Wire Types ยท Aluminum Conductor
We buy aluminium cable.
Aluminum is a volume business. One part reel is not worth a truck and a pallet of 4/0 service cable is, which is the first honest thing to say about this family.
Call or text the buying desk954-740-1983
Common alloyAA-8000 series
Sizes1/0 to 1000 kcmil
FormsSER, feeder, URD, bus
Value driverVolume and cleanliness
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 · Aluminium
Reviewed by a buyerTell us what you have and where it sits. Nothing is moved until written lot terms are agreed.
Aluminum conductor is most of what feeds this region: service entrance cable to a house, feeder from a padmount to a shop, and the underground primary in the street. Modern building wire uses AA-8000 series alloy, which behaves better at terminations than the older grades. It carries the same current as copper at a larger size, for less weight and far less money per pound.
Sellers arrive with full reels of 4/0 SER from a subdivision, tails of 500 kcmil from a switchgear job, and obsolete alloy stock in a warehouse rack. The material is worth buying, and it is worth being straight about how the arithmetic works.
01
Where aluminum carries the load here
Almost every new service in the region is aluminum, because the difference against copper is large and the terminations are well understood. Feeders in warehouses, underground laterals in subdivisions, street primary and the occasional bus run all use it. A seller with a pickup load of aluminum holds the most common heavy cable in the county.
- Service entrance cable in residential work
- Feeder from padmount to shop or building
- URD primary and secondary in subdivisions
- Large feeder tails from switchgear jobs
- Obsolete alloy stock in warehouse racks
02
AA-8000 and the older alloys
AA-8000 series alloy is what modern building wire is made from, and it is designed to hold up at a termination better than the older EC-grade conductor. Cable already in service may carry no alloy marking at all, which is fine for recovery but does change what a buyer will assume.
For a seller, alloy grade barely moves the metal value. Cleanliness, size and whether the lot is separated from copper move it a great deal.
03
What we buy and what we leave
Insulated aluminum cable is bought as cable when it is clean and coiled, and as metal when it is not. Bare aluminum conductor from a substation or a yard is a separate stream, and aluminum with steel reinforcing in it is a third.
- Insulated SER, feeder and URD on the reel
- Clean aluminum conductor, dry and untaped
- Bare aluminum bus and jumper
- Aluminum with steel core, kept separate
- Painted, concrete-coated or burned cable
04
Mixed pallets and honest arithmetic
The mistake that costs sellers most is mixing metals. A pallet of aluminum with a few copper coils on top is priced as mixed, and mixed is always the lower number, because somebody has to sort it before it moves on. The same holds for aluminum with steel fittings or copper lugs still bolted to the ends.
Volume is the other half. Below a pallet, handling is a real share of what the lot is worth, so a small aluminum lot is usually added to a larger collection rather than collected on its own.
| Form | Range | Condition we take |
|---|---|---|
| SER and SEU, aluminum | 2 AWG to 4/0 | Coil, part reel |
| Feeder, multi-conductor | 1/0 to 1000 kcmil | Reel, long cut |
| URD, primary and secondary | 2 AWG to 1000 kcmil | Reel, coil, pulled |
| Bare aluminum conductor | Any size | Clean, dry, untaped |
| Mixed or contaminated | Any | Priced after sorting |
Questions
Answers before you send anything.
If your question is not here, call the desk. A buyer answers, not a call centre.
Why is aluminum worth so much less than copper?
Because the metal is worth less per pound and there is less of it in the same current rating. Aluminum needs a larger conductor to carry what copper carries, so an equivalent run weighs about half as much and recovers a fraction of the value.
How can I tell AA-8000 from an older alloy?
Read the jacket print, which usually names the alloy on modern building wire. Older cable may carry no alloy marking at all. Either way it is bought, since the alloy is a manufacturing detail rather than a sorting problem at the yard.
Will you take aluminum mixed with copper?
We will, but the lot is priced as mixed and that is always the lower number. Separating two metals takes minutes with a magnet and a pair of gloves, and it usually moves the quote enough to be worth doing before pickup.
How much aluminum makes a pickup worthwhile?
Roughly a pallet. Below that the handling is a large share of the value, so a single coil is better added to a collection already going. Tell us what you have and we will say which it is.
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