Almost all scrapyard owners are interested in buying copper wires due to their high value. The good news is that scrapping copper wire is not as hard as most people think. However, you need to put in the work to get a tidy return from your collection. Part of the effort involves finding a scrapyard offering the best price for your copper wires. This post highlights various ways of maximising returns on scrap copper wires.
Sort by Grade
Copper wires vary, and every scrap metal tradesperson must know it. Typically, copper wire is divided into four different grades; bare copper, clean copper, unalloyed copper, and insulated copper. As the name suggests, bare copper is free of tarnish and is the most valuable grade. Bare copper wires are mostly used in electrical cables on devices such as transformers. On the other hand, the least valuable grade is insulated copper, commonly found in appliance conductors. Therefore, when preparing copper wire for sale at a scrap metal yard, sort your lot according to the different grades. Doing it will fetch you more money because a scrapyard does not have to do the hard work.
Strip the Insulation
Some scrap copper wires have insulation. The protective sheath adds to your collection's overall weight, meaning less money per kilogram. Thus, it is advisable to strip the insulation from copper wires to get a higher return per kilogram. However, stripping the insulation can take a bit of time, especially when working on a significant load. Therefore, it is advisable to consider whether time spent on stripping copper wire insulation is worth the returns or not. To help you strip the insulation, let copper cables settle in the sun for a few hours. It softens the insulation and makes the stripping process easy and fast.
Focus on Thick Copper Wires
Any copper wire you salvage is valuable, but the amount earned depends on the size. Copper wires with big diameters attract a higher price because the insulation is usually thin. These copper wires have a higher copper to insulation ratio, and you may not need to strip the sheaths. Conversely, copper wires with thick insulation attract less money since most of the weight comes from the sheath. For such cables, it is advisable to strip the insulation. Rather than spend time collecting copper wires of different sizes, focus on thicker cables for an attractive return.
For more information about getting cash for scrap wires, contact a local scrapyard.
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