stay brite vs brazing

[dannyo]

Lately I have been getting some slack from newer techs regarding my insistance to braze all my r-22 repairs , replacements and installs. They cant understand why I dont use stay brite. I think stay brite is a great product and have used it on residential line sets and some other instances. I am also aware of its high tensile strength however besides it not being the standard I am at a loss for a response as to why it shouldent be used in a commercial application. Any comments would be appreciated

[acjourneyman]

They probably use SB because they are hacks and don't know how to properly braze joints.I just talked to a friend of mine and he told me the hack shop owned by JCI uses 95-5.

[RichardL]

In many(Most) areas "Soldering"(Stay-Brite) is virtually non-regulated from a safety & fire-watch requirements.
"Silphos"(5 or 15%) is "NOT" soldering due to it's much higher temperature that is required. It is classified, as you correctly stated in your post, as "Brazing"..
Brazing has the same OSHA & Insurance requirements as Arc-Welding...
But hey...I ain't worth squat with Stay-Brite...even though its stronger & prettier (When someone else does it).
Sooooo..I will always grab a stick of silphos & some wet rags....

[return fan]

i was trained ,by a guy that i respect very much, to braze discharge/hot gas lines, everything else can be stay brite if desired. sales guys at parts house, however, claim that the stay brite can be used on disharge/hot gas lines.

[psychometric]

I brazed forever, but started to staybrite more and more, especially on larger pipes. Now, I staybrite almost everything. And It's as reliable as any braze joint I've done. Even hot gas lines, the tensile srtength is the same, copper heated to lower temp, no anealing, and if the discharge line gets to be over 800 degrees, then they've got bigger problems!

[jogas]

I was taught you brazed from the compressor discharge thru 2/3 of the condenser, the rest can be soft soldered.
I now only SB joints I'll have to take apart, like dryers and TEV's. I'll try to braze everything else. It never leaks when done right.
Jogas

[rscamaro]

I guess that I'm old school. I was taught that you don't want any acid products anywhere near your refrigerant circuit. The other reason why I don't use sb is that if there is a fire, the chances of the sb hitting its melting point and losing the charge in the fire is much greater than the braize joints. I don't want any chance of a fire fighter or anyone for that matter breathing in the acids created by overheating the refrigerant.

...Ron

[Randy S.]

I've never soldered a refer line in my life.

[amickracing]

A former company never brazed anything.. well, amost nothing anyway. Now where I work they threatened to take the SB out of my van because they hate it.

I rarely use it, but it's handy when ya need it!

[matt8085]

Originally posted by Randy S.
I've never soldered a refer line in my life.

Here, here.

I wouldn't even think about soldering a refer line. I was taught to braze refer pipes and solder plumbing pipes.
I don't want the flux in my refer system.

[sonc]

Staybrite in the wrong hands can get ugly


http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/3390/glob1hf9.jpg

[makinmoney]

So can silver solder! I will only use stay brite on the low side, which is very rare (if at all) due to the fact who brings both S/S and S/B out of their vans at the sametime?

[no8no3]

I like staybrite for TXV's and small stuff, but the next guy comes along and brazes the line with a turbo torch and melts all the staybrite. Really messy.

[Randy S.]

Ever watch somebody try to solder with oxy-acet?

[centrifugal tech]

Nothing but 15% and 45% for me ,all the other I think is new stuff for people who can't braze correctly..If it claims to be 10x easier and save money all in the process,you know somethings missing!

[technut]

stay bright is what? and does it melt like reg. solder with same temp? does it suck in like solder with flex? never heard of the bright product.

[amickracing]

Originally posted by technut
does it melt like reg. solder with same temp? does it suck in like solder with flex?

Yup... yup...

[technut]

I was tring to fix a leak on the suction side inlet of the compressor when I burned threw the suction coupling .It was a careless act.I had 14 hours in on that day and was tring to hurry up so i could put a vac. on the system and go swimming for an hour.Now I'm left with no choose but to repair this f##k-up and go eat the extra time on job.If I knew about this brite product, I would of used it on the suction side with no problems.

[jeffnette]

Originally posted by Randy S.
I've never soldered a refer line in my life.

Same here!

[whitepoundog]

I used to braze eveything. Now I use my discression when to braze and when not to. Staybrite is a great product and if done correctly there should never be an issue. The flux you use for it is non acidic so that is not a problem.
Usually the guys that fight using it are the same numbskulls who will braze, don't use nitrogen, heat the pipe to cherry status and are proud of there brazed joint but now the pipe around it is weak and the inside looks like hell. Like I said I use both in diff circumstances.