How insulated copper wire is evaluated
A buyer cannot pay the whole cable weight as copper because insulation, fillers, jackets, connectors, shielding, and armor must be removed or accounted for. Yards commonly group wire by expected copper recovery and processing route, using local names such as high-grade wire, low-grade wire, communications cable, harness wire, armored cable, or house wire.
Those names and recovery thresholds vary. Keep visibly different constructions separate and ask the yard how it buys each one. Do not combine extension cords, data cable, harnesses, coaxial cable, armored cable, and heavy single-conductor wire under one assumed rate.
Sort by construction before measuring recovery
Read safe, visible jacket markings for conductor material and size. Inspect a disconnected sample end when appropriate. Copper-clad aluminum, aluminum conductor, steel armor, plugs, transformers, and mixed connectors change the category. A cable can look substantial while much of its weight is jacket or armor.
Keep burned, oil-soaked, wet, contaminated, unidentified, or utility-owned wire out of clean groups. Ownership and theft-prevention laws can impose documentation requirements for certain wire. Only transport material you lawfully own and confirm the facility's acceptance rules in advance.
- Group cables with similar conductor, jacket thickness, shielding, and connectors.
- Remove easily detachable plugs or boxes only when the yard recommends it and the work is safe.
- Never cut installed or potentially energized cable to identify it.
Measure recovery with a representative sample
Weigh a representative cable sample, strip it mechanically using suitable tools, and weigh the recovered clean conductor. Recovery percentage is conductor weight ÷ original sample weight × 100. For example, a 5-pound sample that yields 3 pounds of copper has a measured recovery of 60 percent for that sample—not a guarantee for every piece in the load.
Use the sample to discuss the correct grade with the yard, not to manufacture a price. For an as-is quote W per pound and 80 pounds of cable, the estimate is 80 × W. If considering stripping, compare the measured conductor weight × the confirmed clean-copper quote with the as-is estimate and all preparation costs.
Common wire-estimating mistakes
Applying a clean-copper rate to the gross cable weight is the largest error. Other mistakes include relying on a generic internet recovery percentage, mixing copper and aluminum conductor, leaving heavy connectors in a high-recovery group, or assuming a yard will accept burned material.
Moisture and dirt can also distort gross weight and cause rejection or deductions. Store wire dry, keep groups labeled, and photograph representative ends. Ask whether the quote is for the complete cable or only after a specific preparation step.
Build one line per wire category
In ScrapValue, create separate material lines for each yard-confirmed wire group. Record gross weight, quoted rate, quote time, preparation condition, and a note about conductor construction. If you strip a sample, keep the sample recovery in the note rather than presenting it as an official grade.
After the sale, save the buyer's grade, scale weight, deductions, and actual payout. Repeated results can show which cables are worth processing for your tools and time, and which are better sold safely as-is.
