Soap test on a stainless liner went wrong in a hurry

I was trying to verify a seal on a 12 foot stainless liner last week in Tacoma, and I used dish soap to check for leaks. The soap bubbled up and made me think there was a gap, but it was just the moisture reacting with leftover flux. Spent 45 minutes re-caulking a joint that was fine all along. Has anyone else had the soap test give them a false alarm, or am I the only one who fell for it?

1 comments

1 Comment

grantp141mo ago

The soap test is garbage on stainless if there's any flux or moisture involved. You're not the only one who's burned 45 minutes on that. I switched to a spray bottle with plain water and a tiny drop of dish soap, way less foam, but you gotta wipe the area dry first and let it sit for 10 minutes. Heat the joint with a heat gun before testing, that burns off any leftover flux. If it still bubbles after that, then you got a real problem. Also, check the liner seam direction before you start, half the false alarms come from condensation pooling in a low spot.