Calculator
Copper Wire Yield Calculator
Pick a cable type or enter your own recovery rate — see what the copper is worth stripped versus selling the cable as-is.
Typical range 85–94%. Thick utility/feeder cable. Highest recovery of any common cable — almost always worth stripping.
Indicative default — enter your yard's price. Saved for next time.
Indicative default — enter your yard's price. Saved for next time.
How copper recovery rates work
Every insulated cable is mostly a promise: somewhere under the plastic is copper, and the recovery rate tells you how much of the cable's weight that copper represents. Thick commercial wire like THHN carries a thin nylon jacket over a fat conductor, so 75–90% of what you're holding is copper. Christmas lights are the opposite — hair-thin conductors wrapped in sockets and insulation, closer to 20%.
That single percentage decides most wire questions. It converts a bucket of cable into pounds of copper, and pounds of copper into dollars. It also decides whether stripping is worth doing at all: stripping trades your time for the difference between the insulated price and the bare copper price, and that difference scales directly with the recovery rate.
Recovery rates by cable type
These are the presets the calculator uses. Ranges come from published yard data (Sahd Metal Recycling, Rockaway Recycling, StripMeister, iScrap App), verified against at least two sources; defaults sit at the conservative end. Your cable will vary — measuring a sample always beats a table.
| Cable type | Recovery | Typical range |
|---|---|---|
| MCM / feeder cable (250 MCM+) | ~88% | 85–94% |
| THHN — heavy gauge (4 AWG to 4/0) | ~84% | 80–90% |
| THHN — standard (8–16 AWG) | ~80% | 75–88% |
| Double-insulated power wire | ~75% | 70–80% |
| Romex / NM-B (indoor solid) | ~65% | 62–70% |
| Mixed #2 insulated wire | ~60% | 55–69% |
| AC / appliance whip wire | ~55% | 50–60% |
| Extension cords / SJ cord | ~42% | 35–48% |
| Cat5/Cat6 — solid bulk runs | ~42% | 35–50% |
| Cat5/Cat6 patch cords (stranded) | ~22% | 18–28% |
| MC/BX armored cable (copper inside) | ~30% | 25–35% |
| Christmas lights | ~20% | 15–25% |
Stripped vs sold as-is: reading the result
Yards buy insulated wire as-is at a discounted rate that already assumes an average recovery — that's the "insulated copper wire" or ICW price. The calculator compares two totals: cable weight × your as-is price, versus recovered copper × your stripped copper price. The break-even as-is price in the result is the number to memorize for each cable type: if a yard offers you more than that per pound as-is, stripping can't beat selling — no matter how sharp your knife is.
One honest caveat: this page ignores your time. Hand-stripping romex might net an extra $1 per pound of cable — great at 100 lb/hour with a machine, terrible at 15 lb/hour with a utility knife. When time matters (it always does), run the same numbers through the Strip or Sell calculator, which prices your labor.
Getting a better number than the preset
Strip a one-pound sample, weigh the copper, divide. That's your real recovery rate — enter it as a custom percentage. Do it once per cable type you regularly handle and write the numbers on the wall of your garage. Yards do exactly this when they quote ICW grades, and there's no reason they should know your cable better than you do.
Know the spec and length? Skip the guessing
If the cable print tells you the conductor spec — "4G1.5", "3×2.5", NYM, H07V and friends — you don't need a recovery rate at all. The mm² rating is the copper cross-section, and copper weighs 8.96 g per mm² of cross-section per meter of length. Switch the calculator to By length, type the conductor count, cross-section, and length, and the copper weight inside is exact: 100 m of 4×1.5 mm² is 4 × 1.5 × 100 × 8.96 g ≈ 5.4 kg of copper, every time. This is the fastest way to price spools, electrician leftovers, and renovation offcuts — especially in Europe, where cable is bought and sold by the meter. Weigh the spool too (or read the per-km weight off the datasheet) and the calculator also shows the as-is comparison and the implied recovery rate.
Wire yield questions
What is a copper recovery rate?
The percentage of a cable's total weight that is actual copper, as opposed to insulation and jacketing. Strip 100 lb of romex at a 65% recovery rate and you're left with about 65 lb of bare copper.
Where do the preset percentages come from?
Published scrap yard grading data (Sahd Metal Recycling, Rockaway Recycling, StripMeister, iScrap App), cross-checked against at least two sources. Defaults sit at the conservative end of each range, so surprises land in your favor.
How do I measure my own recovery rate?
Strip a small sample — say 1 lb of cable — weigh the bare copper, and divide by the sample weight. Enter that under "Custom recovery %". Ten minutes with a kitchen scale beats any table.
I know the cable spec and length, not the weight. Can I still calculate?
Yes — switch to "By length". A conductor's mm² rating is its copper cross-section, and copper weighs 8.96 g per mm² of cross-section per meter. So 100 m of 4×1.5 mm² cable holds exactly 4 × 1.5 × 100 × 8.96 g ≈ 5.4 kg of copper — no recovery estimate needed. Perfect for spools, offcuts, and EU-marked cable like NYM or H07V.
Why does the calculator ask for my prices instead of showing live prices?
Scrap prices vary widely between regions and even between yards in the same town. A national number would be wrong for you. Enter what your yard actually pays — the calculator remembers it in your browser for next time.
Doesn't stripping take time? That's not free.
Correct — this tool compares raw dollar outcomes only. The Strip or Sell calculator adds your time and an hourly rate to tell you whether stripping beats selling as-is once labor counts.
Wire guides that pair with this tool
Identification, grading, and the master recovery table — the context behind these presets.