You think its worth the time?

My stepdad called me and said a building they were redoing had about 25 4x6 light fixtures they were tossing out. This place is 45 minutes one way. I think i could get them all in one trip. I doubt they weight a ton. You think its worth the time to mess with it?


by the way,cool forum. Just came across it. I think il hang around lol

Originally Posted by BRASSCATCHER

Metal,wiring,ballasts...not too bad but the distance hurts a bit. Is there anything else that you can get that they have?

I wont know until i get there.

Originally Posted by KzScrapper

Probably have about 50-75 bucks in shred there depending on what your yard pays for shred. If the Ballast don't have PCB's in them one of several things could happen...Yard doesn't want them at all, pay you shred price or if they are generous and you could get Copper Bearing price (usually about twice shred price). My yard won't take the florescent tubes so good luck with that.

Only you know what your time is worth.

The yards around here arent too picky about stuff,i guess il know when i drop it off,If they refuse it i'll have to take em home and remove the junk.

Just in case pcb sounds like just '' junk'' to you. If the Ballastes do not say, ''No PCBs'' Then they have polychlorinated biphenals contained in them which is carcinogenic. Dont open them & a smart yard will check labels before buying them. So you dont want to get Stuck with them, or you could give them to the State or yours cities hazmat department.

The lights might be resale instead of scrap

it depends on the light but I picked up a bunch not that long ago and found about 3-3.5 lbs of copper, plus almost all the case and light shield were al. one thing I've noticed about asking "is it worth it" is you never really know until you try.

Let us know what you decide, I want to see how this plays out (where is the popcorn eating smiley face?)

When you get there take some pics and post here, it will help other people in the future.

Thanks

I wouldn't turn these lights down. It sounds to me like your stepdad could be a good future source of scrap. If he knows you're the guy to call -every- time, and you come do every pickup in a timely manner, you -will- get every call. Even on jobs where your stepdad might not be on for whatever reason. Maybe even another tradesman on that jobsite will have something for you, or will call you in future because they saw you picking up those fixtures.

IMO, the bottom line is that you may not make much, or even anything on this job; but it could easily lead to much better future scores, or maybe even great future contacts. Turning it down may cause you to miss out on some really well paying jobs in future. I would do it.

Make sure ya got a yard that will take the ballast. my local wont take any,even if its marked no PCB's

I don't know why everybody is talking about ballast, he never said they where florecant lights.