electric motors

So, I just starting using a new yard, and up untill today, things had been going good, a little lower on alum. than my old yard, but alot better on copper, and that's what the bulk of my hauling had been up untill now. I took in some electric motors, and got tin price for them. Now it's been a long time since I've hauled in any electric motors, but I'm pretty sure I used to get a whole lot better deal than .12 a pound for them.

I hope you got vaseline first!

You should be doing much better than that, double what you got would be more like it.

Did you question them on the pricing at all?

we were in a big hurry, my girl was with me and had to be at work. It wasn't a lot of motors, 20#, but I was figuring at least $9-10, not $2.40

so, 13# insul. wire, 8# alum. 480# tin and 20# elect. motors got me $70 and some change, I was guessing around $80 and that would have given me a $50 profit after gas, but I suppose $40 is still better than nothing. It was just mostly left overs from scrapping out comp towers and a big @ss dinosaur of a cannon copier (late 80's early 90's, thing was a beast, took two people to load it up)

A couple of quick questions:

Were these little computer motors?

Were the motors stripped of copper?

ya should be getting .30 a pound at least. Transformers will run around .16 lb.

Originally Posted by imyourgirl

ya should be getting .30 a pound at least. Transformers will run around .16 lb.

That price on transformers sounds right for copper/aluminum, however make sure to check if the transformers are copper/copper. If they are you should either break them down or find a buyer that has a separate category and price for them. I get 0.45/lb for cu/cu.

They were a mix of small transformers and small electric motors. none of the motors had been stripped down. As for finding a different buyer, we have 2 scrap yards here, both are a 30+min drive, next closest one is at least an hour away. I'm not really concerned about it, as i don't deal in them often, but back home we got the same price for motors, regardless of the size of them, and I don't think size matters to this yard because i asked the lady in the office, who never saw what I brought in, what they were giving for electric motors, .12 a pound she said,

Originally Posted by mntnman

They were a mix of small transformers and small electric motors. none of the motors had been stripped down. As for finding a different buyer, we have 2 scrap yards here, both are a 30+min drive, next closest one is at least an hour away. I'm not really concerned about it, as i don't deal in them often, but back home we got the same price for motors, regardless of the size of them, and I don't think size matters to this yard because i asked the lady in the office, who never saw what I brought in, what they were giving for electric motors, .12 a pound she said,

How much are they paying for iron/steel?

.12 a pound

mtnman you should find another yard if thats the case. Where are you from in Va? I am originally from Smith Mountain Lake and went to college at Radford University.

originally I'm from up in Shenandoah county, about 4 miles from the Wv line, but now sadly, I'm stuck down here in amelia county, just outside of Richmond.

I just took in a load and in it was a single reefer compressor. I got paid light iron price for it. Figured it would be higher but I had cut off all the copper tubing except a small piece that was coated with a half inch of gooey tar like insulation and it was still full of oil.

.12 for motors is crazy though. I break down all of mine unless they have AL windings.

thanks George, I'll give them a shout and see, I'm about 30 mins west of 288, pretty much half way between Farmville and Richmond.