I'm replacing the shower mixing valve in my guest bathroom during renovation as the old one had a good deal of surface rust. This is my first time soldering pipes together.
I mounted the new valve to a 2×4 laid flat between the two studs that the valve sits between, as instructed. I placed a similarly-mounted 2×4 about 36" above the mixing valve so that I could mount the shower arm. The way the valve is designed, however, forces me to apply a slight bending force in the length of pipe that traverses the distance between the mixing valve and the shower arm in order to get the shower arm mounting elbow screwed to the 2×4. The reason for this is the fact that the outlet in the mixing valve juts further out than the inlet of the shower arm mounting elbow when the mounting elbow is mounted to the top 2×4.
Please note that this diagram is not to scale. The bend is exaggerated for illustrative purposes.
That length of pipe is soldered to both the shower valve and the shower arm mounting elbow. I used enough flux and got two nice solder joints, no leaks. I've had it like this for a few days, and no leaks have sprung up. The bending force I've applied is not excessive. I may have had to use three to five lbs of force to push the shower arm mounting elbow onto the 2×4 so I could attach it with screws.
Do I have anything to worry about? Will the constant torque applied to the pipe, and ultimately the solder joints, cause leaks in the future?
Best Answer
Looking at what you have done I would not be worried. I do both copper plumbing and hvac copper (high pressure) if you have a good clean connection that the solder wicks back into the fitting it will be plenty strong. I have made hangers using 1/2” copper pipe and 4ea 90’s to hang heavy items with and these last for years, I know a guy that makes fancy towel racks using the hot water pipes (with a recirculating system so the pipes are always hot) a good solder joint won’t leak with a little force on it.