Cash on collection
Transformer Scrap Value: How It Is Calculated
How selling a transformer works in Ohio, in plain steps, with the paperwork and freight covered.
What we buy
What we buy here
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.
Buying desk
The short answer
We buy the unit, the lot and the problem, including the rigging, the permits and the paperwork. A rare rating in good condition still has a small market, and a small market moves slowly.
A test that costs less than a tank of fuel can change a five-figure decision, which is the whole argument for doing it. An expansion is the best kind of sale, because the unit was working when it was disconnected.
How it works here
A buyer who explains the reasoning gets a second call, and the second call is where the good units are. A unit substation is convenient in service and awkward to move, because the sections are bolted together.
A short conversation at the start saves an argument at the gate, and the argument is the expensive part. Nothing about a transformer improves by waiting, and the oil in particular gets worse rather than better.
What we need from you
Send the access as well: the gate, the turn, the overhead lines and the distance from the pad to where a trailer can stand. The industry runs on relationships, but the first one starts with a nameplate photograph.
The market for used transformers is smaller than the market for new ones, and it rewards honest descriptions. A unit that has been looked after is obvious within a minute, and so is one that has not.
Compared with the alternatives
The gap between scrap value and resale value is the whole reason a buying desk exists. A unit with a failed winding still has a tank, a core and a set of bushings, and those have a market.
A mixed lot is priced unit by unit, and the junk in the corner is part of the arithmetic rather than a gift. Solar inverter units are recent enough that the first wave is only now reaching the used market.
Ohio only, on purpose
One desk, one state, one set of hauling relationships, which is why a Ohio pickup does not need a national carrier. A unit in a building that is coming down is a different problem from a unit in a plant that is staying.
A short drive within one county costs less than a long drive across three, and the number shows it. A township site is usually simpler than a city site, because there is no lane closure to arrange.
Common questions
Scrap value is the floor, not the price. A unit that still tests clean is worth several times its weight in copper and steel, and a unit that has failed is worth the metals plus whatever the bushings and tap changer recover. We will tell you which side of that line a unit sits on after the nameplate photo, and we will say so plainly if scrap is the honest answer.
Related pages
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
Do you buy transformers anywhere in Ohio?
The first pass costs nothing and takes ten minutes, because no site visit is needed to reach a working number, only to confirm it. Ohio only is not a limitation for us, it is why the logistics work: the crews, the cranes and the permits are all in-state. Paint is a cosmetic question, and seam rust is a structural one, and the two are often confused.
Service area
Is there a fee to get a number?
Once access is confirmed, the offer stops being conditional and starts being a pickup date. You are paid when the unit leaves the pad, not thirty days after it arrives somewhere else. A seller should be able to tell, from one phone call, whether the buyer has done this before.
Payment
How fast can a unit leave the site?
A buyer reads the tag, checks whatever oil history exists, and says what the unit is worth as it stands rather than what it might be worth rebuilt. Nothing sits in our queue for a week waiting for approval, because the buyer who quotes you also books the crew. A unit with a clean surround has usually been maintained by somebody who cared, and that shows in the oil.