wire scrap

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had to buy

had to buy

spent 23K+ today to lock in pricing on a job, going up 8 to 10% over the weekend and rumoured for another 10 - 12 in the next 2 weeks. That would kill me, and that is why we try to exclude price increases!, but we do not want to go back to the customer any more tyhan they would want us to...:confused:
 
ceb58 said:
Thats why you burn it at night. Hard to see the black smoke;)
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Electric-Light said:
I don't agree with it. PVC gives off some nasty toxic gases.
Illegal dumping, environmental crime, copper stealing...

EPA snagged copper thieves for refrigerant venting when copper thieves caused hundreds of pounds of R22 to be vented in the process of their act.

http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/062010/new_656462414.shtml
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It's all light hearted. Thats the reason for the :D and ;) so dont get :mad:
 
I once had a foreman who described what he had on his farm. A 55 gallon bucket with a pipe welded to it going through the middle of it. He filled it with water over a bonfire. when the water was boiling hot, he would pull the wires slowly through the pipe, which passed through the hot water, while a second person held a blade on it as it exited. He said it was like warm butter!
 
Have heard on the news channels people stealing outdoor a/c units for the copper and in broad day light , now that takes some b----.
 
California law requires a scrap metal buyer to take a picture of the seller w/ the metals being sold, a thumbprint, & a 3-day wait for the funds, only way around it is if a business /contractor.


I never have had the intestinal fortitude to burn the insulation off the cables, besides #1 & #2 copper one can get a bit more , per pound if it's bright & shiny.

#1 copper has no paint, solder or anything else besides natural corrosion.

#2 copper can have paint,solder & such on it.
 
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The sad thing is most of us are very underpaid and the economy sucks and you do what u have to do. If the EPA cared about the environment they would close down a lot of these big industrial places that pour pollutant into the air and really enforce older vehicles and rigs that pour out all kinds of crap into the air. They would get ride of plastic water bottles and do something about 4 month long oil leaks in our oceans. The EPA cares about $$ and that is it. They have their dirty little hands in everything. And for the record I do very little burning maybe 2 times a year because I usually keep the big stuff and skin it unless I really need the cash. Do the math on 100lbs of #1 copper($3.10 price vrs #2 ($1.76) copper price then tell me about the EPA. I got kids to feed buddy! When the EPA can explain to me why the scrap yard will give you #1 price for burnt copper then maybe ill listen.
 
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scrap wire

scrap wire

All our scrap wire is turned into the shop for partys at the job site and they buy the guys tools they share it that way !

We sell it to the scrap yard guy we dont strip it they come pick it up at job site with a fork lift truck and scale most of the time or we take it to the shop !
 
I save it & strip 8 & larger if I have time. I used to strip Romex, too much trouble. My scrap dealer now pays different for cloth Romex & plastic. I keep 5 gallon buckets as follows.

Bare cu, 10 & smaller
bare cu larger
cloth Romex & K/T wire
insulated, larger than 10
Bare al, 10 & smaller
Bare al, larger
insulated al, larger
al meter bases, buss bars, panels, etc.
al cans, foils, etc.
misc al, cu, pipe, bars, brass items.
 
$1.75/lb with insulation

$1.75/lb with insulation

I took some wire down to the scrap yard last week. $1.75 /lb with insulation, it was all under #10 and hardly more than would fit in a grocery bag but I'm thinking about one of the smaller wire stippers after viewing the videos noted. They seem to really beat the heck out of trying to strip it by hand.

P.S. In northern California, thumb print, drivers license and anything over $20.00 sent to you in a check.
 
They got real picky here at one time so if you striped your wire to early they would only pay you dirty price if it was oxidized. Really ticked me off.
 
Has to be a way to make strippers from old rigid pipe cutters different sizes for small an large wire , build it something like that link that was posted on wire strippers.
 
M4gery said:
That's insane, only EC's can scrap wire??? :roll:

We usually give the scrap to apprentices to split up.
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Why do you not setup a contract, then allocate it as commission/bonus on their payroll, instead of giving to them directly? Then there is no issue of having multiple people take the scrap in
 
Anyone take old motors to the scrap yard separate from other metal ? Will they give you much per pound? I usually have several per month and just throw them on the regular scrap metal pile, probably have 200. I'm not going to try to tear them down and separate the copper from the rest.
 
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