Recently Discovered Scrapping

Hello :)

With my wallet strained, I decided to venture into the abandoned house I am about to tear down to make some space for things, and see what kind of scrap was available to put toward a new set of tires. I did a quick internet search to see what was valuable, and ended up spending three days watching videos and coming across forums like this one.

I quickly realized there was more to scrapping than simply gathering junk and hauling it to the dump, and there is more profit available inside almost everything for those willing to make the effort of breaking them down. After my first small load (see more below), having enough profit to pay for more gas than it took to get there and back, and cash in my wallet, it was clear that there are business opportunities, or at least a little extra cash or a hobby that pays you for enjoying it. A single broken down, "cleaned" and sorted air conditioner brought $40... for two hours of labor and a one hour round trip.

Granted, I have only just begun. I look forward to being part of this forum and utilizing all the great advice it holds as I find out how to turn this newly found discovery into something sustainable once my abandoned house of treasures is empty and I have to learn how to do the legwork.

First Haul and House...
* = complete

*Air Conditioner: 2 aluminum-copper radiators, 1 compressor, 1 electric motor, 1 aluminum fan, ~4 feet of copper tubing
(cut copper ends from radiators and removed steel (ten minutes with angle grinder))
Copper Tubing: *hot water tank, *gas heater, plumbing beneath house
Wiring: ceiling and walls, appliance cords, *extension cord
Fridge: compressor, ???
Submersible Water Pump: ???
Ceiling fans: electric motors, ???
Microwave: magnetron, ???
Blender: electric motor, ???
Giant Belt-Driven "Chicken House" Fan: possibly worth more as fan
Hot Water Tanks: ???
Deep Freeze: compressor, ???
Vacuum Cleaners: electric motors, ???
Gas Range/Oven: ???
Gas Heater: ???
Unsure of Items: Door knobs and hinges (brass?), white kitchen sink, fixtures on hot water tank (brass?)

Scrap Yard Categories (so far)...
Aluminum Breakage: compressor, electric motor
Aluminum-Copper: A/C radiator
Copper #2: tubing, burnt-clean extension cord (will strip wires in the future to avoid contaminants)

did you get paid for the pickup - clean out ... or was this a free pickup .... ??? in confused as you say ----First Haul and House...
* = complete---- /// ...

Sorry for the confusion. It is my own house that I am going to tear down to make more open space on my property, which is desperately needed, so it's just a matter of walking a couple hundred feet from where I live and salvaging items. I have plenty of spare time, so I consider the time invested as keeping my hands busy when I would otherwise be bored. Plus, it needs to be cleaned out before dismantling anyway.

The things marked with an asterisk are things I have already taken to the scrap yard in my first load. The question marks are things that may be valuable, but I have not researched deeply enough to discover what those valuable parts are yet.

Sorry if it is an information overload, but I am excited about finding what I would consider free money, and all while helping the environment. I'm surfing this forum as we speak and finding out new things :)

Welcome to the forum and thanks for the intro...sounds like your off to a great start.

welcome from jonesboro

I am also new to scrapping and excited about finding this board and all the info.
On my first scrap yard trip I took a submersible water pump. It weighed 30lbs and I was paid .20 lb = 6.00. It was listed on my receipt as motors/trans.
I didn't know if that was good, bad , normal payout......I was just glad to get it out of my garage.
I also had 11lbs of copper tubing from under the house and got 2.80 a lb for that.
I'm thinking now maybe that huge pump would be worth more but I don't know. Maybe it can be torn down into parts for a better payout ?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Renaliz

I'm thinking now maybe that huge pump would be worth more but I don't know. Maybe it can be torn down into parts for a better payout ?

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I'm new to this game, but I have turned up some research. I wish I knew about breaking things down when I had to change one out a couple of years ago.

Here's what I found about submersible pumps...
1. Extra heavy electric motor. Apparently most of these motors have the copper epoxied into place, so people are suggesting not to bother breaking down the actual motor.
2. Stainless steel impeller shaft with stainless steel discs separating the plastic impellers.
3. Solid core copper wire running down to the pump.
4. Although rare, apparently some older pumps use bronze impellers. Also, it seems there was something about Nickel alloy, but I can't find anything definitive about it.

Careful breaking down those submersible pumps. I've only done one, but thankfully I was outside when I took it apart, because the motor was filled with some kind of mineral oil.

I can't imagine the buttwhoopin I'd'a had in store from the missus if I'd spilled THAT out all over the living room floor. :k

I don't think that the old rug I'm using to protect our floor would've made much difference.

The fridge & freezer compressors have to be cut open & the copper wire removed.

Its easy with a big 9 inch grinder (harder & costlyer if its a 5inch or smaller) or a plasma cutter, messyer with a oxy torch & with possibly very dangerous fumes. (it's still filla oil & CFC's)

The microwave. Read all the info here in different threads. Basicly its gotta 1Kg Copper wire transformer, maybe a smaller one too. Don't break the Magnatron apart, just rubbish it, the pink insulator has a dangerous compound, Berryllium oxide in it.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beryllium