Transmission line cable buyer in Rochester

What a Rochester close-out lot contains

The core is phase conductor: 795 kcmil ACSR or ACSS on the larger lines, 477 or 556.5 on the smaller, usually 26/7 and usually on returnable steel or heavy wood reels. Beside it sits the shield wire, which may be OPGW with a fiber count on the tag, or a plain alloy or ACSR shield wire with nothing but a size on it. The two have completely different value and should never be loaded as one item.

Then the fittings. Bundle spacers, armour rods, suspension and dead-end assemblies, vibration dampers, corona rings and insulator hardware are all part of what a line releases, and they are worth collecting because a contractor somewhere needs that exact fitting for a repair. Bolts and cotter pins are scrap; a matched set of dead-end assemblies is not.

Jumpers and grounding are the parts sellers forget. Short lengths of conductor cut for jumper loops are often the most useful material in the lot, because they are already the right size and already cut. Grounding conductor and counterpoise wire from the structures is usually bare copper or copper-clad steel and is priced on its own metal content.

One judgement runs through all of it: reusable or recovery. Conductor that has carried a line for decades is generally recovery material, however clean it looks, because the core has been in tension for years and the aluminum has seen the weather. Conductor from a line rebuilt early, or surplus that never left the reel, is a different proposition and should be quoted as such rather than weighed in with the rest.

• Phase conductor on delivery reels, with tags and remaining footage
• Shield wire or OPGW kept separate, with fiber count where applicable
• Spacers, armour rods, dampers, dead-end and suspension assemblies
• Jumper lengths and grounding or counterpoise conductor
• Project documents: drum list, release note and the close-out inventory

Yard access along the corridor

Rochester is an easier loading city than most in the state. I-390, I-490 and the Thruway meet here, CSX serves the industrial belt and the old Kodak-era plants left large yards with gates wide enough for a lowboy. That matters for line material because a full reel of 795 kcmil is a heavy, awkward object that wants a boom and a firm surface, not a gravel slope in February.

The constraint is usually the condition of the reel rather than the road. Reels that have stood outdoors through several winters may have flanges that will not take a sling, and a reel that collapses during loading damages the conductor and creates a safety problem for the crew. If a reel is suspect, say so; it can be braced or the conductor respooled before the truck arrives.

Line close-out lots often need more than one trailer and a plan for what goes on each. Conductor travels on the reel, hardware travels in bins on a flatbed or in a van, and scrap metal travels separately so it can be weighed honestly. Sorting the lot that way before collection is the cheapest improvement most sellers can make.