Er, nothing "wrong" with plumber's solder, per se, I suppose, so long as
it's not from an old roll in your grandfather's tool box.  If so, it likely
contains lead, which if overly ingested in food, water or air particles can
turn your brain to mush, over time.  Other than that it MIGHT BE fine.  Lots
of the solder on the market today contains antimony instead of lead.  Which
may mean that instead of merely turning to mush, your brain may merely turn
orange with green stripes and canary yellow polka dots in a few years,
instead.

Most copper bowl, cups, turns (sp?) and other items of traditional
copperware for the dining table, such as made by Paul Revere, etc., usually
had silver solder so that the items could contain piping hot foods without
fear of a low temperature solder melting into the soup.

One consideration might be that if you are traveling somewhere where road
temperature can top 120 degree F, and your unit is secured under the floor
of the vehicle, that radient road heat might cause leakage, if the melting
temperature of the solder is less than the temperature of the road.

This is America and can you solder with any dang temperature solder you
decide is best for your purpose and needs.

Dave

davidgunning@pivot.net
.

Most modern plumbing solder is "lead free", these days
----- Original Message -----
From: "Larry Alofs" <lalofs@rcn.com>
To: "David Gunning" <davidgunning@PIVOT.NET>
Sent: Monday, May 22, 2006 4:47 PM
Subject: Re: [VANAGON] Under Floor Water Tank Still Needed

>
>
> David Gunning wrote:
>
>>>
>>> Of course, if it was me, I would probably head over to Home Depot for a
>>> few hanks of copper sheet flashing and try to build a unit to custom
>>> specs.  The trick with doing it that way, however,  if there is one,
>>> would
>>> be to absolutely use REAL silver solder, not that fake plumbers silver
>>> solder stuff.  The only difference in soldering real silver solder is
>>> that
>>> the actual soldering temperature needs to be alot higher to get it to
>>> flow
>>> properly, requiring oxygen to boost the acetiline or propane soldering
>>> torch temperature hot enough.
>>>
>>> Dave
>>>
> So, if it holds, what's wrong with plumber's solder?
>
> Larry A.
>
>