copper wire unstripped

[acresgreen]

Wondering if any scrap buyers buy unstripped wire. I have around 60-70 lbs of copper wire, wondering how much they discount for being unstripped. thanks in advance. Dave

 

[DRussell]

Scrap places around here accept it unstripped, but do pay less for it.

 

[knightstead]

Ive sold several thousand pounds of wire and yes, they will pretty much buy it in any condition, stripped or unstripped. Assuming what you have would be considered #1 insulated copper, itd be roughly 60 percent of what bare bright ( non oxidized stripped wire) would be. I have a wire stripper and strip it whenever possible. If its really small wire or romex I usually dont hassle with stripping, just depends how much time and patience you have.

 

[Tom in TN]

I don't know any competitive pricing for insulated and non-insulated copper wire but I do know that I had a bunch of insulated wire a while back. I actually burned off the insulation in my burn pile and then took the wire to the local scrapper. They took the wire in without any hesitation and paid me for it. But, as I say, I don't know what the prices would have been with insulated, versus stripped, versus burned wire. It just seemed like a good idea at the time.

Tom in TN

 

[K Effective]

You'll likely need to make some local calls. Some wiring is not accepted, like pivot irrigation wiring, if in an area at a time of high theft. Same with steel exterior doors or man-hole covers/storm sewer grates, not all places will take them, as they would be relatively easy to steal.

Some places have multiple stages of wire pricing, #1 solid core/#2 stranded and even generic Christmas Tree light pricing.

Rest assured, if they think there is an extra penny or two margin in clean vs. insulated, they will make the adjustment to even the score, or tilt it in their favor.

A high school friend hauled scrap from a shredder in Kalamazoo to the recycle mills in Gary, IN. If one of the independent haulers upgraded trucks, they all suffered from lowered prices.

 

[DR. EVIL]

I used to work as the purchasing agent and production control person for a company that made scrap metal processing equipment, we had our rotors in about 2/3rds of the shredding mills in the whole USA.
One day a guy from a little 2-man scrap yard across town came in with a foot long piece of wire he wanted to process. Was a piece of old ROMEX, aluminum wire wound around a high tensile heat-treated steel wire used for strength. Didn't take much to cut/shear the aluminum, but that hard steel wire was dulling every kind of shear blade he had. Only thing my engineers could suggest was make a little set of blades out of tool steel and heat-treat them accordingly. We never did hear from them again.
Think the guy said he had about a mile of the wire. Something to hold the steel wire and unwrap the aluminum from around the steel probably his best solution.

 

[Mike(NEOhio)]

I don't do it a lot but I strip it. Same price I've heard stripped or burned off. Burning is messy and stinks, stripping by hand is time consuming and you have to get rid of the insulation. Up to you.

 

[Dusty MI]

I have a set of rollers for making round sheetmetal duct. It works nice for removing the insulation from solid wire.

 

[Dusty MI]

I have a set of rollers for making round sheetmetal duct. It works nice for removing the insulation from solid wire.

 

[Phil-mar Farms]

I would advise against burning wire. Some scrap yards wont accept wire if it has been burned

 

[moresmoke]

Local yard takes wire stripped or not. Burnt you about give it to them. Unstripped is at a discount to clean. They have a room full of people stripping wire, breaking down radiators, etc. Those folks work cheaper than I do.

 

[redforlife]

This similar question came up awhile back. Was some talk about some places not buying wire with insulation on it. because of so much wiring was being stolen, and then sold. One guy made it sound like you couldn't sell wiring at all, where ever he was at.
Smart thing to do, would be call where you intend to sell. Ask the price difference, and if there is any form of it they will not except. Locations could very well vary on this matter.

 

[matthies]

Local place here will take it anyway you bring it in. But usually will mail the check out if you have a lot of copper just in case it was stolen. I have an account there and still will mail the check out. I am there one a month. Just bought a wire stripper off of ebay for $50, I have some overhead copper and don't want to cut all that insulation off. Had good reviews, manual or can drive off of a drill.

 

[dr sportster]

30-45 cents a LB to $3.00 striped.

 

[sammydwm]

1.20 to 1.45 difference between stripped or not at my local yard

 

[Logan in S.E. Texas]

I just stripped a bunch of old romex by hand, 11 pounds worth. Sold for $3.88 per pound. Asked what unstripped price was and it was just above $2/pound. It's not worth my time/effort. I have about 160 feet of very large gauge wire, the kind that goes to/from transformers. I cut a piece off and showed it to scrap yard guy, he said he would pay full price either stripped or burned. I'm going to hold on to it for a while.

 

[Phill Tibbetts]

The local junk yard here gives almost as much for burnt copper as clean copper

 

[shaun wallace]

Here in Texas they will not buy burnt copper wire but if mix with tin they never know it.

 

[Logan in S.E. Texas]

I'm in Beaumont and the guy running the pay out window of a family owned business and he is family said burned would bring top price.

 

[teddy52food]

Do you think there is any differance when it goes in the smelter?????????????????