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Noob with wire/cable weight question

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    BSMF started this thread.
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    Noob with wire/cable weight question

    Hi! New here so I hope I'm posting this in the right place. If not, I apologize, please move topic to correct place.
    Is there a resource we can use that tells you what the copper yield is per pound on items like romex, aluminum bx and steel bx (for each of the different configurations, 14-2, 12-3, etc...) ? For instance, if I have 1000ft of 12-2 steel bx that weighs (hypothetically) 100 pounds, is there a place where I could look up how much of that weight is from copper? I hope this makes sense! Thanks!



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    Wire is bought by recovery rate(percentage), so your best bet is to learn the more common types that you will find, and you can do the math. You can also look up the ISRI standards for scrap wire to get a better idea. You can usually make a pretty good guess on the recovery rate by looking at the end of the wire. If about half of it looks to be taken up by the copper wire, you probably have 50% recovery which is considered #2 wire. I don't know of any one resource that will tell you the specific weight of copper in different types of wire. The only way to know for sure is to break down a piece and weigh it yourself, or try to find specs from the manufacturer.

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    Encorewire or southwire website. They have spec sheets on bare copper and most types of wire you will come across. Good luck

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    Thanks guys!

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