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Wire question (with pics) condition and guage

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  1. #1
    Torker Man started this thread.
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    Cool 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)





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



    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





    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.)




    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.
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  3. #2
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    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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    Torker Man started this thread.
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    Romex?

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

    Thanks

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    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

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    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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    Quote Originally Posted by injunjoe View Post
    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.
    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.

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    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.

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    hmmm, where is my pencil???

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    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 !

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    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.
    Last edited by Mechanic688; 09-24-2011 at 02:50 PM.

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    gustavus is offline Metal Recycling Entrepreneur
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mechanic688 View Post
    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
    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

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    was blackened from contaminated Chinese drywall board.
    Leave it to the Chinese to screw up just about everything they touch

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    Quote Originally Posted by Dumpster Dee View Post
    Strip while you read, though !
    For some reason, this screamed Playboy magazine to me... Not sure why, weird right?
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mechanic688 View Post
    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.
    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!!

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    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

  21. #16
    Torker Man started this thread.
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    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.
    Last edited by Torker Man; 09-25-2011 at 08:36 AM. Reason: p.s added


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