Doesn't Make Sense

your yard stopped selling Small electric motors and switched to Mixed motors.
Probably because he was getting too many aluminum wound motors. and received a large claim
small electric motors have a very small allowance for aluminum windings, fans and other attachments. it is a premium product most yards do not produce it and rather sell mixed motors

aluminum transformers are easier to spot and he was keeping them out of his mix well

V/r HT1

I get a whopping $.02 per pound for transformers. And about $.14 for electric motors.

Originally Posted by HT1

your yard stopped selling Small electric motors and switched to Mixed motors.
Probably because he was getting too many aluminum wound motors. and received a large claim
small electric motors have a very small allowance for aluminum windings, fans and other attachments. it is a premium product most yards do not produce it and rather sell mixed motors

aluminum transformers are easier to spot and he was keeping them out of his mix well

V/r HT1

This makes sense. I have 1 yard that checks all motors and transformers for the windings. Copper goes in the gaylord. Aluminum to the shred pile. They shred themselves to recover aluminum. Aluminum wound goes as dirty aluminum.

Originally Posted by ryanw

SIMS here in Sacramento buys transformers at a lower price than electric motors as well, although not that much of a difference. What's funny is that they have bought related material according to copper content, but not transformers. Also, their prices reflect copper only, not a mix.

it's hard to buy transformers on content unless you have disassembled a large sampling of them so you know the content. I don't know of anyone in the US that has the data, or is interested in the labour involved to dissemble transformers.
The yards know what foreign buyers are paying, they subtract their Margin, and that is what they pay. Q.E.D!

V/r HT1

Quite a bit of our lives don't really make sense. The fact that the U.S. is creating trillions of dollars out of thin air and the price of gold and silver is not shooting up makes no sense either.

im getting 12 cents a pound for low grade motors, like ceiling fans and what not and 18 cents a pound for high grade motors, like well pump motors and fan motors from air conditioners, etc. transformers (copper) are paying 18 cents a pound also. I haven't had a large aluminum one in a while so I cant remember what they pay.

Originally Posted by Thecamokid

im getting 12 cents a pound for low grade motors, like ceiling fans and what not and 18 cents a pound for high grade motors, like well pump motors and fan motors from air conditioners, etc. transformers (copper) are paying 18 cents a pound also. I haven't had a large aluminum one in a while so I cant remember what they pay.

Those are real nice prices. dont expect them to hold especially the ceiling fans, ceiling fans are recovering at 9% you are getting payed over 50% of the Cu value on a product that is a real ***** to recover.
if you are going to a real small yard they may have some one taking them apart in the back

V/r HT1

Originally Posted by newattitude

we pay (now) .05 cents a pound for low grade motors and .10 cents for high. AL transformers are bought as steel. Our buyer doesn't even want the AL motors from washers any more even though there is a lot of AL in them (cast, AL windings).

Washer motors are a real mix up, the housing is diecast (zinc) the winding are something in the 1100, plus a solid hunk of steel, he was probably getting a zorba feed price and the deal went away because the shreder cut back hours

V/r HT1

Turned in 308 lbs electric motors and transformers got $.13 lb. These were motors from vacs, dishwashers, computer fans you name it...

Originally Posted by newattitude

I don't know how they break down the AL motors but the CU ones end up as ''Meatballs.'' lol, meatballs...

The ISRI specifications are "elmo" and "shelmo". "Elmo" is mixed electric motor scrap. It may include aluminum wound at agreed upon percentages with the buyer.
"Shelmo", also refered to as "meatball", or "shredder pickings" are mixed electrick motors that are removed from shredder material. Again, aluminum wound are allowed by agreement between buyer and seller.

There are some neat Chinese videos of how they breakdown large copper motors. Not sure how they do small ones. I'd assume with some shredding process. I know that one of my yards, all the aluminum wound gets paid as dirty aluminum and goes in the shred pile. Most likely is recovered as "zorba".