Sweating pipe

Follow the advice on the cleaning of fittings and pipe. They must be shiny. If your fittings are old pitch them get some new ones and store the extras on a ziplock bag to prevent corrosion. The next tip is to use Mapp gas. It is the yellow cylinder and it requires a torch made for mapp gas as it burns hotter than the stuff in the blue cylinder. Use plenty of flux and I wipe down the finished joint with some steel wool(stored in another ziplock bag). Put the fitting on the pipe and heat the place to be joined all around. this requires moving the torch around the joint and fitting. Watch for the copper to take on a dull appearance, as this happens hold the torch on the opposite side of where you place the tip of your solder. I like to use a thicker solder on a roll, as the roll of solder that came with the Mapp gas kit was thin and hard for me to work with. The solder should be drawn into the joint. Move the solder around the joint keeping the torch opposite it and the solder should go right in. Also reccommended is the anti burn pad to keep from ccatching surrounding areas on fire. Most important is to have a charged and functional fire extinguisher on hand as you are working with an open flame. Pratice makes better so you must keep at it to be good. I realise that the mapp gas and other things mentioned here cost a little more but what is frustration worth to you. There comes a point of diminishing returns.

Rich

A plumber's trick for sweating pipe with some water in the lines. Go ahead and clean the joints thoroughly, and get everything ready for soldering. Then, stuff plain white bread into the pipe. The bread will act as a sponge, and soak up the water. Work quickly and wipe the joint dry, spread flux, and solder it. If you are quick, the bread will soak up the water long enough for you to solder the joint. The bread will dissolve, and not stop up your pipes.

As others have already said, the main secret to soldering is that the surfaces have to be CLEAN! If it isn't clean, the solder WILL NOT stick.

The trick is to use two torches: Put on on the joint and use the other one to heat the pipe uphill from the joint. I usually heat the pipe about one foot from the joint, if there's enough room.

If you only have one torch, first heat the pipe uphill from the joint, then solder the joint. The water should boil before it makes it to the joint.

For really tough jobs, I've got a "C" torch tip made by Smith Equipment that heats completely around the joint. I haven't run into a case where I've had to use it, though.