What role does flux play in soldering pipes?
Flux is used in conjunction with solder when soldering anything weather it is s circuit board or a copper pipe the flux and solder work to create a chemical change and join the solder and copper together. Flux primarily acts as a cleaning agent. It is possable to solder or sweat a joint without flux but the resulting connection is normally going to be inferior compaired to one using flux even if the copper is brand new simply exposing the copper to air leaves some oxidization and contamination that flux normally will get rid of. Mind you flux is not a substitue for cleaning the copper beforehand but should allways be used to do a bit of cleaning. If i remember correctly also flux for plumbing is semi acidic to help clean better while flux that is normally inside the solder for PCB repair is not acidic. I might be wrong on that but i have always been told the 2 types of flux are totally different and can not be interchanged because plumbing flux is acidic.
