How To Bend Your Copper Pipe?

There are several reasons for which you might have to bend copper pipes. Even though several types of piping are available today, many people still prefer the traditional pipes made of copper. These can be used in behind walls and are available in the forms of rolls. If you want, you can mount them on the surface of the wall or bend them, as per your needs.

In fact, you might not be aware that there are several ways through which you can bend your copper pipes. Every time you may not require specialized plumbing tools for the same. Here are some of the specialized methods that you can follow in order to bend the pipes. 

The useful tools for this purpose are:

• Blow torch,
• Dry sand and funnel
• A vice
• Bucket of cold water
• Pipe benders
• Pipe bending springs
• A square to check the angle of bend.

Make sure that you always use protective gloves and safety glasses while carrying out this function.

Support During Bending:

Supporting the copper pipes during the bending process is essential in order to prevent them from getting collapsed or pleat. Make sure that regardless the method you follow, you support the pipe in some way or the other.

Using blow torches-

This is required in order to bend the tubing. You will have to solder the pipes so that bending is easily managed up to the desired temperature. However, if you have lots of pipe work to do, going for an oxy-acetylene torch will help in effective heating of the pipes to the point that they will bend the pipes.

Using pipe benders-

 

These are designed as per the sizes of the pipes. If you have different shaped pipes, you will have to invest in an entire set of pipe benders. This in turn will make the work accurate, easy and you will not need any kind of heating.

Using Pipe bending springs-

You can heat the copper pipe until it is red hot and achieves the length of the bend. The pipe can then be slipped into the spring easily so that you can bend the pipe supported by the spring. It is here that you will need to cool the pipes with a bucket of cold water. These springs can be less expensive than the pipe benders. Moreover, they can be stored and transported easily from one place to another. It is one time investment and you can use it whenever required.

Using sand for support-

You can bend copper pipes even with sand. Make sure that the sand is dry and fine. Block one end of the pipe with newspapers and fill it with sand. The sand should be compact. Air or moisture in the pipe will make the pipe fold and collapse. When you cannot put in any more send, block the other end, heat it until red hot and bend it manually.

These things can serve your purpose.

How to Take Care of Braided Copper Wire?

Have you got a lot of braided copper wires at home or in your office? Are you planning to buy braided copper wires in bulk? Do you want to learn how to keep them safe enough to use in future as well?

Then you have landed on the right page – we are here to give you the best tips to keep those braided copper wires good and protected, so that you can use them whenever you want to, even in future. So read below to know about a few tips and adopt them:

Keep them neat and clean: If you really want those braided copper wires to work for you, whenever you want or need them in future, you must keep them neat and tidy. Use a soft dry cloth to clean them after proper time intervals and keep the dust away from them. If the wires are covered or coated with any material, use a rough cloth for cleaning them.

Keep vinegar in hand to remove corrosion from the wire: This may surprise you, but when the help of a little bit of vinegar, you can actually kick off corrosion from the braided copper wires. If you really want to keep the wires working in future as well, vinegar is the best thing that would help you with the same. Dip a side of the cloth in diluted vinegar and clean the wires. Now, see the difference!

Store the remaining wires in a safe and strong box: In order to keep the wires protected and detangled, it is essential for you to buy a huge box that is strong enough for the wires or cables. Place all the wires together, but make sure that they are not tangled together, or else even if a single copper wire breaks from the braided wire, there are lesser chances for the entire thing to work. Therefore, you need to be extremely careful when you take care of those things, which are used in and for electrical purposes.

Do not entangle the wire in any way at all: No matter how your friends or relatives keep the braided copper wire, you better not allow the wires to be entangled or else they would be of no use in future. To get the best out of such wires, it is necessary for you to place them in a nice box. Keep this box safe and in a secured place. Make sure this box is out of reach of little kids.

Do not clean the wires with water: There are some people, who buy braided copper wires in bulk, thinking that they can clean them with water. Before you do anything like that, it is better to know that NO ELECTRICAL appliance or ANY WIRE that is used for electrical purposes can be washed with water. It is okay to clean the braided copper wire with the help of a wet cloth; this should also be done ONLY if needed!