Processing refrigerator compressors (pics)

**jghilino** · 07-10-2013, 11:59 AM

they buy them here for $300 ton 15 cents pound vs 24 cents for electric motors
Sealed Units/Compressors (Drained) $300
Electric Motors $480

due to the lost weight id be losing money by processing them

**freonjoe** · 07-10-2013, 10:16 PM

Jg, I pay .15 a pound for them and make money. What numbers are you using?

**NamVet** · 07-10-2013, 11:15 PM

It would take 34 minutes to just find my tools, another 30 or so to rest after lifting the thing to cut, and more than likely another hour to get the kid down the road to pull the copper from the core for me. But your pictures are worth a thousand words to me in showing me how to do the job the right way. Thanks

**CFoote** · 07-12-2013, 05:34 PM

Freon Joe;

Thanks for the tutorial. Pics truly are worth a thousand words. I would like to ask you a couple of questions....
How do you recover the Freon?

Do you use the same saw and cutoff wheel to crack open the cases as you do for cutting off the copper?

I have hundreds of pounds of transformers laying around, and have been trying to decide if I could cut the copper off with a chopsaw and then poke the rest through. you have given me some great ideas!!!

**Bear** · 07-12-2013, 05:53 PM

Originally Posted by CFoote

Freon Joe;

Thanks for the tutorial. Pics truly are worth a thousand words. I would like to ask you a couple of questions....
How do you recover the Freon?

Do you use the same saw and cutoff wheel to crack open the cases as you do for cutting off the copper?

I have hundreds of pounds of transformers laying around, and have been trying to decide if I could cut the copper off with a chopsaw and then poke the rest through. you have given me some great ideas!!!

I use a metal blade on an old 10" miter saw, and a cutoff wheel on a 4" grinder. The smaller wheels are also much thinner, the big wheels leave quite a kerf, but anything that gets the job done(when it gets done haha ) works for me ; )

**jghilino** · 07-12-2013, 10:18 PM

Originally Posted by freonjoe

Jg, I pay .15 a pound for them and make money. What numbers are you using?

i guess that is why the yard buys them as-is for 15 cents pound, like you say there is still money to be made

personally i will be selling them as is, i know what my time is worth

**IdahoScrapper** · 07-12-2013, 10:21 PM

Originally Posted by jghilino

what is the point processing these, dont the yards just buy them as motor/transformer grade anyway at 25 cents pound, i dont like the idea of mixing sparks with oil if i dont have to

I drain the oil before cutting. The few that have caught fire were from the inside wire harness. Blow 'em out like a candle and move on to the next.

**jghilino** · 07-12-2013, 10:33 PM

any idea what that oil is, i know transformers are filled with mineral oil so maybe the same?

**parrothead** · 07-12-2013, 11:15 PM

Originally Posted by jghilino

i guess that is why the yard buys them as-is for 15 cents pound, like you say there is still money to be made

personally i will be selling them as is, i know what my time is worth

I get closer to 20 cents so definitely selling as is.

**freonjoe** · 07-12-2013, 11:20 PM

Jg, it's a combination of Ester oil, mineral oil and synthetic. All I know is that the bio-desiel guys stand in line for it.

CFoote, I use Apion recovery pumps for the refrigeranf and a plasma cutter to cut open the compressors. If I could ever figure out how to a vidieo, I would make one showing the whole process.

**CFoote** · 07-15-2013, 02:57 PM

Well, your pics there do a pretty fine job as it is...I appreciate your willingness to share!!!

**TheRecycleGuy** · 07-26-2013, 10:37 PM

lol that would have took me about 4 hours..... .

Originally Posted by freonjoe

I have too much practice at it Cory! It took 15 minutes to cut the tops off, 5 minutes to pull the windings out, 6 minutes to cut the end off the windings and 8 minutes to pull the copper out of the cores for a total of 34 minutes.

**msmoorad** · 07-27-2013, 08:12 AM

has anyone here ever scrapped one of these:
DWM Copeland DKSJB-100

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...7&l=447ba40708

i want to get the steel block out that has the copper woven through it
any ideas?

**Bear** · 08-27-2013, 02:46 PM

Originally Posted by skylinejack

Wire found in the field? lol

Just kidding. I'd like to know also. That's a new term for me.
Also, freonjoe, Great thread! Great work you're doing , too. Best of luck to ya!!

haha, i actually asked that question before Sky did, but several of us was wondering. I saw the answer just a few days ago on a miter saw schematic. The "line in" wires are the power in, and the "field" wire goes to the motor, leaving me to suppose it's referring to the wires in the motor, i.e. magnetic/eletrical "field" wires ; )

**Bear** · 08-27-2013, 02:50 PM

Originally Posted by msmoorad

has anyone here ever scrapped one of these:
DWM Copeland DKSJB-100

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...7&l=447ba40708

i want to get the steel block out that has the copper woven through it
any ideas?

that thing looks too good to scrap for 5 or 10 bucks man, have you checked the motor windings with a multimeter? It's easy to do a simple windings check, and that'll tell you if it's burned up before you scrap it. It might just need a new switch or something

**freonjoe** · 08-27-2013, 04:45 PM

Bear, my yard calls it field copper because of the enameling on it. Some smelters don't want it mixed into the #2 copper. I know it's priced .10 a pound less than #2. But then I don't have to clean off the tie strings or plastic either.

**Bear** · 08-27-2013, 05:19 PM

Originally Posted by freonjoe

Bear, my yard calls it field copper because of the enameling on it. Some smelters don't want it mixed into the #2 copper. I know it's priced .10 a pound less than #2. But then I don't have to clean off the tie strings or plastic either.

I think it's to do with any of those "fields" Joe, (electric,magnetic) motors, CRT monitors, generators, etc, any of the ones that's wound and varnished, they're all in one of those "fields"

That's probly the purpose of those shields around CRT tubes too, to sorta "contain" that "field", due to it's certain proximity to people

**meatheadmerlin** · 11-07-2013, 01:55 PM

My yard gives a price for "sealed units" which includes not only fridge compressors, but microwave capacitors; basically whatever has oil in it. but, if you've got such a system in place, it prolly behooves you to dismantle them.

**Plasma** · 11-16-2013, 11:24 PM

I've been formulating how to scrap sealed units for the past year. And now that I have a system I find that it's already in use! But It's reassuring to see my numbers are close to yours!

**scrapGAME** · 12-16-2013, 12:04 AM

Originally Posted by freonjoe

I was asked in an email about cutting up compressors so I thought I would create a thread on doing so. I started with 15 compressors with a total weight of 342 pounds. I ended up with 32.5 pounds of field copper, 2.5 pounds of oil and 306 pounds of what should be #2 prepared if I had a different yard to deal with. I ended up grossing around .33 a pound. It usually costs me .05 a pound to cut them up (.03 for labor and .02 for consumables and power) so my break even point is .28 a pound.

wow good stuff ... sound like a plan as long as u have the correct tools

good read sounds like a plan as long as u have the tools avail

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