What scrap won't you pick up

I am still growing into scrapping and I find it hard to say no to anything (drives the wife nuts). I want to break down one of everything at least once to learn but I have a very spread out area to scrap in so some things I find my self asking if I should pick up or not.
Is there anything any of you pass on and why.

Televisions - Will not accept tube tv's unless other metal is included, then I will take them
Projection TV's - $20 removal fee

Dishwashers - I usually will drive to pick up any appliances, but not dishwashers, they are tough to disassemble usually, and mostly plastic.

Sketchy neighborhoods also keep me away from things, Its not worth risking my life for a little bit of metal

Its all preference...


If its someone who got my # by word of mouth, I will pick up basically anything, if its someone who got my # from craigslist, I don't find it hard to pass it up if its not worth my time since they have none of my business info or wont pass on a bad word.

Most business you do when your starting out is just leading to the bigger leads you will get from word of mouth, and experience in the industry.

Usually I wont touch any of the following:

CRT's
propane tanks
dish washers
Oil Tanks - due to there size and the scrap yard wont accept them that I use in the summer and the other yard is 100 miles one way.


Anything else I usually accept but that can depend on distance since I service 50 miles in each direction and fuel cost. Dishwashers are only taken if there part of a environmental clean up for the Maine DEP, DOT, or Property Owners.

Um you guys are silly. Lets see here. Oil tanks are worth up to a 100 bones if solid, no holes. A lot of people use them for waste oil or even antifreeze storage. Some even cut them up and make troughs for their cattle. They boil water in them with degreaser over a open fire for many hours to sterilize them of course. Others make woodstives out of them. Or even "unroll" the steel to make a nice deck for their trailer. Dish washers are like 50-150 in parts if you ebay. The racks in great condition can go skywards of 200 for a set of racks.... Get your mind out of the gutter..lol. Used propane tanks I sell all day long for 15 a piece as long as in date. If not I go exchange them for 24.95, use the gas for my torches, and still sell for 15. And vacuums can be worth a lot of change in parts if you do ebay. Stupid things like hoses, wheels.

O and 99% of the vacuums are usually just clogged especially the bagless. I fix them in 10 mins and flip them. Real nasty ones get the pressure washer treatment and dry in the sun. Most others I take a respirator, make sure Im down wind, and give it one hell f a blowjob with the air compressor. Clog fixed. Sell 25-50 all day long and advise people to buy new filters. Also the cords make fine extensions cords, far cheaper than paying 30 for a extension cord at wally world.

My 2c...**** I either got way too much tie on my hands or just been doing this WAY TO LONG!!

When I had the pickup(yes it finally sold) I'd pick up anything and everything but now that I've got this HHR, i've switched completly over to EWaste but even when I did have the pickup, if it were a bad area(most of Syracuse) I'd stay clear. no amount of scrap is worth dying over. I'll take whatever EWaste I can fit in the HHR(so far the biggest has been 3 console TVs).

Originally Posted by Gravitar

Lets see, what do I pass:

Things I pick up, but don't particularly enjoy:
-Front Loading Washing Machines (Heavy as lead)

If you take these in whole it is worth taking the back off and grabbing the electric motor. I have done that on a couple and on top of everything else I usually get about a dozen good magnets out of each one.

Freon and anything too heavy to lift.

Originally Posted by Gravitar

I've found that for me, taking out the electric motors is not worth the time unless the washing machines have an open bottom or a stainless drum. The other ones i just load up and dump them off without stripping anything from them.

The front loads I have taken the motors out of have completely different motors than the standard top load washing machine. You have to take a circular plate off of the back (towards the top), about 18 inches in diameter, and there is the motor (for a lack of better description it is a flat starburst shape). It does not have the standard type of windings, these are easy to remove. I do not mess with removing anything else, just the motor and the associated magnets. I use to remove the motors out of all washers and dryers, but now only do it with the front load, as much for the magnets as the electric motor. If you get a chance, remove the motor, you might be pleasantly surprised.

There is not a market in different areas for different things, also some things most things are broken valves on prop tanks, old outdated ones, rusty fuel tanks. It all depends on preference. Some people don't have time to sell stuff. Calling people silly is quite wrong, some people just do not want to deal with the certain items, and everyone is in a different market, and different situation.

thank you Devin, you took the words right out of my mouth. I don't have time to mess with stuff too much.

No CRT'S, Coffee makers, Carpet Scrubbers, Boom box's. sure there is more