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Scrap copper wire is one of the most valuable recyclable materials. With an unlimited recyclable life, copper is used and reused in motors, computers, construction, industrial machinery and of course copper wire.
If you are in the scrap metal business it’s common to wonder how to get the best price for scrap copper wire?
What different grades of scrap copper wire exist? Should you invest in a wire stripping machine to strip your scrap wire or sell it as is?
Bluedog Wire Strippers has created a guide below which will help answer these questions and also help you understand how the price is calculated for your scrap copper wire.
Be sure to check out Table 1 below for a detailed scrap copper wire pricing chart per grade.
Some background, Scrap copper wire sells for high prices since it can be reused and re-purposed without altering the metal’s quality. In fact, around 80 percent of all copper used today is recycled and re-purposed.
It’s a good idea to know precisely what sets scrap copper wire grades apart, as well as which grade provides the best overall value.
Let’s investigate the different grades of scrap copper wire and the profit you can make per grade. (See Table 1 for more details)
The most valuable type of scrap copper wire is bare bright copper. This uncoated and unalloyed copper is stripped of insulation, paint, and other impurities, making it easy to reuse or recycle. As such, it is usually the first thing that scrap buyers look for.
The #1 way to turn your scrap copper wire into Bare Bright is to use a Bluedog wire stripper.
Bare Bright Copper, shall consist of clean, un-tinned, uncoated, unalloyed copper wire and cable, not smaller than No. 16 B & S wire gauge, free of burnt wire which is brittle.
Bluedog Stripping Tip: If you strip #1 insulated wire and remove the insulation, the result will be bare bright copper. This is why it pays to purchase a good wire stripping machine to strip scrap copper wire.
In conclusion, to get bare bright copper, your scrap copper wire must be very clean, without any debris or oxidization or discoloring. Its quite common in the scrap business to here some people also refer to Bare bright copper as ‘Bright and shiny’.
The second most profitable grade is #1 copper. Copper under this category is similar to bare bright copper but has traces of oxidation. Scrap materials in this grade include bus bars, clippings and clean copper tubing free of fittings, insulation, paint, and solder.
#1 copper is the second most profitable type of scrap copper to trade-in. To be classified as #1, the copper should be comprised of bus bars, clippings, commutator segments and scrap wire of at least 1/16th of an inch in diameter. It should also be clean in appearance, unalloyed and uncoated.
The most valuable type of copper pipe must be clean copper tubing free of fittings, insulation, paint, solder, and other materials. In fact, most copper tubing and copper pipes can be of #1 grade providing they show few signs of corrosion and have their fittings removed. Trace amounts of oxidation on the tubing are generally acceptable. Trace amounts of oxidation is also ok for scrap copper wire to qualify as # 1-grade copper.
#2 Copper wire aka Birch/Cliff:
Scrap copper that has a dirty appearance falls under the #2 copper grade. To qualify for this category, the material’s copper content should be 94 to 96 percent. Any unalloyed wire or pipe that has solder, paint, coating and other types of tarnishing falls are classified as #2 copper. Copper fittings with oxidation are generally accepted as long as the damage is not extreme.
Shall consist of miscellaneous, unalloyed copper scrap having nominal 96% copper content (minimum 94%) as determined by electrolytic assay. Should be free of the following: Excessively leaded, tinned, soldered copper scrap; brasses and bronzes; excessive oil content, iron and non-metallics; copper tubing with other than copper connections or with sediment; copper wire from burning, containing insulation; hair wire, burnt wire which is brittle; and should be reasonably free of ash.
This type of scrap copper wire covers clean, unalloyed, uncoated and untinned copper wires. Plastic insulation with a gauge thickness of 16 or above is acceptable. Insulation does not need to be stripped. All ends of the wire must be cut off to get this rate.
The following are common # 1 Insulated wire grades: Romex wire, THHN, 12 AWG, 14 AWG, 16 AWG, 3/0, Single Strand, Multi Strand, 500 MCM, 750 MCM, 1000 MCM, XPLE Cable, and much more.
Bluedog Wire Stripping Tip: If you strip #1 Insulated you will get bare bright copper pricing.
This category consists of unalloyed copper wire with a gauge thinner than 16. This includes heavy, double or plastic insulation. Wirings from electronics, extension cords, and other gadgets are acceptable.
Number 2 insulated wires usually have tin and nickel coatings. When the insulation is removed, the wire should#2 grade insulated copper consists of unalloyed wire – thinner than 16 gauge – which includes heavy, double or plastic insulation. The grade generally covers many common types of telecommunications wiring as well as electronics such as outlet and extension cords. Some coatings on the scrap, such as tin and nickel for example, as well as some degree of corrosion will also meet the classification
Keypoints: Each individual wire is smaller than 1/16 AWG. And can be clean or potentially coated, with red lacquer, shellac, tin, or other types of coatings.
Common types of #2 insulated wire: phone wire, data wire, computer cables, angel hair wire, tin-coated copper, appliance cables, adapters, speaker cable, extension cord wire.
Bluedog Scrapping Tip: With its insulation removed, the wiring should look like #2 copper wire. To get this rate you don’t need to remove plug ends
Contact us to discuss your requirements of tires recycling machine. Our experienced sales team can help you identify the options that best suit your needs.
#3 BX Cable:
BX cable is either Aluminum shielded or if it’s older might be steel jacketed. Inside BX cable is single strand copper wire. THHN, this is easy to scrap. BX is normally 0.5″ in diameter up to 1″ OD.
If you removed the Armoured jacket from the BX Cable – you will have Solid THHN cable. Stripping this will give you bare bright copper which is worth much more per lb than BX Cable Grades but may not be worth the labor to do so.
If you scrap BX cable you can sell both the Aluminum and Barebright copper to get top dollar for your scrap copper wire price. Scrap metal prices.
#4 Insulated – Xmas Lights :
We really don’t recommend to strip Christmas lights. This type of scrap copper wire is generally meant for a Smelting process. Although, it may pay to sell this as it because most scrap yards pay anywhere between $ 0.10 to $ 0.25 USD / lb.
How much is scrap copper wire worth?
We have created the chart below to give you a general view on how much you can expect to make per lb based on copper scrap wire grade. The purer your scrap, the higher the dollar value a scrap buyer will be willing to pay. Also the more weight you have, the more the scrap buyer will be willing to pay.
The chart below also indicates a target range of how scrap yards will approach price. This chart also demonstrates how much the scrap yard is likely to makes per lb.
In conclusion, once you identify which grade of scrap copper wire you have, you should now know the approx payout per grade.
Table 1:
*These rates are subject to volume and per scrap yard discretion.
Visit www.kitco.com to learn more about market rates of copper.
These are the following steps you should take to maximize your copper wire scrap profits:
1. Knowing what kind of scrap copper wire you have is key. If it can be stripped, strip it to make more money! Copper wire is worth nearly 3 times at the scale when it’s stripped.
The more wire you have the higher a price you will get! Decide which type of wire stripping machine is best for your volume. Should you go with a Bluedog Industrial wire stripping machine such as a BWS-80 HD?
2. Sort your scrap wire per grade. All bare bright copper together, All #2 insulated together, All BX, All Xmax lights, together.
3. Weigh your scrap copper wire before you call the scrap yard. Knowing your weight is very important. Having all your ducks in a row will give you power so you will know in advance whether to trust the Scrapyard you are dealing with.
If the scrap yard tells gives a different weight than what you already know, you can decide to negotiate with them or bugger off.
Old School Scrap Trick: Some scrap yards offer you a higher price per lb, but short you on weight. Be careful!
4. Call every single scrap yard in your area to get the best price. Call ahead, make sure you describe your grade and weight of scrap copper wire properly. How many lbs of bare bright do you have?
5. When you go to the scrapyard, you will have more room for negotiation when you bring in higher weights which are pre-sorted. Most scrap yards will pay you more if you bring in 100lb minimums.
6 – Lastly, Cash in and repeat!
YES! The answer is simple: invest a few bucks into a Bluedog wire stripping machine™ and you will pay for the machine in no time. If you are interested in knowing how long it will take you to pay back for a machine please visit our one of a kind Bluedog Calculator.
Stripped copper wire really adds up in price and is worth nearly 3 times as much as insulated wire. Stripping #1 insulated wire into bare bright is the key to success.
Bluedog wire stripper™ will not only help you strip copper wire faster, but it will also make your business more profitable and allow you to enjoy more time doing what you love.
Next, you strip wire, try out our BWS-5000-WS weigh scale so you know your weight.
If you have any comments or questions about this article please contact us.
Team Bluedog
“Don’t Scrap it, strip it!”
www.bluedogwirestripper.com
If you want to learn more, please visit our website Mini Cable Granulator.