Industrial ยท Standby Power
We buy generator and emergency power cable.
Generator feeder is cable nobody plans to use, sized for a fault current it will probably never see, and replaced on a schedule that has nothing to do with how it looks.
Call or text the buying desk954-740-1983
Voltage480 V to 15 kV
FamiliesFeeder, control, portable
WhereHospitals, data, bases
Priced onSize, footage, jacket
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 · Generator Cable
Reviewed by a buyerTell us what you have and where it sits. Nothing is moved until written lot terms are agreed.
A standby system is a chain: generator, breaker, transfer switch, emergency distribution, and the loads that have to keep running when the utility goes away. The cable between those pieces is sized for the full generator output, installed on supports, and often run in a way that is meant to survive a fire or a flood.
Hospitals, data centres and base facilities replace this equipment on a life-cycle basis, and the cable usually goes with it. A feeder that has run for a few hundred hours over twenty years still looks new, which makes it one of the better lots in this group. The condition of the jacket, rather than the age of the installation, is what decides the quote.
01
The chain, and where the cable sits
Every link in a standby system has cable attached to it, and each link produces a different kind of scrap. The generator leads are short and heavy. The run from the generator breaker to the transfer switch is the long one, and the smaller conductor lives between the switch and the emergency panels.
- Generator leads and neutral, short and heavy
- Generator breaker to transfer switch feeder
- Transfer switch to emergency distribution feeder
- Control cable for the transfer switch and the engine
- Portable and cam-lock cable used for temporary power
02
Critical, legally required and optional
Emergency systems are classified by what happens if they fail. Critical systems cover life safety, and in a hospital they reach into operating rooms and egress lighting. Legally required systems cover things like fire pumps and sewage lift stations, and optional systems cover everything the owner simply wants to keep running.
The classification changes the material. Critical work carries more fire-rated and circuit-integrity cable, and that cable is valued on its listing rather than its copper. Optional standby work is usually ordinary feeder and reads as such.
03
Why this cable often looks unused
Standby plant runs during tests and outages, not every day. The cable sits in a mechanical room or a vault, out of the sun, on racks, with the jacket never asked to flex. That is close to ideal storage, and it is why a removed feeder can be twenty years old and still worth pricing as cable.
The exception is anything outdoors or in a flood-prone vault. Water in a vault, a sump that failed, or a generator yard that takes on rain will show up in the jacket and the terminations long before it shows in the conductor.
04
Removing it without wrecking it
The cable is worth the most if it comes out in long pieces with the jacket intact. That means cutting at the lugs rather than hacking through a bend, pulling to a coil rather than dragging over a curb, and labelling each piece with the circuit it came from.
- Cut at the terminations, not mid-run
- Pull to a coil on the floor, never over an edge
- Label each coil with circuit and voltage
- Keep control cable out of the power pile
- Cap or tape the ends before the coil is banded
| Part of the system | Typical cable | Usual size |
|---|---|---|
| Generator leads | Single conductor, flexible | 4/0 to 750 kcmil |
| Breaker to transfer switch | Feeder, 600 V or 5 kV | 1/0 to 1000 kcmil |
| Transfer switch to panels | Feeder, copper or aluminium | 2 AWG to 500 kcmil |
| Engine and switch control | Control cable, shielded | 14 AWG to 10 AWG |
| Temporary power | Cam-lock and portable cord | 2 AWG to 4/0 |
Questions
Answers before you send anything.
If your question is not here, call the desk. A buyer answers, not a call centre.
Does low run time make the cable more valuable?
It makes it easier to sell as reusable cable, because the insulation has seen little heat and the jacket has not been flexed. It does not change the metal content, and an old feeder that sat in water is still an old feeder.
Do you buy the transfer switch and the generator?
No. This is a cable and conductor desk, and the switchgear, the generator and the fuel system belong to other trades. If they are part of the same clearance, say so and we will point you at the right trade.
How much does the fire rating matter on a hospital job?
A great deal. Circuit-integrity and two-hour rated cable is priced on its listing, and the listing only counts if the print is legible. Ordinary feeder from the same job is priced on size and weight instead.
Can you collect during a plant outage?
That is usually the only workable window, and it is also when the loading area is busiest. Book the pickup against the outage schedule, tell us the dock and the lift, and expect the truck to wait its turn.
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