Wire question (with pics) condition and guage

O.K, picked up this wire today.

Got about 60 meters of it (180ft)

Question 1/.
What guage would this be? Pictured next to a standard piece of 240V, 10A solid core house wire (still insulated) as a reference (sorry, foggy pic)


http://i515.photobucket.com/albums/t...ive04/wire.jpg


It has 7 strands of solid wire, NOT twisted together. Pretty heavy. A 1.5 meter (5ft) length weighs 250grams (after stripping)

http://i515.photobucket.com/albums/t...ve04/wire1.jpg

Question 2/. Could the yard de-value this due to its condition? have you had that happen to you? The reason I ask is that if they may do this, then I might not bother stripping it all... you can see my dilema :)

http://i515.photobucket.com/albums/t...ve04/wire2.jpg

To the naked eyes the copper is almost black. here is a pic next to some bright single core house wire for comparrison. Pic is a little misleading, it was as black as the insulation it was wrapped in (pic 1.)

http://i515.photobucket.com/albums/t...ve04/wire3.jpg


I will be taking a sample in to my yard to ask them, but its Saturday, and I can't be stuffed LOL, so I figured I would ask the well educated folk here @ SMF.

Thanks.

That looks like a heavy duty Romex building wire, but I'm guessing there. The black comes from moisture and heat from sunlight on it. As it's being used it will "suck" up minute bits of moisture under the rubber coating

Romex?

is that a brand of wire? I haven't ever heard it refered to as that...

Thanks

http://www.southwire.com/romex.htm
http://homerenovations.about.com/od/...artromexnm.htm
That should answer a few questions, sorry I keep forgetting where your at. lol

Being the wire is stranded not solid it will be considered #2 anyway so the discoloration won't matter.

The black on the wire reminds me of the effects of Chinese drywall. We installed a air handler in a very nice home last year because the 4 year old unit sprung several leaks. That drywall is bad stuff. One year later the new unit also now leaks.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by injunjoe

Being the wire is stranded not solid it will be considered #2 anyway so the discoloration won't matter.

The black on the wire reminds me of the effects of Chinese drywall. We installed a air handler in a very nice home last year because the 4 year old unit sprung several leaks. That drywall is bad stuff. One year later the new unit also now leaks.

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so after I strip it, I can seperate the 7 individual pieces, then its No 1?? So will No1 get down graded due to discoloured??

Thanks.

If each strand is smaller then the lead in a #2 pencil it will be considered #2 copper and the color will have no effect on it's value.

By all means it is still worth stripping.

hmmm, where is my pencil???

the big question is...where is your eraser ? forget the pencil...it's all in the archives...spend all weekend reading everything under stripping or wiring and by Monday, you'll know what to do. Strip while you read, though !

Now see if I took it to my yard stripped, I'd get paid #1 price, all yards are different in how they grade stuff.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mechanic688

That looks like a heavy duty Romex building wire, but I'm guessing there. The black comes from moisture and heat from sunlight on it. As it's being used it will "suck" up minute bits of moisture under the rubber coating

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Mechanic688 another possibility is that the wire was blackened from contaminated Chinese drywall board.

Could be a good source of scrap copper for some of you scrappers.

http://www.google.com/search?client=...utf-8&oe=utf-8

Quote:

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was blackened from contaminated Chinese drywall board.

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Leave it to the Chinese to screw up just about everything they touch

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dumpster Dee

Strip while you read, though !

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For some reason, this screamed Playboy magazine to me... Not sure why, weird right?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mechanic688

Now see if I took it to my yard stripped, I'd get paid #1 price, all yards are different in how they grade stuff.

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Strange how that works! Yet according to industrial standards they describe it as I did.

Guss did I not mention that or perhaps you missed my comment above.

Rca sorry dude but you may have issues there! Lol that was just a joke!!

i had a hundred and fifty feet of that in several segements. i stripped it all and got bare bright for the cleanest ones. the dark ones like yours went in as #2 because of the aging and oxidation. strip it all if its got 7 strands... its def worth the upgrade from insulated prices either way. good find, i love that stuff

Thank you all for the replies.

Dumpster. please read my earlier posts on search feature. Thats in the archives too! Thanks :)

http://www.scrapmetalforum.com/showt...ll=1#post23690


P.S The good news is that only the first 25 or so feet has discoloured. the rest seems as bright as the bundle I pictured earlier.