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PostPosted: Thu May 08, 2014 10:15 pm 

Joined: Fri May 02, 2014 4:56 pm
Posts: 16
Hello Everyone. I have 3 five gallon buckets full of transformers and electric motors. My local scrap yard pays 40 cent a pound for electric motors and they count transformers as electric motors.

Does anyone know if it is actually worth it to strip the wire from them? I strip some of the easier transformers found on boards because its as simple as unwinding the copper wire off them, however, some of the larger ones (like from microwaves) weigh upwards of 20lbs and I don't know if its worth it to take just the copper off it.

Before I stripped a bunch I was going to check and see if anyone has took the time to do it and what their results were.

Also, why does boardsort not buy transformers/electric motors by the pound like other scrap yards do? It has to be profitable if my scrap yard in NC (where scrap prices are one fifth of those in New York) is paying 40 cent a pound.


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PostPosted: Thu May 08, 2014 11:09 pm 

Joined: Fri Mar 14, 2014 8:58 pm
Posts: 8
Hello, I routinely scrap in the cap region of NY and the best that I can get is $.25 for elec motors, transformers go in to the "ballast" category for me at $.18/lb. NC prices are great! Copper just dropped to $2.65/lb up here, I still sell all of motors as is, being tin is apx $.11/lb I can more than double up with no added effort.


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PostPosted: Fri May 09, 2014 8:55 am 
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Joined: Fri Jan 31, 2014 10:22 am
Posts: 796
Some transformers are worth stripping while others are best left for the CBM bucket. Large transformers like those from microwaves or UPSes are worth breaking down ONLY if the windings are indeed copper and not copper plated aluminum. easiest way to tell would be to clip the end of one of the terminal wires on the transformer and look at it to see if the underlying metal is metallic red or silver in color. If you see silver, stop right there and toss the transformer into your CBM bucket. If it's metallic red, then go ahead and break the transformer open. If you need additional input on transformers and motors to break open, search youtube for videos by Mike the Scrapper, Moose Scrapper, and Jack the Scrapper.

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PostPosted: Tue May 13, 2014 10:06 pm 

Joined: Thu Mar 20, 2014 6:31 pm
Posts: 13
WHERE are you getting 40 cents/pound for electric motors? That is the highest price I have ever heard on them.


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PostPosted: Tue May 13, 2014 10:10 pm 
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Joined: Sat Feb 22, 2014 11:16 am
Posts: 166
Location: Newell, Iowa
I want to know where too, Just hauled in 1300# of electric motors at .20 a pound.


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PostPosted: Sat Jun 14, 2014 1:03 pm 

Joined: Tue May 27, 2014 6:27 pm
Posts: 56
I work in a scrap yard and would also like to know where you get .40 cent a pound for motor's. I just shipped a load of motor's 44,000 pound's and only got .31 cent's a pound.


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