Gary said:
>Solder will corrode in the ground or in the weather.
Solder will melt when high current goes through it long before the conductor
melts.<
May be true for 'soft' solder - tin/lead alloys, melting at around 230 deg C.
Silver solder - 'hard' solder' - is another matter, as it doesn't melt until
its at red heat. As someone said, if your conductors get that hot through a
current surge, they're way too small! Silver solder is pretty corrosion
resistant too. The firebox and smokebox of a 5 inch gauge coal fired steam
locomotive can't be described as being environmentally benign, and the silver
solder seems to manage OK there without corroding.
Actual brazing of copper with 'spelter' is likely to be a bit dodgy, because
you have to get it very hot and you can melt the copper. Bear in mind that
strictly, 'brazing' and 'silver soldering' are different, although the terms
get used loosely as being the same. Brazing actually uses finely divided brass
(spelter) to provide the joining material, and, from memory, is heated until
there is a puff of white smoke where some of the zinc boils out of the brass,
and the spelter has melted. BTW, brass shouldn't be used in high temperature
applications over a long period because it gets weakened by 'dezincification'.
Not very applicable to ground rods.....
73
Peter G3RZP
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