Money in Recyling Copper From Wires and Motors

Today I had a better day, which is nice since I haven't left the house much in two weeks now. The weather was beautiful so I  thought I would go through the garage and get rid of more things. I gave Princess 2 lots of items she could sell to raise money for Princess fours service mission and also got rid of several things. 

I had three bags of wires I have accumulated over the past few months. I usually just take all that type of stuff to the recycle center where I donated it to the local school activity fund but I wondered just how much money was in the wires. I know copper is expensive and have heard lots of people talk about how the copper taking electricity to their farms off the main road is cut and stolen regularly and also have seen on the news recently how people steal it from construction sites so I thought I would see just how much is in the wires and a few motors. 

My neighbor across the street used to pull apart car motors for the copper in them and recycle it and would pay for his family vacation that way each year.

 If he can make money at it, I thought perhaps I could as well.

I had this timer for the outdoor lights that went out a few months ago so I took a hammer to it and found that it had three different areas with copper besides the wires in it. I used wire cutters and a knife to get the thin small wires off and that went quite quickly but the thicker copper wire, I just unwound it. 

I also kept the brass pieces as I know that adds up as well. 

I tested all the metal  with a magnet to see if it was aluminum or another metal. I ended up with four or five piles of different metals. 

There was the hair like copper, the thick copper wire, the brass, aluminum, steel and some weird colored wires I am not sure what metal it is but plan to ask the recycle man when I go in next. 

I then spent hours listening to an audio tape on CD (Click here for a post about that)  and pulling copper out of wires from a dishwasher and other electronic devices that I have collected recently. 

I ended up getting a better system as I went learning with each wire and there are many different types of wires. 

I didn't finish all the wires I had but enough that when I have time to go to the recycle place, I will get an idea if it was worth it. 

Another thing I pulled apart was a switch that I replaced on my suburban lights that my dad and Prince number one switched out for me awhile back.  My dad said to hold onto it for the other parts in case they went out. I decided today I didn't want to keep it so I added it to the stack and there was a bit of copper in it as well. (See that post here.)

The best way that I found to strip the wire was a "find" since I was headed out to buy a "stripper" to use. What I found that worked quicker, which I wish I had found earlier, was to use two sets of pliers. 

Clip the end of the plastic off like you see above.Then, take one pair of pliers and hold onto the copper, then take the other pair and grab onto the plastic and pull the two apart at the same time. The copper cuts the plastic as it gets pulled and goes quite quickly over using a stripper and pulling the plastic off. 

I think if I were watching a movie with the family, it would be a great thing to work on. I don't think I will ever just "do it" again without doing a movie or perhaps while someone is driving etc. The time it takes is consuming but if you are doing something else at the same time, it is probably worth it. I'll have to let you know how much I get for the copper.

The tools needed depend on what you are planning on getting the copper out of but I used the tin snips a whole lot. The screwdrivers helped me pull out the wires from things like old curling irons etc. The pliers were invaluable and I would probably wear the plastic coated work gloves if I were going to be doing very much of it. 

Here is a box of the casings from the wires along with the tools I used.  At the bottom, are the different bags of metals I acquired from my hours of work.  For some reason, I don't think I will make much after all the work. I think aluminum cans is probably a better way to make money. I just collect them along with the aluminum foil I use that is "clean" and make a dollar or two in a month or so. 

I will let you know how much I get for the copper once I have finished stripping all the wires I have. I didn't do many from the dish washer yet and still have another bag in the garage so it should be interesting to see how it goes. My guess is I would do better to collect old pennies and take those in instead. I wonder if you get more than a penny back when you take in a penny to recycle it. 

There is a thought..... Perhaps raiding our money jar would be a better use of my recycle time than stripping wire.... I'll check into that and let you know..... 

Ok, so I just did some searching and each copper penny made before 1982 (that year they made both copper, and zinc with copper coating pennies) are worth at least 3 cents. However, the government made it illegal to melt down money. There is a "ban" on it but I know for a fact that a hospital in our area takes coins that are thrown into their fountains and has them melted down and makes LOTS of money each year. That way they don't have to sort it and any "crud" from the fountains gets melted off in the process so they don't sort their coins at all.

People are now hoarding copper coins in hopes that the ban may be lifted. If you want to start "collecting" the coins. Just look for the aged dirty coins and 80% of the time, you will be picking one that is pre-1982. The older quarters, dimes and dollars prior to 1964 have a higher silver content. 

There are apps you can download that will tell you exactly what a coin is worth that day on the current silver prices. Interesting information. 

Speaking of quarters.... You'll never guess what I found in the "self check out" line at Walmart today.... Yep, a quarter. I smiled as I picked it up and thanked Heavenly Father for reminding me to "trust Him." My "found" money jar is getting full. (See one of the many posts about that here.)