Selling your car’s bad alternator is a nice way to make extra cash. It also helps to save the environment from having waste lying around. You may be wondering, “How much is an alternator worth in scrap?”
An alternator is worth $0.13 per pound in scrap. However, some junkyards can offer up to $0.15 – $0.20 per pound for your scrap alternator. The component is valued due to the presence of its aluminum casing, wound copper wires, and other metals.
If you have a faulty alternator that is beyond repair, don’t just discard it carelessly. The component still has some economic value. Find out more about the alternator scrap price, the materials available for recycling, and how to remove copper from the alternator.
How much is an Alternator Worth in Scrap?
Generally, a scrap alternator is valued at different prices. While some junkyards pay $0.13 per pound, others may offer around $0.15 – $0.20. Nevertheless, the size or weight of the alternator is a major factor that influences price.
The alternator retains some economic value even when it’s bad. That means you don’t have to bear the entire loss of replacing a bad alternator. You can still rake in a few bucks by locating a junkyard to sell the component.
The materials contained in the alternator can be recycled. Various products can be remanufactured from recycled alternator parts. This is a major advantage of metal components.
If you have a bad alternator that you intend to replace, ensure to sell the scrap. Meanwhile, you may want to find the best deal for the metal. So, ensure to compare the scrap alternator price offers from various scrap metal dealers.
Materials Available for Recycling from Alternator
Copper, steel/iron, and aluminum are the basic materials available for recycling from an alternator. However, these materials are not present in the same proportion. In the same vein, the prices vary.
A typical alternator’s stator and rotor are made of steel or iron. The wire windings are made of copper. Meanwhile, the housing and other parts are made of aluminum. These various materials can be recycled from their scrap state.
For example, the steel can be recycled and used to remanufacture new steel products. Recyclers can also melt the copper and manufacture new wires from it. New aluminum products can as well be made by melting the aluminum in an alternator.
To get the best out of a scrap alternator, you’ll have to take it to a metal recycling center. These recyclers have the equipment required to transform the scrap to something else.
However, ensure to find out what metals the recycling center accepts. This will enable you to prepare them properly for recycling. Ascertaining the scrap price for alternators from various recyclers can also help you maximize financial returns.
How much Copper is in an Alternator?
How much copper is in an alternator? An alternator contains 1.5 pounds of copper. It is the most valuable component of an alternator. That’s why the part is mainly sold at a higher price than the other components in a scrap alternator.
Meanwhile, the alternator is usually split into various categories so that the scrap prices of each material can be calculated. In addition, the heavier the alternator, the more money you can realize from its sale.
Copper has a lot of uses in the manufacturing industry. It can be used as an electricity or heat conductor. The component is also useful as a building material. Furthermore, it can also be used as a constituent of different metal alloys.
This wide range of uses that copper can be channelled to is a major reason why it is valuable. Besides copper, you can get up to 3 – 4 pounds of aluminum in an alternator. Most of the other parts of the alternator is iron or steel.
In most cases, you will need to dismantle the alternator. Separating the copper and other parts will make it easy to sell the metals.
How do I Remove Copper from Alternator?
You will need solid needle-nose pliers to remove copper from an alternator. You can use this tool to pull out the copper wound carefully. Another tool you can also use to remove copper is a chisel or wire cutter.
You can use the wire cutters to snip the copper wires and pull them out carefully. However, this option would leave several pieces of copper littered everywhere. Virtually all the methods of removing copper from an alternator are stressful and time-consuming.
However, selling an alternator as scrap is worth it. Besides the financial reward you get from selling your old or faulty alternator, it also helps conserve natural resources. In other words, you don’t have to look for raw materials for new metal products of this sort.
Also, alternator recycling helps to save the environment. The elements of an alternator can stay for several years without decomposing. This can become a waste littering the environment if you don’t discard them properly.
That’s why recycling the alternator is best. Whether or not you want the money, selling the alternator is a proper way to discard it. In other words, if you’re not concerned about getting a few bucks, be concerned about the environment.
Conclusion
Like the catalytic converter, your car’s faulty alternator has some economic value. Therefore, you should sell it instead of discarding it for a new replacement.
Meanwhile, if you were contemplating, “How much is an alternator worth in scrap?” That has been resolved in this article. If you have a bad alternator, you should proceed to find a scrap metal dealer or recycler in your area.
You could get a few bucks by selling the old alternator. However, the prices offered by one scrap metal buyer may differ from another. So, you may want to compare price offers before deciding who gets the deal.