hot water tanks

Au contrair, they actually are worth the effort, especially if you see a lot of them. They are worth 6 - 8 cents a pound. depending on your area. What Mick meant was to remove the non-ferrous items (brass and copper) as they are worth more, then scrap the rest as tin. If you have a water heater that weighs 100 lbs, then is is worht 6 - 8 dollars, and if you know of a lot then multiply that by that number. But for sure remove the brass and collect it for selling later as it is worth 20X what you get for the steel.