Is this a catastrophe waiting to happen?

[Douglas Cossar]

I inspected a 2 year old home today. Every visable plumbing joint looked like the attached photos. I have seen it before but not to this extent. I did call it out and advised the client to have a plumber review the issue. Is it a problem or sloppy workmanship?

[phinsperger]

It looks like the acid paste was not wiped off afterward.

[Paul W. Abernathy]

just sloppy work for the most part.....did not wipe the fittings after soldering. If you start to see this on most all the fittings then you usually bet it is a paste and sloppy issue.

[Brian E. Kelly]

If the work is that sloppy on the outside, it is that sloppy on the inside. I would be worried about too much flux being applied during the soldering. Reccomend cleaning the joints and monitoring.

[Douglas Cossar]

Gents:

Thanks for the prompt response.

I kind of thought the plumber over did it with the flux.

Cheers

Doug

[Brian E. Kelly]

Use care in applying flux. Careless workmanship can cause problems long after the system has been installed. If excessive amounts of flux are used, flux residue can cause corrosion. In extreme cases, such flux corrosion could perforate the wall of the tube, fitting, or both.

http://www.aws.org/w/s/wj/2002/08/feature2/index.html

Some soldering info.

[Douglas Cossar]

Brian:

Thanks for the info.

[David P. Valley]

Douglas,

This TEE is definitely leaking.

I see water dripping down the side of the black waste pipe...

[Douglas Cossar]

Hi Dave:

I saw that as well It was dry- maybe some old glue or whatever- not water

Good eye!

Cheers

Doug

[tneumann]

Could even be flux residue....could be a leak, the only one that can tell us for sure is the guy who took the pic....

I've had that flux residue on "me" many a time....but it doesnt' shine as much on skin after you wipe it off in pain...tastes bad too...

[Jay Moge]

like that commercial for "Workin' Gear" cloths........."have you ever licked mayonase of your finger only to realize it's joint compound?"....."if you can operate a backhoe while eating a grinder and ordering cement on your cell phone "........couple other funny ones too.