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I found this water heater in a dumpster. Small (15 gal). Except for the copper pipes and the steel shell, is there anything else there to scrap? If so, does it require a lot of effort to take apart?

Thanks

Take a pipe wrench to the big brass valves. Or just cut them off with a sawzall. Also pull out the 3-4 copper wires running vertically to the switch. Nothing else worth tearing it apart for.

When I used to live in ND a little "trick" we did was fill them up with water, let them sit outside and freeze up, then take it back to the yard.

I agree with heartkill. I'm not sure if this is an electric water heater or not. It depends on the model of electric heater, but usually the electric heating element within is made of copper. I can't tell you how big or difficult they are to get too, because they are different for all water heaters. Usually there are a few of them, and they are some type of loop that sits inside the tank. They may be some type of alloy not copper. It may be worth it to take it apart, but you don't need too because dealing with that insulation can really suck sometimes. And they may not even be copper. If the heater happens to have some nice solid copper heating elements, they could get you around 5-10 dollars. That's a rough estimate. Taking it apart any further than what heartkill suggested would be a gamble.

Most yards classify water heaters as light iron.

As mentioned above: remove the wiring, pipe and valves and keep the rest intact.

Opening up most heaters to separate out the components is a complete waste of time. It costs more in time and electricity or torch fuel than the return.

A small number of water heaters have an inner hull that is bronze/red brass. These are definitely worth the time to separate. They come in all different sizes, but it's usually a quick check under the insulation to see if it's worth the time.