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I've accumulated several garbage bags of insulated wire. I cut off all the connectors although I probably won't bother stripping the insulation. The wire came from 2- and 3-prong household power cables, computer cables (both data and power), network cables, old parallel and serial computer cables etc. Are these all categorized as "#3 insulated wire"? Or could some of them be #2? How do I tell #2 and #3 apart?
Thanks!

No.1 Insulated Copper Wire Scrap
No.1 Insulated Copper Wire shall consist of plastic insulated unalloyed, uncoated (plated) copper wire, with the copper wire not smaller than 16 gauge (B&S).

No.2 Insulated Copper Wire Scrap
No.2 Insulated Copper Wire shall consist of assorted plastic insulated, unalloyed copper wire, free of heavy or double insulation.
Included in ISRI code DRUID

No.3 Insulated Copper Wire Scrap
No.3 Insulated Copper Wire shall consist of assorted plastic insulated, unalloyed copper wire, includes heavy or double insulation, plastic insulated telephone cable.
Included in ISRI code DRUID

I would say you would get #2 wire for the lot

hobo finds wrote:No.1 Insulated Copper Wire Scrap
No.1 Insulated Copper Wire shall consist of plastic insulated unalloyed, uncoated (plated) copper wire, with the copper wire not smaller than 16 gauge (B&S).

No.2 Insulated Copper Wire Scrap
No.2 Insulated Copper Wire shall consist of assorted plastic insulated, unalloyed copper wire, free of heavy or double insulation.
Included in ISRI code DRUID

No.3 Insulated Copper Wire Scrap
No.3 Insulated Copper Wire shall consist of assorted plastic insulated, unalloyed copper wire, includes heavy or double insulation, plastic insulated telephone cable.
Included in ISRI code DRUID

I would say you would get #2 wire for the lot

Thanks, exact specs are best!

But it seems that the thicker wire might actually be #3 while thinner computer cables etc will be #2, simply because many power cords etc are usually double-insulated. But I'll give it a try and see what my scrap yard offers me.

By the way, where did you get these specs? Does this source have info on other types of scrap like different types of alum, brass, stainless etc?

yep info here... http://www.recycle.net/

Check with your scrapyard. Some places only pay one price for insulated wire. Some places pay different prices based on recorvery rate and it's more complicated than #1, #2 or #3 insulated.

Check out this link to a scrapyard in Raleigh:

http://raleighscrapmetalrecycling.com/p ... ns-nc.html

They have two different grades of #1 insulated and two different grades of #2 insulated.

The way I normally sort insulated wire is by size and type of insulation and size of the wire. The place I take it pays the most for THHN, less for Romex and the least for data and phone wires.

There really isn't a be-all-end-all way for scrap yards to grade wire. The yards have agreements with their buyers as to what constitutes high grade/low grade or No1/No2/No3 or 70% 50% 30%. The fact that not many yards have the same grading scale attests to the fact that they all have different buyers who want things different ways. My yard has switched the way they grade wire 4 times since I started selling to them, and when I talked to the boss, he said its because their contracts were up with their other buyers and they wanted a better price. And he also mentioned that amount of copper that is recovered from one shipment will effect the price of the next shipment. So if they send somebody a shipment full of high grade wire but accidentally left Christmas lights in there, they wouldn't get as much for the next shipment, depending on what is spelled out in their contract.

http://www.isri.org/iMIS15_PROD/ISRI/Re ... 2a92e3e1e9

some more info....

hobo finds wrote:http://www.isri.org/iMIS15_PROD/ISRI/Resources/Scrap_Specifications_Circular/ISRI/Navigation/Resources/Scrap_Specifications_Circular.aspx?hkey=a5ab8cab-3c69-464f-816f-cf2a92e3e1e9

some more info....

Did you find that at the end of my blog's page on scrap metal identification? I added it a few weeks ago. I don't think it talks about wire specification/grades anywhere in it, but it does a damn good job defining all the different types of ferrous scrap there are!

No I did not see it on your blog, but I do enjoy it. And yea lots of good info on the types of scrap. As for types of wire as stated depends on the yard. My yard gives out #2 price for most any wire I turn in as the types of wire are mixed also I've never had them check to see if any of it is alum wire. I wonder how much of a difference people are getting for #1 vs #2