Re: airline plumbing
i guess i'll chime in too.. lol.. anything 2" and under, you can sweat.. anything 2 1/2 or over, you need to silver solder (sil-fos).. this is all i'm doing at work for about 3 months.. copper, copper, copper.. ugh.. when silver soldering, you don't need to clean the pipe (well.. it don't need mud all over it) and you don't need flux.. sweating, you need to clean both pipe and fitting, and you need flux (nokorode.. stay away from laco brand.. it sucks..) copper is pretty expensive man, but like they say, it's waaaay cleaner.. as far as valves go.. sweating them ain't gonna hurt them.. the teflon in them will be fine.. if you are worried though, get gate valves instead of ball valves... no teflon at all in 'em.. copper ain't too bad cost-wise.. it's a bit more expensive, but in the long run, you ain't got oils, dope/tape all up in the lines, etc... and don't forget that when you order hangers and stuff like that, make sure you specify it's for copper since tubing is measured by o.d., and pipe is measured by i.d. .. what size line are you gonna run... oh.. and make sure you put in a drip leg...
if you're not livin on the edge, you're takin up too much room..