Wire Types ยท SOOW / SJOOW / STOW
We buy SOOW and portable cord.
Portable cord is the least understood lot on a plant shelf: fourteen coils of 12/3 with the ends cut off, and one of them still worth using. We look at all of it.
Call or text the buying desk954-740-1983
Voltage class600 V on S, 300 V on SJ
Sizes18/3 to 2/0
JacketThermoset, oil resistant
Weakest lotCuts under twenty-five feet
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 · SOOW Cord
Reviewed by a buyerTell us what you have and where it sits. Nothing is moved until written lot terms are agreed.
SOOW and its relatives are the flexible cords behind everything portable: welders, temporary lighting, pumps, conveyors, pressure washers. The letters carry information. S is 600 V service cord, SJ is the lighter 300 V junior, the first O is oil-resistant insulation, the second O is an oil-resistant jacket, and W means weather and water resistant.
What reaches us is usually a shelf of coils at the end of a plant job, or a box of cords from a stripped office. Cut ends and missing plugs are normal. Gauge and conductor count are what the lot hangs on, and both are printed on the jacket if you can find the print.
01
Where portable cord turns up here
Every plant has a cage of it. Maintenance keeps leads for pumps and temporary lighting, the yard keeps cords for block heaters and battery chargers, and the office keeps a box nobody has opened since the last move. Event work, scaffolding and welding trucks account for the rest, in lengths that get shorter every year.
- Temporary lighting and power on construction sites
- Pump, heater and fan leads in plant maintenance
- Welder and plasma cutter supply cords
- Yard and wash-down equipment connections
- Portable distribution and spider boxes
02
Reading the letters
The grade decides as much as the copper does. SOOW is a 600 V cord with a thermoset jacket that survives oil, water and flexing, and it is the product most industrial buyers want. SJOOW is the 300 V junior version in smaller gauges, and STOW uses a thermoplastic jacket that stiffens in cold and hardens with age.
A coil with no print left cannot be graded, and an ungraded cord is bought as copper. That is the biggest reason portable cord lots disappoint their owners.
03
What a plant hands over at the end of a job
Plant closures and reorganisations produce cord in volume, because cord is cheap enough that nobody tracks it and useful enough that everybody keeps some. The result is a mixed shelf: some factory coils, some leads with moulded ends, and some cut lengths that were the last piece off a reel.
- Factory coils still banded
- Leads with moulded plugs and connectors
- Cut lengths with taped ends
- Cord with the jacket slit at a strain point
- Heavy 2/0 and 4/0 welding supply cord
04
Cut ends, missing plugs and oil
A cord fails at its ends. That is where it flexes, where it gets pulled and where water enters. Twenty-five feet is roughly the length below which a cut cord stops being worth a separate price, and a coil of eight-foot pieces is copper by any measure.
Oil is the second problem. A jacket that has gone soft and shiny has absorbed it, and a soft jacket will not hold a strain relief. We check by bending the cord over a thumb, which shows cracking a photograph rarely captures.
| Product | Range | Condition we take |
|---|---|---|
| SOOW, 600 V | 14/3 to 2/0 | Coil, long cut |
| SJOOW, 300 V | 18/3 to 12/2 | Coil, boxed length |
| STOW, thermoplastic | 16/3 to 10/4 | Coil, cut length |
| Cord with moulded ends | Any gauge | Complete assembly |
| Cut cord without ends | Any gauge | Priced on copper |
Questions
Answers before you send anything.
If your question is not here, call the desk. A buyer answers, not a call centre.
Do you buy cord with the plugs cut off?
Yes, and it is common. A cord without ends is priced on gauge, length and jacket condition rather than as an assembly. Coils of the same gauge kept together fetch more than a mixed box, because a buyer can see what the lot is.
What does the W in SOOW actually mean?
Weather and water resistance, which is a jacket rating rather than a promise about immersion. It matters on outdoor and wash-down work. A cord marked without the W is a different product and is valued as one.
Is faded print on portable cord a real problem?
It is, because the grade lives in the print. Without SOOW or SJOOW visible somewhere on the jacket, the cord cannot be graded and is bought for its copper. If one coil in a pile still shows the print, keep it with the others.
How is a mixed shelf of cord valued?
As one lot, with gauges separated if that is quick to do. We weigh the shelf, then spot-check lengths and gauges to establish an average. Heavier gauges pull the average up substantially, so keep 2/0 away from 18/3.
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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