from melting. I have seen copper pipe joints lock up before by the minerals in the water. BTW, I hate copper plumbing and in our area it always starts to leak in about 40 years.

 

[Mach1Rider]

Old joints can be undone.
Drain the pipe, wrap a cold wet rag around the tee so not to undo the seal there.
Use propane torch to heat cap all around it and twist off with pliers.

 

[cmayna]

Old joints can be undone.
Drain the pipe, wrap a cold wet rag around the tee so not to undo the seal there.
Use propane torch to heat cap all around it and twist off with pliers.

yup yup

and twist off with pliers.

Real men use their teeth

 

[opentrackerSteve]

what they said. You've got a large heatsink there with the tee, stub, and valve. Take the grounding strap off too - it's not helping.

You could also take the valve insert out of the valve to escape hurting the seal.

If you're still having trouble, I'd get a dremel tool and cut the collar you're trying to remove - doing that will eliminate any compression stress of the interference fit.