Bexar County ยท Fort Sam Houston
We buy surplus wire at Fort Sam Houston.
Fort Sam Houston holds some of the oldest buildings in the city, wired, rewired and rewired again, and every utility upgrade there produces conductor that has to leave through a gate.
Call or text the buying desk954-740-1983
CountyBexar
Building stock1880s to present
Common lotRemoved building wire
AccessBadged, delivery window
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 · Fort Sam Houston
Reviewed by a buyerTell us what you have and where it sits. Nothing is moved until written lot terms are agreed.
The quarters on Fort Sam Houston date from the 1880s, which means they were built before anyone in San Antonio had a service panel. What stands now is a century of layered work: cloth-covered knob-and-tube replaced by BX, BX replaced by MC, service upgrades stacked on service upgrades. Renovating one of those buildings is closer to archaeology than construction.
The installation is also a medical training campus, and those buildings run on constant minor construction: classroom reconfigurations, equipment swaps, distribution upgrades carried out while the building stays occupied. Add utility work across the post and the result is a steady trickle of removed feeder, building wire and grounding conductor. None of it arrives as one large lot, and that is the point.
01
Historic quarters: three generations of wiring in one wall
Open a wall in one of the older quarters and you find the whole history: knob and tube on the studs, BX fished through later, MC added during the last renovation, and a service entrance re-terminated more than once. The old cable is usually left in place rather than pulled, because pulling it means opening more wall than the job allows. What does come out is what the electrician can reach, and that is a small, mixed lot.
- Cloth-covered service entrance
- Old BX from accessible runs
- MC from current renovation
- Panel feeder, copper and aluminium
02
Medical training buildings and continuous minor work
Training buildings change more often than anyone plans for. A classroom becomes a simulation lab, a lab becomes storage, and each change drags electrical work behind it: new circuits, moved panels, added receptacles, a data room that needs its own feed. The removed material is rarely dramatic, but it is constant, and constant work accumulates on one pallet worth a single pickup.
03
Utility upgrades across an installation
The post has been served by generations of utility infrastructure, and upgrades to it produce the heaviest cable on the job. Duct bank work releases feeder, ground grid work releases bare copper and exothermic connections, and a padmount or switchgear replacement releases medium voltage cable, which has to be de-energised and discharged before anyone touches it. Record the voltage class, the size and the length of each pull, and keep the cable spooled.
- Voltage class
- Conductor size
- Pull length
04
Badging, windows and the escorted move
Access on an active installation is a process, not a formality. Drivers are identified ahead of time, vehicles are inspected, and material moves in a booked window with an escort where the building requires one, and historic areas add their own constraint because a truck cannot always get close to a building that predates the truck. If material has to be hand-carried to a curbside point, we bring the crew to do it.
| Family | Sizes we see | Condition we buy |
|---|---|---|
| Service entrance cable | 4 AWG to 350 kcmil | Removed, surplus |
| BX and MC armour | 14/2 to 4/0 | Pulled, partial reel |
| Feeder and sub-feed | 1/0 to 500 kcmil | Reel, cut length |
| Grounding and bonding | 6 AWG to 500 kcmil bare | Removed, clean |
| Medium voltage cable | 5 kV to 15 kV | Decommissioned, tails |
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 small lots from a single building renovation?
Yes, though a single bucket of mixed BX is a modest lot. It becomes worth a pickup when it is separated into copper conductor, aluminium and steel-armoured material, with the service entrance cable kept out of the demolition debris.
How does access work for a contractor on the installation?
Your contract governs the gate, and we follow it. Drivers are submitted in advance, the vehicle is declared, and we move inside the window your facilities contact approves. We do not turn up and ask to be let in.
Is old cloth-covered cable worth anything?
It is, on the copper, and usually at a lower rate than clean modern conductor because the insulation has to be dealt with. Keep it separate from BX and from bare copper and each part is priced on its own merits.
Can you take removed medium voltage cable from a utility upgrade?
Once it is de-energised, discharged and tagged by your crew, yes. Send the voltage class, conductor size and the length of each pull. Spooled cable is far easier to value than cable coiled on a pallet.
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