What are the different types of copper wire?
Copper scrap has five general types: scrap copper solids, scrap copper non-solids(turnings, dust, chips, etc.), scrap copper wire, scrap copper breakage(scrap motors, scrap transformers, scrap copper windings) and scrap copper alloy.
Scrap copper wire, as an important part of copper, is worthy of more research. Copper wire scrap also can be divided into five categories:
85% Wire: Thin case with a diameter comparable to a pencil’s. If you have this type of wire, just strip it yourself and get full copper price!
70% Wire: Romex/machine wire without any attachments. Found inside of any type of electronics or appliances
50% Wire: Extension cords and appliance cords
35% Wire: Thinly gauged wire with a considerable degree of attachments. “Communications wire” For example, VGA cables,
telephone wires, etc.
10% Wire: Christmas lights
However, most scrap yard do not segregate scrap wire into so many types. This will usually result in just 2 types of categories for you scrap copper wire:
High Grade Copper Wire: Any copper wire with a single layer of insulation.
Low Grade Copper Wire: Any copper wire with a double layer of insulation.
This is a general guideline. Every scrap yard is different. But one point is same that if you want to get the value of copper, you must remove insulation.
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