armoured bx cable

My yard around here only pays 10c for the armoured bx cable. The type of romex where it has a metal sheathing. Anybody got any tricks or advice to get the copper wire out of it?>

ah man I hate that stuff. I usually just cut it in short enough lengths I can pull the romex out of it easier. stick one end in a vice and pull it out in 2 or 3 foot lengths.

I was in attic other day and noticed that the wiring from before the mental hospital was changed into flats that the old wiring was still left over and not in use. I started to take it off and noticed that it had no insulation -only normal wall paint covered it. It was around 6mm and hollow inside filled with some white powder. Anyone come across this type of wiring before?

Its called "Pyrex" or 'pyro' here I think.

Its a copper tube filled with the white powder & theres a rather thick copper wire running down thru the center of that.
The scrappers here have a separate price for it.

The only place I have found it is in street lamp posts.

Thanks for that, it's a real pain to get off as its screwed to walls and they have rusted so whave to pull them out leaving holes on the plaster. Shouldn't be an issue though as whoever did the conversion didnt seem to care about the attic. Big holes everywhere allready and there are all sorts of wires just propped up with bits of wood. I reckon i can maybe salvage roughly 10kg of it how much does it go for?

old mental institution..."Pyro" wire....anybody else think..."Norman Bates" ???!!!

Originally Posted by harrisvh

Thanks for that, it's a real pain to get off as its screwed to walls and they have rusted so whave to pull them out leaving holes on the plaster. Shouldn't be an issue though as whoever did the conversion didnt seem to care about the attic. Big holes everywhere allready and there are all sorts of wires just propped up with bits of wood. I reckon i can maybe salvage roughly 10kg of it how much does it go for?

I would cut them about 1 to 2 ft in length wash them up let them oxidize a bit then mix them with some nice #2 like another 10kg put some nice #2 on the bottom then gently mix the the remainder till holding box is filled 44 plus LB of #2 ready to go to market

Sounds like the way forward

if you have a backyard aluminum forge you can throw it all right in and you can skim off the solid copper with the dross you.

and if you are doing that you might as well start up your copper forge and then melt down the copper right after to save on fuel and all.

I've heard it called mc cable Metal clad. sometimes its aluminum and or steel. I use tin snips and cut it about 3 feet or so and pull out the number 1 wire.

In the UK we call this MI or MICC cable (Mineral Insulated Copper Clad). The copper wires in the centre of the cable (usually two, but can be more) are surrounded by white magnesium oxide powder to insulate them from each other. The wires and the oxide insulation are all contained in a copper tube which is often covered in a pvc coating. The most common coloured coating I have seen is orange/red.

MICC is fire resistant, so it is often used in the UK in commercial premises in fire alarm circuits.

Any pics?