Insulated Wire Tip

As a new member, and being on the dealer side as opposed to the "scrapper" side (I still consider myself a scrapper ;-) ), I would like to throw a tip your way. This is something that I see "scrappers", the ones we call "peddlers" making a HUGE mistake on EVERY SINGLE DAY. When you are selling insulated copper wire, you ABSOLUTELY must know what you are selling. When I say this, I mean that you need to know the copper recovery of that wire that you are hauling down to the scrap yard. You can find the recovery for your wire the same way I do after someone sells it to me for dirt cheap and I get the upgrade. Buy a cheap set of gram scales from office depot (should cost about 10 bucks) and take a 6 inch piece of the wire in question and lay it on the scale with it set to grams (not ounces). Then record that weight. Next, strip off all of the insulation from the 6 inch sample. Now set the clean copper back on the scales. Record the second weight. Take the second weight, and divide it by the first weight. EXAMPLE: Weight with insulation = 104 grams; Weight without = 92 grams. 92/104=0.8846. You have some 88% Recovery material there friend! Don't let that scrap yard buy it for a basic "insulated copper" price. Trust me, the price difference will be SUBSTANTIAL. Also, you need to know if it is #1 Insulated or #2 Insulated. To know, just look at the wire after stripped and if it is #2 then its #2 insulated, if it is #1, then it is #1 insulated (unless there is a metal jacket in the insulation ie. alum, lead, steel etc.)

So when you go to the scrap dealer, [[call first, don't just show up]] Speak to someone besides the person who answers the phone (unless you know him/her to be knowledgeable) and say "Hey, I have 1000 lbs of #1 Insulated Copper, and it recovers 88%." then you should get a much better price. Make sure you call around, and don't be a jerk and do this trick with 20 lbs of copper. The dealer is not going to care unless you have a large quantity.



Hope this helps!