sealed units?

are "sealed units" otherwise known as compressors? In other words... that really heavy tank the copper connects to inside air conditioners... i used to take them off and scrap them seperate, but the yard i go to pays .08/lb for them , where as steel is .10/lb , so i've just been throwing them in with steel...... but am curious, what actually are they made up of to make them so heavy?

Cut one open and see all the copper! Clean out the copper and sell the rest for steel scrap.

I second that, Cut one open and see what yer missing

Very messy though, so don't wear your going to meeting clothes :-P

i could cry..... I didn't know they were copper, I just knew that they oozed out a lot of messy puss..... so I left them be.... oh well i've only thrown away a couple.... I definitely will process more thoroughly next time!!!!!!! Thanks for this post!

Originally Posted by Lawn Island Scrapper

are "sealed units" otherwise known as compressors? In other words... that really heavy tank the copper connects to inside air conditioners... i used to take them off and scrap them seperate, but the yard i go to pays .08/lb for them , where as steel is .10/lb , so i've just been throwing them in with steel...... but am curious, what actually are they made up of to make them so heavy?

Makes me wonder why they give you less, when it's got a bit of copper in it. IMHO it should scrap at electric motor price. But yeah, cut it open and get that copper out. No need for the yards to make money off YOUR back.

wait a minute... so is there a copper lining that would count as light copper? but surely all that weight can't be from soley copper inside....

should i just saw in in half with a sawzall to see what i'm missing?

guess i'll give that a go tomorrow, i'm used to dealing with the mess from removing them... is there more mess to come when cutting them in half?

Lining? There's a motor in there that has copper windings.

I guess a "mess" depends on ones definition. I've seen a few postings where they said it'll make a mess. Hasn't been too bad for me. I score the wall near the weld with a cutoff wheel and gradually make a deeper pass and I go around it until I cut all the way through.


Then I pull the motor. I have a 55 gallon drum for oils, so I tip the compressor upside down and let it drain. Actual weight of copper will vary. The heavy weight is in the housing and motor core.

For me it's worth it, some don't think so.

Jump on youtube and look up videos about "scrap compressor" and "scrap stator".

Keep us updated on how you make out with it.

If you stand the compressor upright for a day the oil will all drain to the bottom. Cut it open as mentioned above (I use a cutting torch) and remove the four bolts.
Pull the motor core out and set it in a vise. I have seen the vid were the guy is using a cutoff wheel to cut one end of the windings off, but I use a sawzall with a 24 tooth per inch metal blade. Then I turn the core over and pry up the wire, being that it was in oil all it's life, the windings are the easiest of all the motors I do!

Here in my area they give about $3.00 for "large" compressors.
If I get , say < /> #4.00 of #2 copper @ 3.45 and #60 of steel @ $0.10
So now I took $3.00 worth of scrap and in 15 minutes made it worth $19.80 . Some will have almost 5 pounds of copper.

Again I use a torch to cut them open! The grinder with a cutoff will do the job, but the torch cuts them like butter!
I wait till I have a few before I even bother.

This is were the yards make there easy money! Motors paid @ $.20 a pound and compressors @$3.00 each in the front and cleaned in the back all day long!

This is how I make a buck plus I cut up the coils unlike what I see at the yard! These guys are selling them as "ACRs" @ $1.50 a pound. Most of the weight is copper. One word! " BANDSAW!"

Good luck and be careful;
Joe

I have taken apart MANY compressors (I currently have hoarded about 150 lbs of copper windings, which is #2 copper). I do it a little different. After removing the compressor from the a/c or refrigerator or freezer, I will drill two holes in it and drain the compressor oil. Makes for less mess later on. Then I will do it like most others here, cut open with metal cutoff wheel on an angle grinder, etc. I find the compressors out of refrigerators and freezers are much easier to mess with. The casing is thinner, and the electric motor on the inside does not have a heavy varnish coating like the a/c ones do. I find that heavy varnish makes it harder to remove the string holding the windings, and also harder to remove the windings themselves. I have purchased some varnish remover and am going to use that on a couple of a/c electric motors and see if that helps any.

thanks guys, a lot of good info here.

i had no idea there was a motor in there, makes sense though. i didnt get a chance to give it a go with the sawzall today but someday soon i'll give it a shot. usually dont get to do more time consuming scraps, but if theres 5lbs of brite wire in each of those might be worth it for sure. depends how quick i can get it out! maybe i'll just start saving all the compressors i come across for a rainy day.

Wayne why drill holes when you could just tip it a little bit? There are two holes in it to begin with! And spending money on varnish remover? Are you a scrapper or a furniture re finisher? You make very little sense with that post!
I make lots of cash on my ways! Simple yet very productive!

Originally Posted by wayne1956

I have taken apart MANY compressors (I currently have hoarded about 150 lbs of copper windings, which is #2 copper). I do it a little different. After removing the compressor from the a/c or refrigerator or freezer, I will drill two holes in it and drain the compressor oil. Makes for less mess later on. Then I will do it like most others here, cut open with metal cutoff wheel on an angle grinder, etc. I find the compressors out of refrigerators and freezers are much easier to mess with. The casing is thinner, and the electric motor on the inside does not have a heavy varnish coating like the a/c ones do. I find that heavy varnish makes it harder to remove the string holding the windings, and also harder to remove the windings themselves. I have purchased some varnish remover and am going to use that on a couple of a/c electric motors and see if that helps any.

One does not "take apart a comp." they are cut open! And when you cut the windings with a cutoff it melts the varnish together making it hard to pull out from the other side, hence the 24 tooth blade cutting, not melting the windings!

Work smarter not harder!

Originally Posted by injunjoe

One does not "take apart a comp." they are cut open!

Semantics. Common sense will show most people will understand that when I stated "take apart" I was talking about cutting it open. Was not aware you were employed by the verbage police. I also NEVER said a thing about cutting the windings with a cutoff wheel. I use a cutoff wheel to cut open the casing ONLY. And apparently you have not "cut open" many a/c compressors. All the ones I have cut open have a heavy varnish coating on the windings and string binding them and making them difficult to remove. That is the purpose of the varnish remover. It is an experiment to see if I can "work smarter".

Originally Posted by wayne1956

Semantics. Common sense will show most people will understand that when I stated "take apart" I was talking about cutting it open. Was not aware you were employed by the verbage police. I also NEVER said a thing about cutting the windings with a cutoff wheel. I use a cutoff wheel to cut open the casing ONLY. And apparently you have not "cut open" many a/c compressors. All the ones I have cut open have a heavy varnish coating on the windings and string binding them and making them difficult to remove. That is the purpose of the varnish remover. It is an experiment to see if I can "work smarter".

Lol dude that is all I scrap for the most part is HVAC. I install them for a living.
Compressors are of the easiest to strip of any motor I have done. The oil in the unit makes the windings slide out like butter. Perhaps the tools you are using is making it difficult. Long handled end nippers give a lot of leverage and holds on to the wire without slipping off. Without a good sized vise I could also see how it would be hard to pry the wire out also.

I have one big compressor that I'm going to open. I haven't open one before because I'm new to scrapping. Hopefully it doesn't give me a lot of hell opening it.

I oersonally use a cut off wheel. Flip it over, and hit it with the air chisel. If I felt being fancy and didnt want to use the air, before my winch broke, I would hook my winch to the windings and the stator to a vice. Came out easy peasy...lol

If ya dont want to do it man, Im paying 20c a lb for them. But Im 3 hours from ya.

Originally Posted by injunjoe

but I use a sawzall with a 24 tooth per inch metal blade. Then I turn the core over and pry up the wire, being that it was in oil all it's life, the windings are the easiest of all the motors I do!

I recently tried this & the blade would grab/break the individual wires & send them flying everywhere, making a mess. It was my first compressor teardown. I still havnt finished cutting off the copper winding ring from the motor. I am looking for a better, less messier way. Picking up strands of wire from the floor is not my idea of fun. I wanna cut that ring off whole and then pull out the rest.

**** compressors