Hi, i'm brian with hvac school and i'm sal with products like crows and today we're going to be doing a demonstration of al cop which we've done before, but today we're gon na be do something a little bit differently all right. So what we're gon na do today is we're. Gon na show how you can actually bend the al cop around the fitting. This is a way that a lot of manufacturers do it and they actually make rings out of out of this, and we're gon na show how you can do that in the field when you have a tight application, and maybe it's hard to get into where you Want to do your work, alright, so what we're gon na do is we're going to show how to do the rings, but i also want to show, because a lot of people have asked when we get done making these connections do they hold under pressure.

So we're gon na actually, first seal off the end of this aluminum tubing using a Lassalle. So i'm going to show you that process and then we're gon na make the joint and then we're gon na pressure test it. I've already got a. I already got Schrader stub on the end of the copper.

Now one thing that a lot of people ask is: do you need to flow nitrogen when you're working with copper in this way? Yes, you should flow. Nitrogen copper is what builds up. Cupric oxide or copper oxide aluminum does not, but either way it's a good idea to flow nitrogen, while you're working, for other reasons, not only just the oxides, so we're gon na start with sealing this up and then we're gon na move on to making the joint. So this is the solder weld aluminum coil repair kit.

I want to show this to you quickly because it also comes with the Alcott braise in it, in a smaller tube as well as the alloy saw. If you can see that in there. But it's got the flux down on the inside and a baggie for the alloys all come to the rag on the inside and has the flux for the alloys. All the alloys saw rods the out cop braze, and it comes with a brush closed for cleaning.

Before and after because again with DI boys, all you need to clean the flux off afterwards. So a nice little kit, that's a little more compact that you can attach right to your torch kit or you can go with the solder weld HVAC all-in-one tube. That also comes with the fifty six percent and fifteen or five percent silver solder, so, depending on which way you want to go either way. You're gon na have the AL cop.

So that way, when you run into cases where you have to fit aluminum to copper, you are good to go alright. So the first thing I'm going to do is the the part that I'm going to switch. I want to clean it up real good before I even cut it, and I really do like these kind of scotch brake pads you're, not quite as aggressive, and they don't create as much little particles and you do want the aluminum be nice and clean before you Work it so next we want to deburr the inside of the aluminum. It's always good to kind of hold it at it.

Downward angle said with the burr: doesn't go inside the tubing like a typical technician. I couldn't find my goodne bearing tool this morning, so I'm using it on the back of my large cutters, then I'm gon na heat up the end while ice wedge it I'm gon na use this little nav acts wedge ER here, and the reason being is that I can do it very carefully and slowly so that way I get a really tight fit, because a really important part of this is that when I put the copper inside, it's a really snug, very tight clearance in between the copper and the aluminum for this product. In order to in order to work with the aluminum, it's best to heat it up first, this helps to soften the aluminum a little bit so that, while you you're working it, it doesn't doesn't crack, because the blue andum tubing is more prone to crack than the Copper another little trick you can do is you can actually switch out the just the outside opening a little bit more and that helps the solder pull in there it easier to pull in. So, let's see how we see how we fit.

So we have a nice snug fit in the outside. It's wedged out just a little bit more to help the alloy pull in alright. So what we can do - and I've shown this in previous videos - is - you - can apply the solder here and kind of let it wrap around alright. So when you make this joint, you let it cool, naturally, because they're dissimilar metals, if you cool it off rapidly, you're likely to cause little micro fractures inside the joint itself and so we're gon na.

Let it cool and then we're gon na pressure test it and make sure that it holds so we're gon na pressurize. This up make sure that it holds not seen any leaks so far, all right now we're at 300 psi little bubbles, good, just fine, no bubbles. Alright, so that held nicely now we're gon na try it in the upwards position making a solder ring all right. So it's important to put the flux in when you do this and you want to wrap it around pretty tight and again you don't have to do it on the actual joint.

You can do it with the same thing for copper elsewhere. I'm just gon na make it gon na make it a lot easier if you have a tight spot all right. So the trick here is that when you're using the Rings, you have to apply a little bit more heat into the joint, because otherwise, what tends to happen is it melts the solder first and the solder falls off so, whereas I prefer to apply the heat to Just the copper and then actually work my rod when you're doing the Rings. You've got to be a little bit more complete in your heat and obviously anytime, you're going to apply heat to the aluminum.

You've got to be really careful about that. All right so just got to let it cool off by itself and then we're gon na pressure test it alright. So we are currently under 200 psi we're gon na test. This no leaks, nice and tight go up to 500, no leaks 500 psi.

So, while the ring method can work when it's tight, you have to make sure to get a nice tight ring and it's best used in this orientation with the aluminum swedge. You can do it the other way, but it's it's advantageous to switch the aluminum and fit the copper inside of the aluminum, because the copper has higher heat conductance. So it's going to tend to draw the solder more into the joint, so product works great, got to make sure to keep your metals clean and you need to make sure that you get the a nice tight fit. Those are the two biggest factors and then, if you, if you try the first time and it doesn't work, just try it again - you'll get the you'll get the hang of it.

You just need to work with it and with the flux side down towards the pipe. So if you see the the flux is the white powder inside of the channel, you just have to make sure that that is working down towards the tubing that you're working with so i'm brian with hvac school thanks for watching.