Rough but common mistakes when soldering polypropylene pipes with your own hands.

Currently, almost every second water supply system in apartments is installed using polypropylene pipes.

This frenzied popularity of polypropylene can be explained very simply. The material hasresidual low cost, and even easy to install.

Therefore, it is not surprising that the soldering of polypropylene pipes is often done by home craftsmen who do not have the proper experience and knowledge.

As a result, enough gross mistakes are often madethat lead to sad consequences.

It learns better from other people's mistakes, so before starting the soldering process, it will not be superfluous to familiarize yourself with the most common of them.

Mistake # 1: Neglecting cleanliness in the workplace and beyond.

Soldering of polypropylene pipes is usually done during repairs, and dust and dirt are always present during this period. If you do not pay attention to this, then you will hardly be able to get a high-quality connection.

The fact is that foreign particlesthat get to the place of soldering worsen the quality of the weld

and the connection will start to leak over time. Water droplets at the soldering point also work.

Therefore, it is imperative to clean the polypropylene pipe and fitting before welding. dry clean cloth and, of course, clean up the workplace.

Mistake # 2: Failure to comply with the time frame for heating the connection elements.

This mistake is probably made more often than others..

Although each welding machine (soldering iron) usually comes with an instruction with the recommended heating time for pipes depending on their diameter, but few people read it.

As a result, during welding, polypropylene is either insufficiently heated or overheated, and welded marriage is formed. In this case, the defect may not be detected immediately.

With excessive overheating of the material, polypropylene melts and the inner diameter of the pipe decreases and an increased stress will be created at the junction.

And with insufficient heating, the elements do not connect well and the likelihood of leaks is high.

Mistake # 3: Incorrect joining of the connected elements.

It is an error when connecting heated elements applying excessive forces when welding, since internal melting occurs and the pipe cross-section decreases.

But also insufficiently tight introduction of the pipe into the fitting, it can also lead to the formation of a leak in the future, since a gap forms inside the connection.

And, of course, when connecting elements made of polypropylene, you cannot scroll them and try to fix incorrectly welded elements.