1930-1950's Industrial Transformers

Originally Posted by auction

I've got some huge transformers part of a mini-substation on a commercial property. 6' or more tall. I think they are manufactured somewhere between 1930 and 1950. They are about to be retired within a month.



Through a friend of friend type deal I was told they contain 10's of thousands in copper. I was also told by someone else they could contain PCB's. I'll add photos and see if I can find model numbers.

How would you approach this to get them gone and make some money doing it?

if they do contain pcb's your gonna have to build a giant metal drip pan going into a 55 gallon drum or bigger, take everything apart over the drip pan, build a chemical bath for them to go into, and then chemically clean every part. then scrap the metal, and take the pcb contaminated fluids properly marked with class 9 hazmat to a hazmat guy like mentioned above. also the small transformers i took apart were only 17% copper. so if the transformer itself is only 1,000lbs, 170lbs roughly will be copper if the big ones are the same percentages. i couldn't tell you if they are or are not because i never did one bigger than my 6 inch vise. I've done thousands of pounds of small ones though. so if its 170lbs and you get $2 a pound for the number two copper thats $340. plus the 800lbs of steel at 3 cents a pound i believe everyone is saying so $24. so $364 if these things weigh 1,000lbs and are the same ratio of copper as the small ones. but you will then have to dispose of the hazardous waste if there is any. if there is no hazmat in them you will get close to the above mentioned price. if there is no hazmat in them take the steel housing away and cut all your wires. pull the core out which is where the copper is. old ones like that may be copper wrapped around a steel plate. cut the copper best you can and pull it away from the steel. you'll probably need a big grinder at minimum to do it efficiently or a whole lot of 4.5" blades. possibly a plasma or concrete style demo saw. definitely not in the 10's of thousands like you were hoping for. unless the core itself is that 6' tall. even then you would need a semi truck and massive forklift to move the thing as to even get $10,000 in todays market they will be close to 30,000lbs. if they are indeed 17% copper.