TL;DR
A solder joint is the connection made by heating a fitted copper pipe and fitting until lead-free solder melts and wicks into the gap by capillary action, fusing them watertight; plumbers call the process sweating. Success depends on prep: cutting square, deburring, cleaning both surfaces bright, applying flux, and heating the fitting rather than the solder.
What it means
A solder joint is the connection made by heating a fitted copper pipe and fitting until lead-free solder melts and wicks into the gap by capillary action, fusing them watertight; plumbers call the process sweating. Success depends on prep: cutting square, deburring, cleaning both surfaces bright, applying flux, and heating the fitting rather than the solder. The Safe Drinking Water Act has required lead-free solder on potable lines since 1986, so old joints in pre-1988 homes may still contain 50/50 lead-tin.
Where it sits in the glossary
Solder joint is part of the Trade jargon group inside the ProFix Directory glossary. Browse every term in this category from the glossary index.
Why Ohio homeowners should know it
This is a term Ohio homeowners encounter when reading contractor quotes, hiring paperwork, or inspection reports. Understanding it well enough to ask one good follow-up question is usually all the protection a homeowner needs.
ProFix Directory keeps definitions short on the index page and saves the longer context — Ohio-specific rules, where the term comes from, and which ProFix tools touch it — for these per-term pages so the term is easy to cite and easy to share.
ProFix tools that touch this term
See also
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