Window ac units

Originally Posted by alloy2

Meaningless talk: nonsense _- don't give me that malarkey.

Oh it can be done a long long time ago in 2016 I think not sure I had 4 window acs when I first started doing scrap I got the compressor and rads out without poking the lines. Malarkey haven't heard that word in ages. Does seem odd though being on a scrap metal website and someone not being a scrapper I figured everyone on here was a scrapper.

Also ac compressor motors are cool since the string has been sealed it's like brand new and easy to cut to get the copper out unlike the varnished electric motors sometimes that are a major pain since my yard you have to take off the plastic and string.

Originally Posted by mike1

Also ac compressor motors are cool since the string has been sealed it's like brand new and easy to cut to get the copper out unlike the varnished electric motors sometimes that are a major pain since my yard you have to take off the plastic and string.

The other nice thing is that the windings come out a lot easier because they've been sitting in oil for years. Some of the regular electric motors can be a real booger cause they're wound so tight.

Originally Posted by hills

The other nice thing is that the windings come out a lot easier because they've been sitting in oil for years. Some of the regular electric motors can be a real booger cause they're wound so tight.

I would say that thats the only advantage of stripping sealed units is that the copper comes out easily. But way to much grinder action involved. I wanted to start buying electric motors from the yard so i crunched the numbers on electric motors.

I will use a furnace blower motor for example, if you spend the time to strip the copper out, you only make an extra 1.20 off it compared to selling whole, but imagine how less the profit would be after buying them at higher price than what the yard pays for them. So maybe .50 profit?? Not really worth the time if you ask me. so that idea went out the window.

Originally Posted by greytruck

I would say that thats the only advantage of stripping sealed units is that the copper comes out easily. But way to much grinder action involved. I wanted to start buying electric motors from the yard so i crunched the numbers on electric motors.

I will use a furnace blower motor for example, if you spend the time to strip the copper out, you only make an extra 1.20 off it compared to selling whole, but imagine how less the profit would be after buying them at higher price than what the yard pays for them. So maybe .50 profit?? Not really worth the time if you ask me. so that idea went out the window.

I hear ya. The best way i can think of to make money in that scenario is to get someone to pay you $ 50.00 - 100.00 to haul off the furnace. Anything you make off the scrap later on would be the frosting on the cake.

Your prime gig would be acting as a disposal service. There's pretty good money in it.

Originally Posted by hills

The other nice thing is that the windings come out a lot easier because they've been sitting in oil for years. Some of the regular electric motors can be a real booger cause they're wound so tight.

So how many ac units can you strip down to dirty rad , compressor and fan motor? If I can fit 50 window ac units in a shed how fast theoretically should it take to break them down to dirty rads,fan motors,wires and compressors? Is it possible to do that in a week? 4 hrs after work Mon-thurs?. Plus some hours on Sat.

Originally Posted by mike1

So how many ac units can you strip down to dirty rad , compressor and fan motor? If I can fit 50 window ac units in a shed how fast theoretically should it take to break them down to dirty rads,fan motors,wires and compressors? Is it possible to do that in a week? 4 hrs after work Mon-thurs?. Plus some hours on Sat.

I don't know Mike. Running the compactor and directing the customers takes up most of my work day. Breaking down the Freon units is just something i do when i'm not doing everything else.

If i was to guess ... maybe it takes ten or fifteen minutes per unit to tear it all down to the compressor & the rads while keeping the freon still inside. It would be less if the freon had already been pumped out like the way you are doing them.

Here's the main thing: There must be something like 30 phillips head sheet metal screws holding it all together. Make good and sure that you don't strip any of those heads. Take the time to clean the rusty heads or the heads filled with dirt with a small pick. If you don't have a positive lock between the bit tip and the head of the screw ... it will strip. You've got a real time eater upper if you get a stripped head. You either gotta grind the head off or drill the screw out. It's a PITA when you are just trying to bang the job out and you run into a roadblock.

Bear in mind ... you're gonna have a fair amount of plastic & styrofoam trash to get rid of. That will eat up some time. Also ... the blower motor fan assembly will take a bit of work to get the electric motor out. ( I usually just chuck the whole works rather than waste any time fussing with it. )

I had another window AC come in at the end of the workday today. I will try timing the breakdown tomorrow if i get a quiet spell.

Mike:

I did a couple of more window ac's. I would allow 20 minutes per unit for the basic teardown. Don't bother with the fan blower motors. One was easy to harvest. The other one was a real boogersnot. Most are difficult and time consuming.

I tore down the easy blower motor for copper. That was time consuming because it was wound so tight. I think you would be better off to sell a motor whole if you can manage to get all the plastic attachments off.

Overall ... you'll get a sealed unit and a couple of cu/al radiators. A little bit of low value wire and a bit of steel. Each unit will give you a smaller trash barrel of plastic & styrofoam trash to get rid of.

Best of luck with your 50 units. Experience will be the best teacher with those ones. You might find they're worth doing or you might find they're not worth doing. It's all situational.

Originally Posted by hills

Mike:

I did a couple of more window ac's. I would allow 20 minutes per unit for the basic teardown. Don't bother with the fan blower motors. One was easy to harvest. The other one was a real boogersnot. Most are difficult and time consuming.

I tore down the easy blower motor for copper. That was time consuming because it was wound so tight. I think you would be better off to sell a motor whole if you can manage to get all the plastic attachments off.

Overall ... you'll get a sealed unit and a couple of cu/al radiators. A little bit of low value wire and a bit of steel. Each unit will give you a smaller trash barrel of plastic & styrofoam trash to get rid of.

Best of luck with your 50 units. Experience will be the best teacher with those ones. You might find they're worth doing or you might find they're not worth doing. It's all situational.

Wow nice. Some have big fan motors and some have two small ones not sure why that is. Most of the ones I'm going to do are general electric brand. Did a real small window ac from a guy apparently the compressor tanks are static in weight no matter what the size of the AC 2lbs copper in window AC and 4lbs copper in central ac compressor. The rads clean were 3lb 8oz. The ones I'm doing are a lot bigger than that.

Originally Posted by mike1

Oh it can be done a long long time ago in 2016 I think not sure I had 4 window acs when I first started doing scrap I got the compressor and rads out without poking the lines. Malarkey haven't heard that word in ages. Does seem odd though being on a scrap metal website and someone not being a scrapper I figured everyone on here was a scrapper.

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