Wire, Wire and more wire - Page 4

Originally Posted by armygreywolf

Hey mthomasdev. Would you mind PMing me the prices you got for some of that stuff, I have a potential customer in your neck of the woods and will need to figure in shipping back to my shop while I'm on site. Just for the sake of it local prices would be a help to justify one way or the other. I'm supposed to fly out to look at a building in Albany on Monday for a look see.

Sent you a text.

Grabbed a 3rd load this morning. Trailer looks to be overloaded. Ill have to take it easy going to my buyer tomorrow or Tuesday. Probably have 1 final load to get during the week or next week end. I think the copper wire tally is going to over 7000 pounds. I think the insulated aluminum is going to be at least 1500 pounds and maybe over 2000 pounds. Had some in there as big as 750 KCM.

Originally Posted by miked

I would enjoy seeing a photo of that overloaded trailer. 73, Mike

Sorry Mike. I unloaded this morning. The trailer is a 6x10 from tractor supply. Gvw is 3000 and trailer weighs about 1000. Most steel members are small angles. The angles under the bed, perpendicular to the trailer where sagging an inch or more. Total weight including pallet and trash cans was about 2765 pounds. About 500 of that was in my truck. So about 2300 on the trailer. Well short of one 3000+ pound load that I did with that trailer.

Day #3 numbers
AL-BX 82 pounds
Med thhn 213 pounds
INS-AL 1256 pounds
Romex 269 pounds
Thhn 859 pounds
Hoping 1 more load does it.

Originally Posted by hobo finds

Patriot76 you are only 1362 pounds away from your guess!

He was at 7850. Not sure if that included aluminum. I'm at about 7600 total right now.

Ok so is low grade the steel bx? And Med thhn is that not #1 but a little better price than #2 insulated? Thanks for keeping us informed. I normally get several hundred pounds at a church sale once a year and I used to just have it all be #2 insulated wire. The last time the guy mentioned Romex and Cat5 wire to keep out when I brought it in.

Originally Posted by hobo finds

Ok so is low grade the steel bx? And Med thhn is that not #1 but a little better price than #2 insulated? Thanks for keeping us informed. I normally get several hundred pounds at a church sale once a year and I used to just have it all be #2 insulated wire. The last time the guy mentioned Romex and Cat5 wire to keep out when I brought it in.

Hobo,
It is all going to depend on your yard and there catagories. Low grade here is what I would normally get #2 insulated at 1 yard and 30% at another. Thhn is single strand (Solis or stranded) copper wire, 8 gauge thru 16 gauge. This is the insulated strands in romex or newer bx. It can also be bought by the spool. Med thhn is 6 gauge up to 450 kcm.
Let me know if you have more questions or need a better explanation.

Day #4 update
Got a later start than I was planning to today. Up half the night with a chest cold. Got down there and figured I would just load everything and take it to the yard on Monday. I had to be back for 5 for my son's football practice. That was the plan until I got a phone call from a lady who called me yesterday with a large load. I told her I couldn't do it until Monday. She sounded a little upset, so I said let me call you back in a few. Hung up the phone and remembered I needed the trailer for a 6AM E-waste pick up Monday morning. Now I have to really change plans. Managed to get all but about 200 pounds (stuff is mixed and has pine needles, leaves, etc.) loaded. At this point, it is about 1215. I have an hour and a half to my buyer and a 2 hour ride home. That's if there is no traffic. Got to the buyer and unloaded. Hit some traffic, but still made it home with 10 minutes to spare. Went to football practice and then to the ladies house for a pickup. 6 appliances, 2 dehumidifiers, 5 push mowers, and some excerise equipment. Need to unload that in the AM and go back for a fridge, more exercise equipment, another push mower, 3 computers, printers, etc.
Any way, here are today's totals:
Ins AL 1121 pounds
Alarm (was a mix of stuff better than low grade) 97 pounds
Med THHN 170 pounds
Med TIN 13 pounds
Coax 6 pounds
Telco 4 pounds
Bare Bright 2 pounds
ST BX 40 pounds
AL BX 17 pounds
THHN 264 pounds
Romex 104 pounds

Ball park totals to date:
7000 pounds copper wire
2400 pounds aluminum

Originally Posted by mthomasdev

Tommorrow night I'm looking at it. Been a busy week. Pickup last night, pickup tonight, load of computers in the morning, this tomorrow night. Pickup Saturday morning. Still have to get back to one of the computer shops. Combine that with a full time job and my son playing football (3 practices and a game).

omg how do you manage all that thats crazy how do you find time to break things down? you must be overloaded with stuff.

Originally Posted by mthomasdev

Day #4 update
Got a later start than I was planning to today. Up half the night with a chest cold. Got down there and figured I would just load everything and take it to the yard on Monday. I had to be back for 5 for my son's football practice. That was the plan until I got a phone call from a lady who called me yesterday with a large load. I told her I couldn't do it until Monday. She sounded a little upset, so I said let me call you back in a few. Hung up the phone and remembered I needed the trailer for a 6AM E-waste pick up Monday morning. Now I have to really change plans. Managed to get all but about 200 pounds (stuff is mixed and has pine needles, leaves, etc.) loaded. At this point, it is about 1215. I have an hour and a half to my buyer and a 2 hour ride home. That's if there is no traffic. Got to the buyer and unloaded. Hit some traffic, but still made it home with 10 minutes to spare. Went to football practice and then to the ladies house for a pickup. 6 appliances, 2 dehumidifiers, 5 push mowers, and some excerise equipment. Need to unload that in the AM and go back for a fridge, more exercise equipment, another push mower, 3 computers, printers, etc.
Any way, here are today's totals:
Ins AL 1121 pounds
Alarm (was a mix of stuff better than low grade) 97 pounds
Med THHN 170 pounds
Med TIN 13 pounds
Coax 6 pounds
Telco 4 pounds
Bare Bright 2 pounds
ST BX 40 pounds
AL BX 17 pounds
THHN 264 pounds
Romex 104 pounds

Ball park totals to date:
7000 pounds copper wire
2400 pounds aluminum

wow thats astronomical if you stripped all the copper wire at 2$ you would have 14,000 thats a crapload of money!

Originally Posted by mike1

omg how do you manage all that thats crazy how do you find time to break things down? you must be overloaded with stuff.

I am. It's been a crazy summer. Have about 120 i-series laptops to ship out, another 120 to 130 i-series desktops that I have to decide what to do with. 200 monitors to take the bases of and box up. Memory, cpus and motherboards to ship. About 20 fridges, 55 acs, 20 dehumidifiers and other refrigeration equipment to evacuate. Like I said, it's been crazy.

Originally Posted by mike1

wow thats astronomical if you stripped all the copper wire at 2$ you would have 14,000 thats a crapload of money!

Keep in mind that I am buying this stuff.

Good score!

Day #5 update

Picked up the last of it today. Used a metal rake to get it all. Bunch of pine needles and leaves mixed in. I had been sorting it on site prior to today. Just loaded in garbage cans today. Filled 4 - 44 gallon cans. Started sorting it at home tonight. I'll probably have final numbers later this week.

Originally Posted by Patriot76

It is assumed the 7,000 pds. of copper includes the insulation. Therefore the $2.00 per pound would only apply to the recovery rate, a lower amount. Different yards classify insulated wire in different ways and pay accordingly. When selling wire you should concentrate on the recovery rate, not their classification. The further up the food chain the insulated wire travels, the more important the recovery rate becomes.

Mthomasdev: Congratulations on your score. Your work ethic has paid off.

Patriot is absolutely correct. Weights listed are for the most part, insulated.
FYI - recovery rate on romex is about 65%, small thhn 82%, med thhn 84-93%.
My buyers sheet price for bare bright had been between $2.49 an $2.65 per pound. Comex price has been between $2.94 and $3.11 per pound. Keep in mind that I'm getting dealer pricing, so I'm (and the contractor) doing ok