Guide ยท Footage by weight
How to estimate cable footage by weight.
A scale tells you what a reel weighs. Turning that into feet takes three more numbers: the empty reel, the conductor size and the published weight per thousand feet.
Call or text the buying desk954-740-1983
FormulaNet weight / lb per Mft
InputsWeight, size, reel tare
AccuracyA few percent at best
Beats itA legible mill tag
Get a buy quote
Send the reel list. A buyer reads it.
Six details are enough to start. Tags and photos can follow by text or email once a buyer has looked at the basics.
- A buyer reviews the lot: construction, footage and condition, not only metal weight
- Copper and aluminium, 600 V building wire through 345 kV cable
- Full reels, partial reels, cut lengths, pallets and truckloads
- No fee, no obligation, and no automatic pickup
Reel list · Footage by Weight
Reviewed by a buyerTell us what you have and where it sits. Nothing is moved until written lot terms are agreed.
01
The four inputs
Four numbers go in and everything else is arithmetic. Where one of them is unknown the estimate carries that uncertainty, and it should be named rather than hidden, because a figure presented as fact and later found wrong is worse than an honest range. Write the four down before you start, in the order below, and keep them with the reel list so the arithmetic can be repeated by someone else.
- Gross weight of the loaded reel, in pounds
- Tare: the empty reel, from the tag or a like-for-like reel
- Conductor size and strand, from the tag or the print
- Published weight per thousand feet for that construction
02
The arithmetic, worked once
Suppose a reel of 4/0 copper THHN grosses 1,180 lb and the tare is 180 lb. The cable accounts for 1,000 lb. If the published figure for that construction is around 650 lb per thousand feet, the reel holds roughly 1,540 ft. Change one input and the answer moves: a heavier reel, a different strand class or a compact conductor all shift the divisor.
- Weigh the reel and record the gross figure
- Subtract the tare for that reel type
- Divide by the weight per thousand feet
- Compare the answer with the tag before sending it
03
Where the estimate goes wrong
Water is the largest single error. A reel that has stood outside holds rain in the wraps and in the wood, and the scale cannot say how much. Steel reels weigh more than wooden ones and the gap is not constant. Banding, lagging and the tail wrapped round the flange all register as cable. Each of those pushes the estimate up, and none of them pushes it down.
04
Why the tag beats the tape
Measuring round the outside of a coil gives a number that is wrong by the length lost on every wrap, and the error grows with the coil. A tape across a reel face gives the diameter of the drum, not the footage. The tag gives footage at manufacture and the scale gives the change since. Together they bracket the answer; separately, each misleads in a different direction.
| Input | Where to get it | Typical error |
|---|---|---|
| Gross weight | A yard scale | Small, if calibrated |
| Tare | Mill tag or an empty reel | Large if guessed |
| Size and strand | Tag or jacket print | Small |
| Weight per Mft | Manufacturer data | Small, if the build matches |
| Water and debris | Nobody records it | The largest of all |
Questions
Answers before you send anything.
If your question is not here, call the desk. A buyer answers, not a call centre.
Can I estimate footage without a scale?
Only roughly. Reel diameter, drum diameter and how full the reel looks will give a range, and the range will be wide. If the reel is going to be sold it will be weighed at some point anyway, so the scale is the number that counts.
Why does conductor weight per thousand feet vary?
Because the same nominal size can be built several ways. Strand class changes the amount of metal. Compact and compressed conductors pack the strands tighter. Insulation and jacket thickness add weight that is not conductor at all. Two reels of 4/0 can differ by a noticeable margin.
Does the empty reel weight include the lagging?
Sometimes, and that is the trap. A tare printed at the mill may include battens, lagging and banding, or it may not. Weigh an empty reel of the same type if you can, and treat the printed tare as a starting point rather than a fact.
Is a weight estimate good enough for a buy quote?
For a first read, yes. For a final number the reel is weighed on receipt and the paperwork follows the scale. Nothing is agreed until the material is in front of a buyer, so an estimate is a way to decide whether a pickup is worth arranging.
Keep reading
Related pages
No fee · no obligation
You have the cable. We have a scale and a check.
Send the reel list, the tags or a photograph of the pallet. A buyer comes back with what the lot is worth and how pickup would work, before anything is moved.
954-740-1983 Call or text
- Reel tags, or the print on the jacket
- Reel count and footage, even roughly
- Where it sits and what can reach it
- Whether the cable is still energised