11-12-2011, 06:25 PM
If you are physically able to I would highly recommend doing the soldering, and replacing that old valve with a ball one. Even though it might seem daunting it's really not that bad, and once you've done it people will really admire your skills. Out of all the plumbing fittings, a soldered connection is one of the easiest and most reliable ones to deal with.
The hardest part is getting all the materials you might need, proper sized fittings and such, but you would have to do that with any other connection.
Biggest tip I can give is to make sure you let the water drain out of the pipe before trying to solder. It may seem like an unnecessary step, but any water left in the pipes will soak up the heat from the torch and make the job take much longer.
Looks like a relatively accessible connection from what I can see in the photo. All you would need to do is remove the old valve, which may require cutting off one side, then de-soldering the other. Actually what I would do is just cut out the center section of the valve with a reciprocating saw to remove it, then you can de-solder both sides without sacrificing any copper pipe. You'll have to clean up both sides to make sure there is no solder left over, and then use a fine sand paper to prep the surface for new solder.
The hardest part is getting all the materials you might need, proper sized fittings and such, but you would have to do that with any other connection.
Biggest tip I can give is to make sure you let the water drain out of the pipe before trying to solder. It may seem like an unnecessary step, but any water left in the pipes will soak up the heat from the torch and make the job take much longer.
Looks like a relatively accessible connection from what I can see in the photo. All you would need to do is remove the old valve, which may require cutting off one side, then de-soldering the other. Actually what I would do is just cut out the center section of the valve with a reciprocating saw to remove it, then you can de-solder both sides without sacrificing any copper pipe. You'll have to clean up both sides to make sure there is no solder left over, and then use a fine sand paper to prep the surface for new solder.