Every scrap yard will be interested in buying your scrap copper. It is your job as a scrap seller to find the scrap yard with the best price, and that is closest to your house or place of business. You can always call a scrap yard and ask about their current pricing. (You can expect to get prices at or a little below those listed in the upper right corner of this web page.) To find the nearest scrap yards, I suggest using google maps, google places, or a similar local search engine.
Before you haul your payload off to the scrap yard, you will want to first sort it into its separate categories. Unless you sort it properly, the scrap yard will demote it all to the lowest priced category, insuring that you get paid less then it is worth. Scrap copper that is contaminated with steel, aluminum, or other less valuable metals will lower its value significantly. If you have copper pipes with soldered in joints, for example, these are called copper #2. But if you take your time cutting all of the soldered joints out, leaving just the copper pipes, you will have the higher paying copper #2.
- Scrap Copper Solids
- Scrap Copper Non-Solids (Turnings, dust, chips, ect)
- Scrap Copper Wire
- Scrap Copper Breakage (Scrap Motors, Scrap Transformers, Scrap Copper Windings)
- Scrap Copper Alloy
Selling Scrap Copper Solids
Congratulations! You have gotten ahold of the good stuff!
- Scrap Copper #1 (Copper number one): Defined as clean copper clippings, punchings, busbars, commutator segments, tubing and wire not less than 1/16 of an inch thick.
- Scrap Copper #2 (Copper number two): Defined as unalloyed copper solids, at least 96% copper, and free of excessively leaded, tinned, soldered copper scrap; brasses and bronzes; excessive oil content, iron and non-metallics; copper tubing with other than copper connections or with sediment; copper wire from burning, containing insulation; hair wire; or burnt wire which is brittle.
- Scrap Copper #3 (Light Copper): Light copper solids are any type of copper sheeting that is less then 1/16 of an inch thick. This scrap copper is worth significantly less then copper 1 or copper 2.
Selling Scrap Copper Non-Solids
This basically covers all things like dust, chips, turning, ect. I don’t feel like I need to really get into this too much, mainly because most yards have their own prices and procedures for selling those.
Scrap Copper dust, chips, and turnings, ect are worth only as much as your scrap yard is willing to pay for them, and unfortunately, that is usually not that much in my experience. (Around 25% of spot price.)
Selling Scrap Copper Wire
Every yard is different when it comes to insulated scrap copper wire. You may find that it is worth stripping your wire if you cant sell it for a good price, or maybe you will find that you never should strip wire…
Scrap Copper wire can be sorted into 5 different grades:
- 85% Wire: Thin case with a diameter comparible to a pencil’s. If you have this type of wire, just strip it yourself and get full copper price!
- 70% Wire: Romex/machine wire without any attachments. Found inside of any type of electronics or appliances
- 50% Wire: Extension cords and appliance cords
- 35% Wire: Thinly gauged wire with a considerable degree of attachments. “Communications wire” For example, VGA cables, telephone wires, ect.
- 10% Wire: Christmas lights
- High Grade Coppe Wire: Any copper wire with a single layer of insulation.
- Low Grade Copper Wire: Any copper wire with a double layer of insulation.
Again, THESE ARE JUST GENERAL GUIDELINES! Every scrap yard is different. Every scrap yard will purchase scrap copper wire with standards which have been agreed upon between them and a refiner.
Selling Scrap Copper Breakage
If you have scrap electric motors, scrap starters, scrap alternators, scrap transformers, scrap inductors, scrap ballasts, or scrap power supplies you could be getting payed over 3.5x what you are getting for shred steel.
As a general rule, if I have any type of scrap copper breakage that weighs more then 20 pounds, I will break it apart into scrap copper and scrap steel. Depending on what your yard buys, you may not even have a choice, and to get a decent price, you must disassemble!
To pull out scrap copper winding, I cut through the winding that stick out of one end with a sawzall. Then I use a 5 point hammer and punch to hit the copper windings out of their slots. If They slide out easily, I will cut through one end of the copper winding, and then pry the winding out on the other side using a pry-bar/ crowbar. This is also one of the techniques you will need to perfect depending on your situation.
Selling Scrap Copper Alloy
The world of metallurgy revolves around the broad range of alloys that can be created from any type of metal, but you are most likely familiar to the more common scrap copper alloys: Brass and Bronze. These are effectively the same thing, as the definitions have become blended in modern culture. This has lead many scrap yards to just call this price “Copper alloy” as opposed to scrap brass or scrap bronze. (Technically brass is an alloy of copper and zinc, and bronze is an alloy of copper and tin, or other elements.)
But other then scrap bronze and scrap brass, scrap alloys also come in the shape of Cupronickel, Inconel, and Monel. These specialty alloys are worth much more, and you need to find a yard that buys them for their higher scrap values.
{ 104 comments… read them below or add one }
Nice very informative. I am new to this kind of business but I have plenty of sources where I can get scrap metals. Right now me and my group is working on a deal to purchase scrap metals. We plan to resell this after we have purchased it. I am relatively new to this kind of business but I have already experience selling scrap metals in the past 5 months. Right now I am involved in a partnership with a friend and my friend's friend who is into scrap metal buying. We brought him in because he is the expert when it comes to scrap. I also did invite my lawyer to handle all the legal stuff. Hopefully our deal will push through. Thanks for the information now I will know how to deal and sell it.
"If you stole your scrap copper, go to hell. Otherwise…"
I love it!
Great guide.
HI VERY GOOD INFO IS THERE ANY CHANGE FROM BUYING AND IMPORTING STRIPPED COPPER WIRE FROM ABROAD RESELLING ON IN UK,,?
Have you ever heard of anyone getting “copper toxicity” from unwinding copper? They were not wearing gloves.
Thank you.
I have not personally, no. Unless somebody was exposed to the copper for very long amounts of time, and was ingesting it in small amounts, then I don’t think there should be any problems.
I handle copper all the time without gloves, but I always wash my hands after working.
Have you ever seen people with copper bracelets on for arthritis.
I bought a whole bunch of stuff at an auction recently and it is full of copper/brass home decor items and tea pots, etc. Are these likely actually copper/brass or some sort of worthless plated items?
My initial guess is that they are, indeed, most likely solid copper, but you never know!
Another way to tell is to just take a file to an edge, if it is solid copper or brass the edge after filing will remain the same consistency / color. If you scratch the surface and see metal color underneath then its plated.
I can not for the life of me find out what kind of metal is in VGA cables. Its silver in color not copper, but why would they use steel for such a wire used for video display?? And I can’t imagine it would be silver. So anyone have a clue?
The VGA cable has an aluminum foil EM shield that reduces signal noise due to outside forces. Many VGA cables also have a ferrite choke that helps to do the same things.
The connector pins at the end of the VGA cables are usually gold plated.
I am 9 years old and scrapping. I like your website. I scrap the metals copper and brass and sometimes steel. Most of my brass comes from bullet casings we find while fishing. Thank you for the information.
Thank you for picking up those brass casings! After selling the brass, do you plan on spending the money or saving it?
Also, thank you very much for telling me how much you like my website! It makes writing these articles so much easier!
How long does a copyright last on newspaper articles?. . If a service copies newspapers articles and then posts it in a database on the Internet, is there also a copyright on the Internet content?.
I don’t know buddy, you tell me.
Hi there,
I have about 30 metres (13kg I am told) of copper telephone cable that was left in the garden of my house when the builders/phone men finished the properties roughly 4 years ago. It has been in my garden shed since and I am wondering how and where I can sell it for a good price, can you help?
Well, it is most likely insulated copper wire, and a scrap yard will buy it for roughly USD$3 per kilo; But the problem is that it isn’t your wire, so I can’t condone your selling it.
In reality, that wire left behind in his yard by workmen legally becomes his property
once he purchased that house.
Ahhh, yes. I see now. Before my original response I must have misunderstood where it had come from. I thought it was left over from a repair that the phone company came out to do.
In the United States, that would have been a legal grey area. Just like your water meter – or your gas meter, etc – the phone company owns all of their electric lines and power meters, even though they are on your property. This includes any type of cable that is accidentally left over from repair work.
If it were me, I would have no problem taking into the scrap yard, though.
The original comment, however, is coming from the UK, where property rights are slightly different. That’s why my answer ended up being, “I can’t condone your selling it.”
Good catch!
I WANT TO SELL SHORTMETER CABLES IF WE”VE MADE AN AGGREMENT WTH THE SUPPLIER
DO I NEED A PERMIT?
I am not a lawyer, but my guess is no.
Also, please use your inside voice when typing.
I am a plumber, and it had been my experience that, when working with copper it is a good idea to wear gloves, it can be razor sharp, and with extended exposure it WILL stain your hands green (comet and a real good scrub usually gets most of it off) and it will cause you’re hands to get very sore. Also a good way to remove solder from copper pipe is heat it up with a torch then wipe the solder with a wet rag to get the bulk of it off, cool it then sand with a good emery cloth. Clean as a whistle and you just turned that #2 into #1!!
Very true! And the scrap yards will buy the lead solder for ~ 35¢ per lbs.
also another good way to clean old copper pipe is with tabasco sauce. It wont take off the solder but it makes the pipe nice and shinny.
Firstly, I really like your website. It is very informative without any b.s.
Secondly, I do have a question for you about copper wire scrapping, as my knowledge is mostly with ferrous metal scrapping. I have access to a quantity of 16 ga. and 18 ga. stranded wire which is pretty common stuff, somewhat similar to stranded extension cord. It is the left over pieces 1 – 2 feet long after home power generator transfer switches have been connected to the residential power panel. It is not unlike automotive stranded wiring. I have a manual wire stripper for removing the insulation from these “shorts” and it works really well. My question is this. When you strip this stranded wire it is not twisted very tight and can come apart into its individual strands pretty easily. So, should I be giving it a twist to tighten it up and make it more solid before I take it to the scrap dealer? It would not be too difficult to put one end in my vise and chuck the other end in my cordless drill and then give it a quick, slow shot on the trigger. This would certainly make it more solid without much extra work and maybe increase its quality and value. Any thoughts?
Thank you so much.
Pete
Its great that you are looking for some way to make more money from your scrap metal! (I call it “putting my scrapper goggles on”)
Unfortunately, most scrap yards don’t care about how tightly wound your stranded wire is, as they usually just classify it as #2 copper regardless.
Every scrap yard has different policies, however, and your scrap yard could very well look at a tightly wound bunch of copper scrap as more valuable then the individual paper thin hairs.
I always put a few twists in my stripped copper anyways, as it makes it easier to handle.
Hello~
I have never sold scrap metal before but came across some copper items I was considering selling. I was reviewing your ‘Scrap Prices’ graph to gauge if the amount I have is worth a visit to my local scrap yard.
Unfortunately, I’m unable to tell by the graph what unit of measure I should be using. For example, if I’m reading it correctly, ‘Copper #1′ is worth ~$3.19, but I can’t tell if that is $3.19 an ounce or a pound?
Sorry to be so ignorant on the matter, but could you provide the unit of measure the ~$3.19 represents? I would be so grateful!
Thank you for your time!
~Anna
Thanks for the question Anna! The non-ferrous scrap prices are in dollars per pound. The ferrous prices are in dollars per ton. The precious metal prices are in dollars per ounce.
I have some 4″ copper pipes and copper tubing with “wings” all used in a defunct passive solar system. It is discolored and bent. Does the discoloration classify it as #2? What is its worth per pound?
Yes, this sonds like it is copper #2, but only if the ‘wings” are also made of copper. If not, they would dock the price substantially, so you should pull them off. It’s value is roughly USD$2.25 per pound (if it is, indeed, copper #2)
Hi, just have to say your an inspiation! I showed my son (10 ) your artical after telling him there is money in scrap – Loved the 9 year olds comment – now he is busily striping down old tvs – that we pick up from the reycle centre for nothing when i drop off my waste for recycling, What a gold mine. There are hundreds there in just waiting to be stripped. Even managed to blag a few car batteries from them. All to go to the local scrappy when i am driving passed it on the way home from work. he has made £564 so far ( which he changes into Pennies so he can spend all day counting out his money ). I also managed to sell Copper coins to the scrappy for more than there face value. Pre 1992 as these are 97% copper. so check your change as they are still out there.
When I changed over from oil to gas they just left the copper tubing in place. I took it down because it did not look good. I have 12 lbs. of copper tubing to sell. Can you estimate what it is worth? Thank you for any data you may provide.
Best Gene
This scrap copper would be worth between $25-$30 at your local scrap yard. Thanks for the comment, and best of luck!
Is 3 conductor 4/0 worth stripping? Its the armored cable type
If you have a strippibg machine I would say definitly. If not, I would try to cut a deal with your scrap yard. If it is aluminum armored they will be much mor receptive to negotiation
Thanks for the tip! It is aluminum armored. Most scrap yards around here act as though they’re doing you a favor by buying your scrap. How is it where you are?
What about copper tea kettles or decorative wall hangings made from copper?
They can be made of copper, brass, or steel.
Hi there.. great great article! Thank you!
This evening I was cleaning out my soon to be ex’s junk in the garage.. none of which he has any interest in. I found these heavy and I mean solid heavy flat pieces of metal, maybe steel?..About 12″x 4″.. have no idea what he used them for but my God.. I had a hard time getting a grip on them! I am guessing there is three or four of them. Is it worth while taking to a scrap metal place or donating them to someone who picks up …. Also .. there was a lot of copper joints in little plastic bags.. I am thinking for plumbing? Brand new.. shiny… should I take them in also? Also..are boxes of nails worth anything?
Thanks!
Lindsay
The copper pieces are the most valuable. The more of these, the better. They are worth $2.50 per pound. The steel plates and nails are worth 11¢ per pound. It may or may not be worth your time, depending on how heavy everything is, and how tedious the job will be for you. If you put an ad up on craigslist’s free section for scrap metal, somebody will come pick up up for free.
If you can steer me in the right direction please.
I have over 20 sets of Jumper Cables and have removed all Insulation. Is this type #2 copper? and is this type a “clean” copper or just run of the mill. My fear is getting ripped off and there are allot of people that try it. Just want to know where i stand.
Thanks
Jeremy, Ont, Canada
This is #2 copper! It is a type of clean copper.
Oh!!!
A tip for removing that hard insulation on some wire?
Boil it in a large pot of water and use a new razor blade.
30 FT wire took less than a hour. Saves our planet from the toxic after burn.
Hope that helps anyone.
Jeremy.
Great article. Stumbled across it during a Google search.
What category would former bullet jackets fall into? These aren’t the brass casings that hold the podwer, but the copper jackets from around the lead projectile. When the lead is smelted out (for casting new bullets), what classification does the copper fall into, especially with some small amounts of lead scattered inside the empty jackets?
It depends on how much lead is in the copper alloy. If it is more then 7% lead, then it may be considered some type of “Red Brass”, otherwise, it should be copper #2.
Ok, thanks. It looks like it’ll be #2 copper. The lead cores are melted out of the copper hulls, leaving just copper and couple drops of stray lead.
is THHN type wire considered the same as stranded lamp cord wire. i have some that i am thinking about stripping but not sure if it will be worth the effort. thanks and love the info.
Yes, THHN is better to strip then lamp cord wire. YOu will make more scrap copper per pound/per foot of wire.
are ballasts from florecent/ high pressure sodium/metal halide fixtures worth anything, if not is there a certin way they should be disposed of?
thanks, Great Site.
Yes, they are either worth general scrap price, or some places buy them as transformers/motors/copper breakage.
I am a new demo contractor. I get a lot (typically over 1000 lbs) of communication cabling (category 5, Category 6, and often ARMM armored cable), and am wondering what most scrap yards classify this cable as. I;ve found a way to remove the jacket and armor of the ARMM to get a better price, but have yet to discover an easy way to remove the jacketed category 5 & 6 cable. Is ti worth it to get these down to just insulated copper conductors without the jacket, and if so, can you recommend a stripping method?
Thanks for the terrific website. Very impressed you’re willing to answer so many questions.
Hello Kelly!
The answer to your question depends entirely on how much cable you are selling.
Any scrap yard in my area would be happy to pay “extra” for having such a large amount of wire delivered consistently. That means, if you have 1000lbs a month (or more) they will be much more willing to pay you up to 10% more for your wire, and that would be an easy way to take advantage of your scrap volume without wasting time stripping cable.
Stripping armored is tough, especially if you don’t have the right tools for the job. My guess is that you will want to avoid stripping wire, as it is time consuming, and therefore costly. If you decide to strip your scrap wire, you should first check to make sure it is worth it; Strip 5 feet of wire, and measure how many minutes it takes you. Weigh the “good stuff” and the “bad stuff” separately.
Let’s say for example, it took me 2 minutes to strip 5 feet of copper wire, and I am left with 2 ounces of copper and 2 ounces of plastic. Before stripping my wire, the wire was worth 4/16 pounds * $1.20 per pound = 30¢. But after stripping, the wire was worth 2/16 pounds * $2.70 per pound = 34¢. That means for every 5 feet of wire I strip, I am making 4¢ extra. If I am making 4¢ extra per 2 minutes of stripping, then I am only making 1.20 per hour of stripping. In this scenario, I would most definitely advise NOT stripping the wire, because it is not worth your time. In your case, however, a scrap yard may end up paying you better for only stripping the armor off your scrap wire; and in that case it would be worth your time.
Best of Luck!
I’m an apprentice plummer and I work in construction. My boss gives me all the scrap copper. It ranges from 1/2 inch to 4 inch copper. Some of it are just cut off #1′s and some are soldered #2′s. I didn’t separated them but I went to a scrap yard and the guy gave me $2.25 per pound for it. Now, is this a fair price or did I get ripped off. Do you think it’s worth going back to get my copper back so I can go elsewhere? I know I should have done my research before I went to the scrap yard. That was my mistake. I just don’t like being lie to or ripped off. Thanks in advance.
Let me start off by reminding you how lucky you are to get all the scrap copper. That is not a small chunk of change for a business man to give away to an employee. So be happy that you got the scrap copper in the first place!
The price you were paid may or may not have been fair. #2 copper, as of today, depending on your location, is worth about $2.50 per pound. #1 is about 20¢ more. So, you made about 10% less then you should have. Which, in all honesty, is not as bad a it sounds. Basically, if you sold them 50 pounds of copper, they paid you 112 dollars or so, but they kept an extra 15 dollars for themselves.
But keep on mind, prices depend heavily on location and local demand. You may have been paid fair, it all depend on the competition in your area.
Do not go to the scrap yard and demand anything from them. The copper is now there’s. You have sold it to them. It is theres by law. The only person you can blame in this situation is yourself, but even still, you really didn’t lose enough money to get that upset.
Best of luck!
I been scraping out old electric motors and burning them. I was wondering why the copper wire turned a silver color instead of red color that copper normally does when its burned.
First off, thanks for the comment! If you get a chance, you should join our free forum!
The reason the copper turns a white color is a counter-intuitive one! It turns white because it’s actually aluminum!
Often times the windings in cheaper motors and transformers are made from aluminum to cut down costs. The aluminum wire is painted with copper colored lacquer for insulation.
You may notice this aluminum wire is much lighter than the other copper wire, and that is because copper is 3 times more dense than aluminum.
Its a good idea to scrape the motor windings before you harvest them. It’s not time efficient to harvest aluminum wire if you can just sell the motors for more “as is”. Best of luck!
My dad owns a building that is over 100 years old. He had to install a new heating/cooling unit and they replaced the pipes with PVC. Come to find out, the “pipes” were solid 2″ copper. It is a 4 story building . There are several 10′ & 12′, even some 25′ pieces lying around. Is there any worth to this?
Yes, chances are you have over $100 of scrap copper! Congrats! Bring it to your local scrap yard and they will pay you on the spot!
Hey there! Great website!
So my question is, I am currently making a foundry to melt down scrap metals. I have a lot of scrap copper that im sure fits in every catagory of copper. Will melting it all together lower or raise the price of my copper? I plan on cleaning the copper up well before melting it. but im not sure if it would be better to melt each catagory seperately or if it would matter once they were melted.
Thanks!
IF you are only interested in selling the metal for scrap, I would suggest to not melt the copper at all. The energy and cost of melting the bars will not get covered by the gains of selling chunks of copper.
haha well, I actually planned on making the foundry for fun, as I’ve always found stuff like that interesting. The plan really is to enjoy the foundry work. I’m just wondering if I will be lowering the value once it is all melted together, or if i should sort it into each catagory before melting
Oh, Well it shouldn’t have much effect on the value… But you should ask your scrap yard before hand, because each one can have there own particular specifications for scrap. I can tell you that some scrap yards may want to test your scrap materials before buying them, to assure they are actually entirely scrap copper… (Some con men will try selling blocks of copper with giants chunks of lead or junk in the center.) Best of luck!
I love the informative break down that you provide, especially the pricing graph. My problem: I can’t tell what grade of copper I might have in the first place. I think it’s the good stuff (but doesn’t everyone?). I have an old fashioned copper boiler. The outside was polished about 15+ years ago to make it a decorative piece and there is no tarnish. However, aside from the original base being removed, it seems to have all its original fixtures at the top and inside. I think these might be brass. Is there a way to tell? If the boiler is a higher grade copper what might the fixtures set me back, if at all, since I don’t know a way of removing this metal? If it’s ultimately worth it to remove the fixtures, how would I do it?
It sounds like it would be worth removing the fixtures because those types of boilers are mostly copper #1. The challenge will be removing the contaminates to get to only scrap copper, but unless you have the right tools, etc, it may not be possible. The fixtures would set you back up to 50% of your total value, so it is worth removing them if you have the ability.
In your opinion, considering what VGA Cables are composed of, would it be at all worth it to scrap them?
YES! VGA Cables are a very unique type of data cable in that they are insulated in all sorts of ways, and have all sorts of “garbage” other than copper, metal, etc.
But VGA cable plugs/ends are worth at least $1.50 per pound because they have gold plated pins. You cut just the connector end (plastic screw and all) and they are worth at least $1.50 per pound on eBay or to a small gold refiner.
The cable that is left is made of aluminum and copper (plus insulation) and it is considered low grade “data” cable at the scrap yard. As of the time of this comment, that would be worth over 50¢ per pound, depending on the scrap yard.
Love the info and comments! Sounds like you really know what you’re doing here, and there are a lot of useless pages out there on the nets on the subject. I also get all the wire out of studios when we do demo before a new job. Most of the time I take all the cable to my local scrap metal yard and get between 51 to 75 cents, usually closer to the lower end. I feel like we used to get a lot more when I was taking it in for the whole company instead of just from my own jobs. But of course I didn’t pay as much attention back then cause I didn’t get to keep the money for myself. I mainly pull out 22-24 AWG audio, ethernet, RF, and video cables. All insulted of course. Being hundreds of pounds, I’ve never bothered with stripping it. Should I be looking for a different yard? They used to give us the ton price no matter how much we brought in per trip. Is there any cables I should be pulling out so they don’t downgrade my wire any further? Last time they classified it as Type: Insulated Copper, Grade: Mix 3 & 2.
Thanks for your help!
Yes, you need to talk more with the scrap yard about how they specifically grade their scrap wire… Chances are there is a more efficient way of sorting the wire that will result in more money for your trips. If the wire is separated by its different grades, then the scrap yard has a better ability to estimate its value.
For example, RF wire is almost worthless as scrap wire. It is worth ~10¢/pound. So if your wire is mostly RF, then you may be doing pretty good. But if a scrap yard sees that you have a lot of junk wire mixed into the good wire, they are just going to pay you a lower price, and send you on your way. They will not bother explaining the different grades of wire, and how much they are worth, unless you call and ask them specific questions, or ask them when you come in.
i have some copper pipes and copper elbow fittings, copper strap, that were left over from repiping my home, are these worth recycling? & if so what would it fall under, copper#1, or #2?
This copper is worth recycling! The tubes will fall under #2 if they contain solder o are painted, and #1 if not.
i have 2 3ft copper pipe. and a few smaller cut off pieces along with some 3way & elbow copper fittings most unused, tho one of the 3ft pipes has some writing on it like “mhmp”. would these be considered #2???
Ive never recycled any type of metal before just cans & plastic bottles. And around here the guys at the recycling yard arent always honest. please help
Your scrap copper would be considered either copper#1 or copper #2, depending on weather or not it has solder or paint on it. If the elbows and fittings are copper, and they have no solder, then they are considered copper #1.
Your scrap should be worth between ~$2.85 per pound and ~$3.00 per pound.
Best of Luck!
I have some old welding cables, I have stripped them it is fine wire wound into a 3/4″ bundle. What grade copper would this be? Are old jumper cables the same type ? I am also wondering about brass, what are most water valves and random plumbing fittings , yellow or red brass and how do you tell the difference?
This sounds like it will most likely b Copper#2, but your scrap yard may price it as Copper#1 if the individual wires are thick enough (which means they are worth more). The difference between yellow brass and red brass is that red brass has much more copper in the alloy, making it a much redder color. The easiest way to tell the difference is to scratch it with a file and check the color.
Love your articles. I have just recently gotten back into scrapping and was mostly a sell it all as shred kind of guy before. I have over 100 pounds of electric motors and was going to strip them down when I get the chance but I heard the scale operator tell a guy the other day that all his copper wire was copper coated aluminum. I was a little confused because he had small strand windings that all looked to small to be aluminum. Are there motors out there that are hairthin aluminum? I would hate to waste all of my time. I know that a lot of the bigger motors with larger diameter wires need to be scraped first to check for coatings, but never figured the thin wires would be.
Yes Jason, motors will often times have aluminum wires, but very rarely is it hair thin. I suggest you scrape all of the motor windings with a file or a knife to check for aluminum before stripping them down.
If the motor doesn’t have copper wire, then I don’t recommend you strip it down.
all the transformers ive taken apart have had copper wire, but we came across this one buaried in my dads old stuff that the two of us could barily lift! It was filled with a “glass resin?” and was indistrucatable… we had a bomb fire and well it found its way in. The cassing melted into a ball, alum… the steel fell off, but the iner wire didnt melt and is aluminum colored. And there were small black “beads” inside. Any info on what i really have? We just got into scrapping and have found all the anjswers i need on your site, thank you so much for sharing your knowlage.
is it true that 1909 thru 1982 pennies are worth more……scrapped?
Yes! This is true… Except melting copper pennies is illegal.
ah ha!!!! well we that is a piece of information..an individual needs to know!!! thank you
While removing our old cedar roof, the roofers took down sheets of copper that were in the “valleys” between different pitches of the roof. The sheets are about 12-14″ wide and 30-60″ long. And we have a lot of them. There are also several pieces that are about 3″x8″. It is heavy-duty enough metal that it is hard to bend the smaller pieces by hand. Except for about 3″ that was exposed to the elements, it’s all pretty shiny & new-looking. No change of color when the edge is filed, so I’m guessing it’s not plate. Any ideas about its’ worth? or the best way to not get ripped off?
This is considered copper #3, and is worth less than copper #2. It should be worth ~$2.50 .
i have a crack alum. radiatior from my car, i believe it to be all alum. except for the brass fitting on one side. would this be worth recycling & if so do i keep it seprate from my #2copper stuff ?
Hello I found your article very interesting.
1.I just recently started scrapping copper and I’m seeing really red copper and I called the recycling place and they told me it could be brass?
2. All the copper I find is from tv’s vacuums computer monitors treadmills and I was wondering if I’m making a mistake by mixing all of that copper together because I can’t tell the difference between #1and#2 copper?
Hi Luis,
1) If it is copper wire, then it will always be copper, not brass. Red brass is a type of casting alloy used to make plumbing fixtures among other things. It is a very dark color, unlike standard yellow brass. What you have most likely is some type of red-varnished copper wire; the varnish acts as an electrical insulator.
2)The difference between number 1 and number two copper is simple: Number 1 copper is easier to smelt into regular copper than copper #2. Things like painted copper pipe, soldered copper joints, varnished copper wire, and thin gauge wire, are all considered copper #2. The difference in price coule be anywhere from 10¢ to 35¢ per pound, depending on the scrap yard. You should talk dirctly to the scrap yard for further details, because every scrap yard has specific ways of organizing their scrap.
This has been by far the most helpful website I have come across in learning Copper. Thank you very much for your time and dedication to this site. You’re a Saint.
Thanks for all the useful information. I’ve just got a quick question.
I’ve got a lot of stranded wire to take in, so since the strands are less than 1/16″ thick it would be #2 copper?
Why are smaller gauges considered a lower grade if it’s all clean copper?
Thanks again.
It is a lower grade of copper because it burns up in the furnaces when it gets melted down. plus, it usually has some type of lacquer or coating on the outside.
Hello. I’m a scrapper since 8-9 years now. I basically recover everything. And also i pull out copper windings out of transformers, motors and so on. Only 1-2% of the stuff goes into a gasifier to crack down the resins such rotors dipped with epoxy resin, which in a gasifier cracks down into gasses, while burning it rather than gasify would require 650°C and would produce dioxin. I would like to ask you a question. I would like to start a recycling business in the UK, such, scrapping fridge compressors and/or granulating copper wires. My question is, what’s the price paid for copper #2 that’s into fridge compressors? The price per ton of fridge compressor would be from 200£ to 300£. I would like to know if i could make any profit.
Thanks alot.
It all depends on what size the compressors are, and how strong the motor inside is. You may be able to double the value of the scrap by tearing it apart into copper and steel. Best of Luck.
I’ve got some old radiators ,pretty heavy probably about 200kg, what are they classed as, mixed? is it the same class as when you scrap a car? the rad’s are painted so im guessing they are worth less.
im in UK by the way!.
thanks.
Radiators are categorized depending on the material they are made of. Aluminum radiators are worth less than copper or brass radiators. The aluminum ones are roughly £0.55 per kilo, and the copper ones are worth at least £2 per kilo. Best of luck!
how can i tell what type of metal they are, would they be either one or the other? or could they be steel? i know that a magnet sticks to them, so can’t be alloy right?
If a magnet sticks to it, then it is made of steel. The steel is not worth nearly as much as the aluminum or copper ones.
Hello I striped a bunch of wire an bended it over then rolled it up with another piece of wire. Will they give me less because I did this? Got about a 100 Lbs of it.
Thanks
No you wil not be penalized for this.
i have a used alternator i want to get rid of if i take it to a salvage yard about what am i looking at getting
Less than “core price” or rebuild value. My guess is that scrapping would bring 25¢ per pound.
It’s worth 25¢-40¢ per pound.
Question for ya scrap, I have quite a good bit of scrap I want to sell, My question is, have you found that scrap prices are better at a particular time of the year for instance have you found a higher demand for say aluminum or copper in the summer, first part of the year, last of the year etc… Thanks for your help!
If coppper sales for $3.66 on market how close to that should I get at scrap dealer. I know they got to make money too.
expect close to 85% of spot price, or roughly 3.05 per lbs.
Hi , I have a few q’s…… a friend goes around and pulls the copper out of the back of tvs. She has done this quite a bit. I was reading and hearing via youtube that the back of a tv is dangerous due to the tube imploding which can be like a bomb gong off…. and then the radiation and then the shock off of cable still holding a charge… Is any of this need for concern ? Another q…. saw a guy on youtube ripping open a generator and pulling quite bit of copper out of it. Another was pulling copper out of transformers. I have gone around and taken advice from a few that I’ve bumped into along the way. The friend I mentioned told me she took an aluminum road sign into the scrapper because she feels the public works are irresponsible and she is ok with profitting from their inefficient management of the roads. I could not do that as it is public property, I also passed up some valuable stuff a few days ago because although it was left out in the open, I still felt that it was not fair to take it, as possibly the owner was hoping people
Hi, I do not know if first transmission was successful…. i will proceed as tho u got it. I read a person posted that they were thinking of buying compressors and breaking them down, you said they might double their money after labour to dismantle and then deliver them appropriately. Anyhow, I am interested in getting a hold of a bulk lot of broken motors or transformers or compressors or tvs ( first entry inquired as to the safety of this ) or anything else which may have a fair bit of copper in it. Can you give me some advice as to how I can buy a lot of these types of broken down equip in one shot ? Also, which ones are the best to go after, from ur site I learned about aluminum that looks like copper, scraping will disclose the truth. Anything u could do to lead me in the right direction would be great
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