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I was wondering if scrap yards take electrical wire that is not stripped yet.

I strip what I can but the old stuff is much harder to strip and I dont enjoy stripping it. It is starting to pile up and was wondering what category it would be and what a fair price is.

The stripped wire is stacking up as well but I have other plans for that.

Thanks for the info

#2 Ins wire by me is going for $1.05 a pound

I take unstripped by the barrel and generaly get #1 or #2 at 50% or better. right now that would be 1.60 or so a pound. what i take is a mix, monitor guts power cords, larger stuff out of hvac equipment.

Most yards will buy insulated copper wire. Some yards buy at a set rate regardless of what you bring in. Some yards buy based on estimated copper recovery percentage, which is based on size of the wire and type of insulation. If you have enough wire to sort by size and insulation type, you should come out ahead selling based on recovery rate.

messymessy wrote:Most yards will buy insulated copper wire. Some yards buy at a set rate regardless of what you bring in. Some yards buy based on estimated copper recovery percentage, which is based on size of the wire and type of insulation. If you have enough wire to sort by size and insulation type, you should come out ahead selling based on recovery rate.

My yard buys and sells based on recovery rate. Estimated 70% copper is $2 per pound. estimated 50% is $1.50. estimated 30% is $.75 per pound. 12% or christmas lights are $.40 per pound.

theirrationalist wrote:My yard buys and sells based on recovery rate. Estimated 70% copper is $2 per pound. estimated 50% is $1.50. estimated 30% is $.75 per pound. 12% or christmas lights are $.40 per pound.

And the realy nice thing about sellling insulated wire is that you get paid for the trash you would normally be throwing away if you stripped it. Think about it based on these prices.

Suppose you have 100 pounds of insulated wire with a 70% recovery rate. If you take it straight to the scrap yard, you would get $200 (100 pounds times $2 per pound).

Suppose instead that you take this same wire and strip it. You generate 30 pounds of insulation, which you throw away, and 70 pounds of bare copper. If you take this to the scrap yard you might get $231 (70 pounds times $3.30 per pound). So for all the time you spend stripping the wire, you net $31 more. Honestly, what's your time worth? Why does anyone still strip wire by hand? Unless it's really big wire, it all seems pointless to strip by hand.

The stuff I hand strip is the Degass wire in the monitors, I take the nasty sticky ones as insulated and get %55 most times. so hand strip on the larger ones is still well worth it. We got %60 one time and shot the bull with the guy for 30 minutes before unloading to get that price.

I am stripping the wire on the good / easy stuff and saving it untill I have enough to get it melted down into a weight set. Thats the plan.

hobo finds wrote:#2 Ins wire by me is going for $1.05 a pound

I knew my recycler bought that kind of wire but didn't think it would be worth my time to save it. Last night as I was loading my car with copper and brass I came across a bundle of ins copper and I figuered I would toss it in the trash on my way to the car. I changed my mind and threw it in with my copper. I just got back from the recycler. I asked him if he took the wire too and he said yes. It only weighted a pound but it got me another $1.28

I have been throwing away so much of this over the last few months along with computer power supplies and cell phone power supplies. I know they have copper and steel.

Any body recycle computer power supplies and cell phone power supplies?
What is the going rate on these NOT TORN DOWN.

cyberdan wrote:Any body recycle computer power supplies and cell phone power supplies?
What is the going rate on these NOT TORN DOWN.

Standard ATX power supplies, assuming they're intact, have the wiring still attached and you have 1,000 lbs or more: over $0.40/lb at an electronics recycling yard. Many local scrap yards will buy them for less as electric motor scrap, others will not take anything with PCBs. Shop around.

I assume by cell phone power supplies you mean the charging unit that plugs into the wall. With plastic housing intact and wire clipped many scrap yards will buy them as electric motor, $0.25-$0.30/lb near me.

Dr. Cadmium wrote:I assume by cell phone power supplies you mean the charging unit that plugs into the wall. With plastic housing intact and wire clipped many scrap yards will buy them as electric motor, $0.25-$0.30/lb near me.

I don't want to do any extra work on these other than clip the wire and throw it in another box. I know I have thrown out at least 250 of these in the last 12 months. That and all the wires and power supplies on dozens of computers.

Dr. Cadmium wrote:

cyberdan wrote:Any body recycle computer power supplies and cell phone power supplies?
What is the going rate on these NOT TORN DOWN.

Standard ATX power supplies, assuming they're intact, have the wiring still attached and you have 1,000 lbs or more: over $0.40/lb at an electronics recycling yard. Many local scrap yards will buy them for less as electric motor scrap, others will not take anything with PCBs. Shop around.

I assume by cell phone power supplies you mean the charging unit that plugs into the wall. With plastic housing intact and wire clipped many scrap yards will buy them as electric motor, $0.25-$0.30/lb near me.

The charging unit you are talking about is basically a line input DC power supply. I have boxes of them that I have saved over the years as they often come in handy when I need a small DC power supply for a project or need to replace one that is missing or damaged. In the electronics world we refer to them affectionately as "wallworts".

The yard I go to looks at the thickness of the insulation and the gauge of the wire. More insulation than copper = bad price,
more copper than insulation = good price.