Wire costs

[kbsparky]

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica]I called 4 different suppliers yesterday for a quote on some #6 bare copper wire. There was quite a spread of pricing:

Supplier A - $290.00/m
Supplier B - 267.00/m
Supplier C - 219.00/m
Supplier D - 192.00/m

The interesting thing here is that Supplier "A" just last week beat out all the rest of them with the best pricing on some #10 and #12 THHN.

Just goes to show that you have to get updated quotes from them all before any order if you want the best price!

How does this compare with your area? The quote assumes you buy a full roll - 315 feet (which is the most oddball size of any of the full rolls of wire available) :grin:
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[ptonsparky]

Got a quote on 500' of 500MCM a couple weeks ago. One of the suppliers was glad the project changed because he would have lost close to $1000 on that spool because of the recent price drops. He bought high & is having to sell low. Then again if the price keeps going down he will lose even more later.

 

[rt66electric]

watch the ups and downs

watch the ups and downs

I'M fortunate in that My kids and the five state regional wire sale rep kids play on the the same baseball team!!! He will generally give me a nudge when the prices are going up.. As a rule when the price of wire is going up- buy at big blue or big orange home store ; their prices are slow to go up. When the price of wire is going down- Buy at the supply houses; their prices tend to come down quicker.

 

[MarkyMarkNC]

That type of price discrepancy does not surprise me. Some supply houses price their wire using "average cost" - the average cost of all the wire they currently show in stock. Others will price their wire using "replacement" cost - which is based on whatever price they are paying from the wire reps. That's why, like rt66electric said, you will see some places that are consistently high or low depending on whether the price of copper is going up or down.

The massive drop in copper last fall caught a LOT of suppliers with their pants down, sitting on a ton of wire that they will probably never be able to re-coup their losses on. The big boxes were VERY slow to come down on their wire prices after the drop. If I had to hazard a guess, it would be that they lost a boatload of money on wire the last few months.

 

[roger]

Bought #12 THHN SOL today at $57.00 M but there is another local supplier that was still asking over $77.00

Roger

 

[jayrad1122]

My supply house's 6 AWG bare solid wire is at $249.69/m currently.

 

[Greg Swartz]

Confused

Confused

I see you all are using /m for your distances.

That confuses me, because /m means per thousand.
Right?

I'd buy #6 at any of those prices per thousand.
I know the 315' roll spoken of, and I see it for about that price... which puts it around 90 cents per foot... which sounds right.

Same with the #12 comment. I buy #12 in 500' spools. I know they are sold in 1000', but mostly 500... anyway, I am curious as to $57 per thousand?
I'll buy that!
$57 per spool is pretty good too!

Just curious and confused,
Greg

 

[roger]

Same with the #12 comment. I buy #12 in 500' spools. I know they are sold in 1000', but mostly 500... anyway, I am curious as to $57 per thousand?
I'll buy that!
$57 per spool is pretty good too!

Just curious and confused,
Greg

Probably 95% of the #12 and #10 we buy is on 2500' spools.The "M" (thousand) is the bulk price unit number.

Roger

 

[jayrad1122]

The "M" (thousand) is the bulk price unit number.

Roger

Also, I just divide the /M price (i.e. my 249.69) by 1000 and get my /Ft price (0.24969/Ft). I have to input it into quickbooks this way anyways. So 315Ft. X 0.24969= $78.65/ 315FT Roll.:smile: And why did they choose to use 315Ft per roll? very unusual.

 

[kbsparky]

...And why did they choose to use 315Ft per roll?....

Sources tell me that is the length of 25 pounds of #6 bare wire. The same weight of #8 bare is 500 feet, and #4 is 250 feet, etc. All the same physical size rolls.

 

[kbsparky]

....
I'd buy #6 at any of those prices per thousand.
I know the 315' roll spoken of, and I see it for about that price... which puts it around 90 cents per foot... which sounds right....

Ummm ... 90 cents per foot is way too high! $192/m is just over 19 cents per foot. That 315 foot roll was invoiced out at $60.48.

....
Same with the #12 comment. I buy #12 in 500' spools. I know they are sold in 1000', but mostly 500... anyway, I am curious as to $57 per thousand?
I'll buy that!
$57 per spool is pretty good too!...

While $57 per (500')spool may have been the going price last summer, that is double what it is now -- $28.50.

I just bought 2000 feet at $56/m.