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I have the opportunity to get a washing machine, two dryers and an electric stove. I know that I should take out the motors and any wiring. The washing machine I'm not sure what to do with. Do I need to remove the weight that is on the bottom? When I take it down to the yard will they just take it along with the rest of the light steel? I noticed when I was down there push bikes and lawn mowers with tires still on them, so I'm thinking there not too fussy.

I was talking to one of the guys down there and he said there was number 1 and 2 steel grades. Would you fellows know what the thickness of the two grades would be? I totally forgot what he told me.

Cheers
Alan in NH

Different yards have different classifications of steel and use different standards to sort them. You need to ask the owner(s) of the yard. Scrap yards are used to answering phone calls about prices and different grades of material.

Generally:

Light Iron: steel under 1/8" thick. Most yards allow for considerable contamination in this category, such as whole appliances, whole lawnmowers, bikes with tires, etc. Some will take washers with counterweights attached, others will not.

No. 2 Steel: steel that's at least 1/8" thick and cut to 5 feet or shorter lengths.

No. 1 Steel: steel that's at least 1/4" thick and cut to 5 feet or shorter lengths.

Of these 3, No. 1 steel is worth the most. Some yards just do "light iron" and "heavy steel" and don't care how long pieces are.

Thanks for the info Dr Cadminum. Any body on the washing machine question?

Cheers
Alan

Some more info on types of steel here http://www.recycle.net/Metal-I/scrap/in ... lid=100029

As for the washer they should take it as is...

Make sure the drum isn't stainless steel first. It's worth pulling as SS pays around .50 a pound here.

hobo finds wrote:As for the washer they should take it as is...

I guess they would take the washing machine as is. They would take a whole car as is; but that doesn't mean you are getting as much as you could be. When I scrap a washing machine, I strip out all the wire and cut out the motor. Sometimes you can get a whole pound of industrial grade wire from appliances like that. Motors pay four times as much as steel near me, and industrial grade wire pays 35 times as much. If you dont pull that stuff out of the appliance, chances are, the scrap yard will and they aren't going to pay you for the extra money they're going to make. If you think their going to be giving you a hard time for the weights, just bring it in as it is, and see what they say. If they say you need to take them off, just take them off right there. But make sure you cut the other stuff out.

Just want to say thanks to all you guys who have given me advice..I can't that you all enough!

Cheers
Al