Silver solder

Originally Posted by Abuilder

Are you kidding? Waste all those chemicals and time for a lousy %3 silver.
That silver solder is safe for plumbing contractor use and sells for $26 a pound!!!!!!!

If the refiner knows his work, and processes the material properly, there is no waste, when you use acids or other expendables processing metals, it's never a waste if done correctly because you have figured all those costs, and recover as much as you can.



Old solder is almost always useless unless, and this is the only cause, it's only metal. But often there is a core of flux, or in this case it's actually flux itself. Under those circumstances, the flux tends to go bad, becomes gooey and leaks out in some cases where it is warm, or it becomes hard inside the solder because the moisture evaporated, and will no longer burn off at the correct temperate because it's turned into a kind of cement.

If you can sell the unused solder paste/flux to someone who can use it, your suggestion is wonderful. However, I have processed enough solder to know that by the time it gets to me, there is no using it for any serious important work. Plumbing is serious, important work. Bad flux could cause a major leak, and water damage which the plumber will be responsible for, ultimately it will be their insurance. Plumbers charge a lot because they go through a lot of material like this, and that they have to carry hefty insurance in case something does go terribly wrong. Imagine how upset a plumber might be if you sold him bad solder, and it caused his customer damage, and his insurance to go through the ceiling or a dink against his license, a call to the BBB, etc.

Scott