Where can I find a copper wire at home?

3 SOURCES OF COPPER WIRE SCRAP

Wire, usually made of copper or a similar alloy, is pricey among scrap metal finds and therefore highly sought after. Where can you find copper wire? In fact, wire scrap hides in electronics, appliances, and walls.

To find wire, understanding its unique traits will help. In reality, the properties of wire will tell you, in part, where to find this valuable scrap. Knowing that wire is malleable and conductive, for example, will tip you off that you will find wire in electronics and heating appliances.

So, read this post to find out where to collect this metal scrap and how to come up with your own list for wire. The top three areas to find wire are listed and explained below.

Where can I find wire?

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In each section, note why you will find wire in these key areas based on its unique traits as conductive and malleable metal scrap.

#1. ELECTRONICS

Firstly, two points about wire are that it is resilient and conductive. It can be used to carry electrical signals from one point to another and transfer energy. For this reason, it makes up the wiring for many small electronics including computers and thermostats, making most homes a great source of copper wire.

• Pro Tip: Older computers and electronics often required more copper wire to fulfill their function. Look out for them!

#2. APPLIANCES

Secondly, as a conductive and malleable metal, the wire can be shaped into appliances, like refrigerators, washing machines, and dishwashers. Likewise, the companies that design these appliances know that copper is reliable and lasting. As a result, this makes remodel projects and moving sales great places to find wire scrap.

• Pro Tip: Craigslist is a friend when it comes to finding free and marked down wire scrap in appliances. Try looking on the first day and last day of the month for hurried movers.

#3. ELECTRICAL

Finally, as a conductive metal, wire is an attractive metal for the wiring of homes and businesses. Consequently, wire makes up most of the insides of dead electrical sockets and light fixtures. You may find wire in homes that are left and abandoned.

These are the top locations to find wire, but keep in mind its traits that will allow you to find wire in new places yourself:

1. Wire is strong.
2. It’s a conductor.
3. It can transfer energy.

Going forward, these facts about wire will enable you to source new, overlooked stores. So, let us know in the comments below where you expect to find wire according to its properties, especially if you want confirmation.

You can learn more about the uses and price of wire through our related help articles:

When scrapping different materials and items, you will often find scrap copper wire that can be removed from the equipment and separated into scrap later. Whether you scrap your insulated copper by itself or take time to strip it, make sure to set it aside, as it can be valuable for your scrap metal profits.

Copper is one of the most sought-after materials in the scrap metal industry. It is used in various things, such as plumbing, electrical components, structural material, decorative design, etc. So, refining your search to some of the most common places where you will find copper wire will help you save time and money by scraping more efficiently.

Where To Find Insulated Copper Wire

1. TVs & Monitors – Many scrap yards don’t accept any monitors due to the difficulty of recycling them. However, almost all monitors and TV screens have wires attached. These wires can be snipped off and added to your insulated wire pile. They can be found out of the TV and computer monitors base. The smaller transformers found on wires can also be cut off and separated for a different scrap value.
2. Inside Electronics – Many electronics have wires on the outside that can be cut off, but once you open them up and take them apart, you will find the more insulated wire. In some items like VCRs, DVD players, Laptops, and more, you will discover thinner insulated copper wires running throughout. You can usually cut these out with thin nose pliers or scissors and put them in the same pile as the wires from your monitors. These copper wires are often classified as regular insulated or computer wires at the scrap yard.
3. Computers – While we mentioned you can cut wires off computer monitors, you can also find a good amount of insulated wire inside desktop towers. Once you take apart a desktop computer tower for the boards, hard drives, and more inside, you can separate the insulated wires. There will usually be different types of wire inside, some ribbon wire and thin-insulated connectors.
4. Large Appliances – Refrigerators, freezers, dryers, washer machines, dishwashers, and other large appliances are great to find when collecting steel loads. But before you start to dump these large items in the yard, be sure to cut off those wires from the back. Inside oversized items like ovens and fridges, you will often find thicker insulated wire (needed for more power), and your weight can add up quickly.
5. Small Appliances – Smaller items inside your house that may break can also have a good amount of copper wire inside. Some things like coffee makers, AC Units, Fans, Blenders, Toasters, and more all have insulated wires inside and on the outside of them.
6. Small Electronics – Cell phones, cameras, handheld games, and other small electronics needing regular charging are good places to find insulated wires. If one of these items has kicked the bucket, collect all those charging wires and stations to add to your insulated copper pile.
7. Extension Cords – If extra or broken extension cords are around, you can collect those for copper wire for your scrap yard. Extension cords are usually priced with regular wire, but they can add a large volume to your total weight.
8. Computer Servers – They aren’t as easy to come by compared to the above items for copper wire. If you get your hands on some computer servers, they can yield much more wire than regular computers. Also, check with your scrap yard if they grade computer wires differently than insulated wires.

*BONUS TIP*: While scrapping all of these insulated wires from electronics, be sure to cut off the plugs from the ends. Many of the plugs can be pulled out by pliers and added to your Brass pile.

You Found Some Wire, Now What? Strip It For Bare Bright Copper!

Now that you have collected different insulated copper wires in one pile, it can be very tempting to strip them all for the bare bright copper inside. It isn’t a bad idea to strip your wire, but also consider how much weight you have. If you have a large quantity (over 100 pounds), striping them could be worth your time. But if you don’t have much (less than 100 pounds), it may not be worth your time to strip them, as removing the insulation will lose much of the material’s weight.

To check the current scrap price for your insulated copper wire price, download the iScrap App, check the national averages, and search for your local scrap yard. If your local scrap yard doesn’t list their current scrap prices, you can view the regional prices or give them a call for their price. Always be sure to have a handy pair of scissors on hand. You never know when you could use them to clip off some insulated wire.

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