Scrap Metal Prices

[WHPES]

Weighed in some stuff last week. Good source of Christmas cash!

Rates per kg were:

Copper cylinder £4.00
Braziery Copper Tube £4.00
Miscellaneous brass (taps, iso valves, shower fittings etc) £2.20

[Puddle]

As said copper prices flying high at the moment, (fill your boots)as are all commodities, cost me £109 to fill the van up the other day, crashing through the £100 barrier, of course, really the price has not increased that much, despite china hording what they have, the value of the £ is going down, down ,down, so we can start to try and inflate our way out of debt

[gas man]

problem is when scrap prices go up so do the cost of pipe as plumbers we cant win

[BenC]

problem is when scrap prices go up so do the cost of pipe as plumbers we cant win

ye but your charging the customer for the pipe and your geting money for any scrap you remove, so you can win

[PlumbersMate]

my tutor said never cash scrap at xmas, as they knock prices down

[gas man]

ye but your charging the customer for the pipe and your geting money for any scrap you remove, so you can win

i was thinking more of quoting for jobs,copper goes up all the time and vat in a minute

[WHPES]

I always put an asterisk by the pipe prices on my quote and state that the copper price is an estimate and will depend on the market rate at time of purchase. I have NEVER had any customers object to this.

[tackleburger]

I don't don't split mine up I leave all the old brass on the pipes immersions in cylinders etc. Unless some off the fittings are kuterlites then I remove re-olive and re-use. In general it takes too long for a few extra quid it's not worth it. I took mine in recently because |I had some pipe nicked offthe van so I thought maybe they were watching where I store my scrap. I got £3.50/kilo for copper and brass mixed. I would have made £30 more had I taken off all the brass. It woulod have taken a few hours so not worth it.

[REDSAW]

thats where the kids come in, trainee plumbers....

[WHPES]

I don't get any more for copper unless it's completely clean and devoid of solder and other fittings so I leave nuts on but strip off any fittings or this will bring the value down. Any regular compression fittings which are any good I just slice off as close as possible and chuck in a lin-bin. When I have a spare moment I dismantle them and recycle the fittings, chucking the copper and olives in with the scrap. I expect there are plenty of Chinese child labourers employed in stripping the stuff down further.

When I strip out, I generally do so in such a way that the copper and brass is separated, and I cut the pipes down so they will fit into a tote box.

[WHPES]

03/03/2011 rates paid per kg

Brassware £2.50
Cylinders £4.00
Braziery copper £4.79
Lead £1
Car battery 30p

[royston]

Are these prices still rising then, or have they evened out ?