Feeder cable, bought by the reel in Tennessee
Service feeders and switchgear ties are bought in long lengths and often left in long lengths. We buy those reels in Tennessee, copper or aluminum, from 1/0 up to 1,000 kcmil, at whatever voltage the jacket states.
Send us your reel list
Six details are enough for a first review: what the cable is, the metal, the size, the footage or reel count, the condition and where it sits. Photographs can follow by text or email. There is no fee and no obligation, and nothing moves until written terms are agreed.
A feeder is sized by ampacity and by length, and both numbers are fixed at design. When the design changes, the reel ordered against it becomes surplus, usually still banded and still carrying the tag and the contractor's sticker. That is the material we are set up to buy, and it is most of what reaches us.
Feeder reels arrive in two conditions. One is a partial from a pull that needed less than the reel held, with a measured remainder and a cut end. The other is a full reel from a job that changed before the pull happened, with a tag and no cut end at all. Both come to us, quoted on their own terms.
Send the tag photo and the conductor size, and we can usually price it the same week.
Lot basics
- Size range
- 1/0 to 1,000 kcmil
- Conductor
- Copper or aluminum
- Voltage
- 600 V to 35 kV
- Typical use
- Service and switchgear feeders
From 1/0 through 1,000 kcmil, copper or aluminum
We buy feeder in copper and in aluminum, from 1/0 up through 1,000 kcmil, as single conductor and in multiconductor assemblies. Voltage classes run from 600 volts to 35 kV, and the class printed on the jacket decides which category a reel falls into. Concentric, tape shield and interlocked armor constructions all turn up in the same storehouses and on the same racks.
Insulation is usually XLPE or EPR. Above 2 kV, expect a shield and a jacket over it, and expect the reel to be heavier than it looks. Bring the voltage class and the conductor size into the first conversation, because those two facts set the range before anything else about the lot gets discussed, including how it would be collected.
Where service and switchgear feeders come from
Most feeder cable in Tennessee comes out of service entrances, switchgear to transformer ties, and panel to panel runs in commercial and industrial buildings. A service upgrade replaces the feeder between the utility transformer and the main switchboard, and the old cable often comes out in one piece rather than in short sections, because the pull was planned and the cable was handled with that in mind.
Industrial work adds motor control center feeders and the ties between plant substations. Those jobs are fewer but larger in conductor size, and they tend to leave off-cuts of 500 kcmil and above that were bought to the pull with a margin. A single such off-cut can weigh more than a full reel of branch circuit wire, and we price it separately.
Ampacity, length, and why the remainder matters
Ampacity is set by conductor size, insulation rating and installation method, and the design ampacity is only useful at the length the run needed. A three hundred foot remainder of 4/0 is a different item from a forty foot remainder of the same cable. Length is half of what we are buying, and it is the half people forget to record.
That is why we ask for the tag reading and, where there is no tag, a measurement. A reel with a stated remainder and a clean cut end can be planned into someone else's pull. A reel of unknown quantity has to be measured before it can be sold, and that work sits inside the number we offer, not outside it.
What we check on a large feeder reel
On a large reel we look at the jacket first, then the ends. Sun damage, flattening where the reel sat on a truck bed, and abrasion from steel banding all reduce what the cable can be used for. Cut ends get a close look for moisture working under the jacket, which matters more on shielded constructions than on 600 volt cable.
We check the reel as well, because a rotten reel means a re-spool before the cable can travel. Where the cable is sound and the reel is not, that is a cost we will raise rather than deduct quietly from the offer. The measurements taken on site are the ones the quote is built from, and they are taken again when the reel is loaded.
- Jacket surface and banding marks
- Both cut ends for moisture
- Reel condition and lagging
- Tag footage against measured length
Related pages
- XHHW wireSingle conductor feeders in copper or aluminum
- SER and SEU cableService entrance assemblies from the same upgrades
- Medium voltage cableShielded feeder above 2 kV, quoted the same way
- THHN and THWN wireBranch circuit conductor from the same jobs
- Footage by weightEstimating length when the tag is gone
- Copper versus aluminumWhy the two are not priced alike
Questions sellers ask
Do you buy feeder cable by the foot or by the reel?
Either, and often both in the same lot. Single large reels are quoted as a unit because the footage and the reel condition travel together. Loose lengths and off-cuts are quoted by the foot against the conductor size and voltage class. Tell us which you have and we will quote in the form that fits.
How do you handle a feeder reel with no tag?
We measure it. Conductor size can often be established from the jacket print or from a caliper reading, and the remaining length can be counted off the reel or run over a measuring wheel. Until that is done the reel is priced as unknown quantity, which is always lower than a reel with a legible tag.
Does aluminum feeder sell for less than copper?
Yes, and for reasons that are not mysterious. Copper carries more value per pound and has a deeper market, while aluminum is judged on size and length rather than weight. Compare the two on ampacity and length, not on the scale, or the comparison will mislead you in both directions.
Will you take a feeder that was pulled and then removed?
We will look at it. Reuse often needs the ends cut back and the jacket inspected along its length for damage from the pull. Removed cable is priced against new cable of the same construction, and the difference is usually the cut-back and the uncertainty about how it was handled.
Send us your reel list
Six details are enough for a first review: what the cable is, the metal, the size, the footage or reel count, the condition and where it sits. Photographs can follow by text or email. There is no fee and no obligation, and nothing moves until written terms are agreed.
Sitting on feeder reels from a finished job?
Send the tag, the conductor size and the voltage class. We will quote the reel as it sits.
Tennessee only · statewide pickup planning