No fees, no broker
How to Read a Transformer Nameplate
A working guide for Ohio sellers: what decides the number and how the unit leaves.
What we buy
What we buy here
How to Read a Transformer Nameplate comes up on almost every site visit, and the answers are usually simpler than the question suggests. The difference between a good and a bad purchase is usually information rather than luck. A unit that has been looked after is obvious within a minute, and so is one that has not.
The sequence matters: identify, inspect, document, then move. A decommissioning is orderly, which makes it the easiest kind of large project to buy from. A short conversation at the start saves an argument at the gate, and the argument is the expensive part.
Who we buy from
Six kinds of seller, one desk
- Recyclers
- Electrical contractors
- Equipment dealers
- End users
- Demo contractors
- Distributors
Fast offers
A nameplate photo is usually enough to price a unit the same day.
Dedicated logistics
We arrange the crane, the permits and the flatbed, not you.
No broker fees
You are dealing with the buyer, so nothing is shaved off the offer.
How it works
Six steps from your yard to the money
- 01
Take pictures
The nameplate, the cabinet interior and the tank in daylight. Three photographs are usually enough to place a unit in the right class and the right price band.
- 02
Send them to us
The form on this page, a text or an email all reach the same desk. Include the city, the access and any deadline the site is working to.
- 03
Review the offer
A buyer reads the photographs, asks one or two questions and sends a written offer with the assumptions stated, so nothing changes on the day.
- 04
We schedule freight
Crane, flatbed and permits are booked around your access. You get a date and a window, and we carry the cost of getting it right.
- 05
Testing on arrival
Winding resistance, megger and turns ratio, plus oil analysis where the unit is liquid filled. The results decide the final number, and you see them.
- 06
Get paid
Payment is released on the agreed terms once the unit is received and tested, by check or ACH. No retention, no sixty-day terms.
What we handle for you
The parts sellers dread, done for you
Rigging
Crane and forklift arranged around your access, not the other way round.
Oil containment
Bunds, absorbent and disposal handled before the unit moves.
Bill of sale
A clean title document for your records, signed on collection.
PCB paperwork
Pre-1979 units get the testing and the manifest they need.
Guide
The six figures that decide everything
The nameplate carries kVA, primary voltage, secondary voltage, phase, impedance and temperature rise, and those six figures describe the machine. A tag reading 1000 kVA, 12470 delta, 480Y/277, three phase, 5.75 percent impedance and 55/65 rise is a complete description of a unit. Anything printed below those figures, including weight and gallons of oil, is supporting information rather than specification.
A plant engineer who knows the fault history is worth more than a file of invoices. A seller should ask what happens to the unit after it leaves, because the answer says what kind of buyer they are dealing with.
Voltage notation is not decorative
A slash in the primary column means a winding that can be connected either way, so 12470/7200 describes a dual-voltage unit rather than a typo. A Y after the secondary voltage means a grounded wye with a neutral brought out, which is what most 480-volt services need. Delta on the secondary means no neutral, and a plant looking for 480Y cannot use it without a separate grounding transformer.
A site visit answers in twenty minutes what a week of messages cannot. A seller who sends four photographs at the start usually gets a decision the same day.
Year, serial and the age question
What to do when the tag is unreadable
Checklist for how to read a transformer nameplate
Questions about how to read a transformer nameplate
Related guides
Get started
Get an offer in minutes
Five fields and a phone number is all we need to start. We reply the same business day, and a firm number follows the nameplate photo.
(614) 715-3047or send the form and we will call you.
Questions
What sellers ask before they call
Equipment types
Does how to read a transformer nameplate change what a transformer is worth?
The serial number dates a unit more precisely than the year stamped beside it, because serial ranges are published by most manufacturers. Rebuilt units often carry a second data plate, and that plate usually matters more than the original.
Service area
Where does a seller start with how to read a transformer nameplate?
A tag reading 1000 kVA, 12470 delta, 480Y/277, three phase, 5.75 percent impedance and 55/65 rise is a complete description of a unit. Remanufacturing keeps the footprint, and the footprint is often the reason the unit cannot simply be replaced.
Payment
Is how to read a transformer nameplate part of what a buyer checks on site?
Photograph the tag with a light across it rather than behind it, because raking light picks up stamped characters that a flash destroys. A unit with no tag is still buyable, but the offer will be conditional until somebody puts a tape measure on it.
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