USE-2 cable buyers in Tennessee
For crews and site owners holding single conductor underground service cable, this page explains how USE-2 is built and where the surplus comes from.
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.
USE-2 is a single conductor with cross-linked polyethylene insulation, rated 600 V and intended for underground service entrance work. It is made in copper and aluminum from 6 AWG up to 500 kcmil, and it is often dual marked with a wet-location building wire rating so that one conductor can run from a trench into a panel.
What we see are single conductors on small reels, left from a service lateral, a farm feed or a solar interconnect. Because each reel holds one conductor, a complete set for a three-wire service is three matching reels. A set that has been broken up is worth less than the sum of its parts.
Lot basics
- Type
- Single conductor underground service
- Voltage
- 600 V
- Insulation
- XLPE, sunlight resistant
- Sizes
- 6 AWG to 500 kcmil
One conductor, one jacket, one job
The construction is about as simple as cable gets: a stranded conductor, a wall of cross-linked polyethylene and, on most stock, a thin nylon or semiconducting layer under the jacket. XLPE gives it the moisture and temperature resistance that makes the type useful, and the sunlight-resistant marking allows a run to sit exposed at a pole or a meter base.
Common sizes run from 6 AWG to 500 kcmil in both copper and aluminum. Much of the stock is dual marked USE-2 and RHW-2 or RHH, which means the same conductor can be buried outside and continue in conduit indoors. The print on the jacket lists every rating the conductor carries, and that list is the first thing we read.
- Single conductor, 600 V
- Cross-linked polyethylene insulation
- Sunlight resistant and rated for direct burial
- Often dual marked with a wet-location wire rating
Service laterals, farms and older arrays
The main use is the service lateral from a transformer or a meter to a building. Two or three conductors are buried side by side in a trench, brought up a pole or a wall and terminated. Agricultural work accounts for a large share: well pumps, barns, irrigation controls and outbuildings fed from a single meter.
Solar interconnects were a significant user before dedicated photovoltaic wire became common. A great deal of USE-2 was installed on arrays in the years when it was the accepted single conductor for a DC circuit, and some of that is now being replaced as arrays are upgraded. Replacements and decommissioned arrays are where most of the obsolete stock comes from.
Pricing single conductors and remnants
A single conductor is harder to place than a multi-conductor assembly, because the buyer needs a matched set. Three reels of the same size, color and length are worth more together than apart, and we ask about the set before we quote the individual reels. An odd reel of 4/0 aluminum serves a smaller market.
Length is read from the tag where one exists and from weight where it does not. A part reel of USE-2 is lighter than an equivalent URD assembly, so the arithmetic is straightforward: weigh the reel, subtract the spool, divide by the weight per foot. We check a wrap count against that figure before quoting.
Jacket condition is the last filter. Cable pulled out of a trench will be dirty and may carry small nicks from a shovel. A nick that reaches the insulation is cut out. Cable that has been in service for decades is bought as recovery material, with the copper or aluminum valued rather than the cable.
Questions sellers ask
How do I know if my USE-2 is copper or aluminum?
The jacket print usually includes AL or CU near the size. Failing that, look at a cut end: copper is reddish and aluminum is silver, and aluminum strands are lighter for the same size. An aluminum reel of the same footage weighs roughly a third of the copper equivalent, which is a quick check on a scale.
Can USE-2 be run in conduit indoors?
That depends on the other ratings printed on the jacket. Much of the stock is dual marked with a wet-location building wire rating, which is what allows it to leave the trench and enter a raceway. Where only the underground rating appears, the answer belongs to the code and the inspector rather than to us.
Why is a single conductor harder to sell than a cable assembly?
Because a service needs a set. Three matched reels will find a buyer; one reel of an unusual size may sit for a long time. When we price a single conductor we look at whether the rest of the set is available, and a partial set is quoted as material rather than as a service package.
Do you buy USE-2 that was pulled out of the ground?
We do, and we expect it to be dirty with abrasion along one side. Cable recovered from a trench is priced on the conductor and on how much of the jacket is sound, not on the assumption that it can go straight back into service. Photographs of the worst section are more useful than photographs of the sound sections.
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.
Single conductor reels to clear?
Send the jacket print, the size, whether it is copper or aluminum and the footage on each reel.
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