A few weeks back I asked about recycling the copper pipe I pulled out of the yard.
All 1″.
Finally took it in today.
Had 78 lbs of copper and 18 lbs of brass sprinkler valves.
Cooper paid $2.30/ Lb and the brass $1.80/ Lb.
Sure glad I didn’t just ditch it.
ML
Replies
A little windfall never hurt anyone. Good job.
"I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul." Invictus, by Henley.
i gotta ask,did someone plumb a sprinkler in 1" copper? they must of own stock in the copper co. larry
if a man speaks in the forest,and there's not a woman to hear him,is he still wrong?
actually they tied into the main water service before the shutoff, and ran 3 hose bibs off this all over the place. no more than 20' apart. I removed them all and added a shut off and one bib at the far side of the house. So while the yard likes like mine field I have $200 in my pocket.ML
just last week for only the second time in my life did I go to the metal scrap yard.
had a cast iron tub I just demo'd.
a big steel sink from the backyard of another job that I told the customer I'd toss for him ... (honestly had plans for the dumpster for that one)
and a big old cast iron farm sink I had in my garage for years ...
(garage that I'm going to rent a dumpster for to finally clean out)
also had some brass and copper plumbing fittings from the various sinks/ tub.
walked out with $57.
way gooder than paying about $25 to drop it at my local dump!
collected everything on Fri afternoon ... dropped it off first thing Mon Morning.
the scrap yard is about 5 min from my house.
also had discounts towards gas on our grocery store card ...
somewhere around $1.40 off per gallon. Filled the box van for $61.
used the scrap money ... cost $4 outta pocket.
house I'm currently working on I had to open the wall between the kitchen and bath to see where the many leaks were coming from.
got them all figured out and fixed ...
saw all copper plumbing.
new ABS in the basement ... all copper lines and drains in that wall.
a whole spider web of thick wall copper.
thot for a second ... maybe I'd better be safe and replace all this old stuff with new plastic! Coulda retired ...
Jeff
Buck Construction
Artistry In Carpentry
Pittsburgh Pa
Call around before you do that again. In my area, the crooks will give you about $2.20 for copper (no soldier or brass) but the best yard will give you a little over $3 for copper with no soldier and a little less for soldier then less for brass. You'll be amazed at how the same thing is priced differently.
This was dirty copper with solder and fittings, that had been in the ground fro close to 20 years.ML
I make it a habit of keeping any copper and brass I get from demo work. It's not much from each project but I toss it in a bin in my shop anyway. After a year or so I have enough to take to the yard. Last time I took it in was $130 extra spending money. Not bad for just tossing bits and pieces aside.
See my work at TedsCarpentry.com
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still wondering when it will become economical enough to replace all Cu lines with PEX?
How many Lbs of Cu pipe do you think are in an average 1500 sf. ranch: 1 kit, 2 bath, laun, 2 outside lines, baseboard heat?
gk
well out 1500 home is 3BR 2 BA, and I bet you have several hundred lbs. I used to plumb tract homes and remember soldering a whole lot during rough in. Most was 1/2" but the main was 1" and 3/4" up to the WH.ML
yeah, my guess was nearly 300lbs of supply lines in the average ranch but I've never plumbed a whole house so your guess would be better than mine. I did recently remove a drain line from my 1961 built house: 2" x 16' Cu! Gotta remove a 2" x 12' Cu vent line soon too. Imagine installing all waste/vent lines in Cu today. I think I'll hold on to those pipes. Imagine what they will be worth in the future.gk