Mixes of wire are common when you are working on jobsites and sometimes it is easier to sell the mixes as-is then it is to separate and sort them out. We talked to multiple scrappers who have done both sorting and separating and depending on what types of wires are mixed together you have to choose what to do.
Separating Steel & Aluminum BX Wire
For example, if you have steel bx mixed in with aluminum bx you will almost always be better off sorting and separating it. With steel bx normally being worth about 20% of aluminum bx price (assuming both have the copper inside) then why would you not sort and separate it? Well, when we talked to another scrapper they said that they would not separate it because sometimes the pain of untangling it will be too difficult compared to the increase in money.
Separating Scrap Romex® Wire & Aluminum BX
There are other times when we advise scrappers to sort and separate their material. One of those is when Romex® Wire is mixed with aluminum bx off of demo or job sites. These are always worth sorting and separating because they won’t tangle together as much and you will make at least 20% more money by sorting these.
Many times when you try to sell mixed wires to your scrap yard you will have a problem because your yards won’t want to pay extra because they will have to take the time to sort and separate it. The moral of the story scrappers…sort and separate your materials as best as possible and let us know how it works out!
