We buy surplus URD cable
Underground residential cable usually outlives the phase it was bought for. Send the reel tags and the pallet count, and a buyer reads the lot as conductor rather than as mixed scrap.
Send the lot
Six details are enough to start: what the cable is, how much there is, where it is and what condition it is in. Photos can follow by text or email.
Prefer to talk 954-740-1983We buy URD left on pallets when a subdivision phase closes, when a utility job changes scope, or when someone bought too much for a duct run that never happened. Both the 15 kV and 25 kV classes come through here, aluminum from 1/0 through 500 kcmil, with the concentric neutral still in place.
Plenty of it is new surplus on the original reel with the tag still wired to the flange. Some is cable that was pulled, energized for a season and later cut out of a trench. We review those two lots separately, because a reel that never left the laydown is a different object from one that sat underground.
What comes off a subdivision pallet
Aluminum 1/0, 2/0, 4/0 and 350 kcmil are the sizes that arrive most often, in 15 kV and 25 kV, with a concentric neutral of copper wires laid over the insulation. Jacketed URD has a black outer covering over that neutral. Unjacketed does not, and the wires are visible from the truck.
Both are welcome. Pallets are normal here: six or eight reels banded together, some full, some half used, some with a short length left. We also take single reels, loose coils, and cable that came off a pole line during a rebuild in Taylor or Lockhart.
Reading jacket, neutral and reel tag
Sun is the enemy of stored URD. Ultraviolet light breaks down the outer layer on jacketed and unjacketed cable alike, and a jacket that cracks when it is flexed will not pass for reuse. We ask for a close photograph of the outer wrap and of any exposed neutral.
The tag gives voltage class, conductor size and length. Where the tag is gone we measure. A reel with sound jacket, dry wraps and a readable length is reviewed for reuse or respool. Cable with a cracked jacket or water between the layers goes to recovery, which is still a fair lot.
What to photograph and how the reels leave
Send a photograph of each pallet from two angles, the tag on every reel, and a note on where the cable has been sitting. If part of the lot was pulled and removed, say so at the start. A short written list of size, class, length and condition beats a hundred pictures of drums.
Loading is arranged once terms are agreed, by flatbed or van trailer depending on the pallet count. Forklift access at the laydown saves time. Paperwork follows the material: a bill of lading, a weight ticket, and a record of what left the site, which most subdivision jobs want anyway.
What this page covers
The rows a buyer would fill in when reviewing this kind of lot. If your cable matches most of them, the submission is ready.
| Voltage classes | 15 kV and 25 kV |
|---|---|
| Constructions | URD with concentric neutral, jacketed and unjacketed |
| Typical conductor | 1/0 AWG to 500 kcmil aluminum |
| Condition flags | UV cracking, exposed neutral, water in the reel |
| Site type | Subdivision staging, utility yards |
From Kyle and Buda out to Manor and Elgin
The URD in this region tracks the subdivisions. Hays County around Kyle, Buda and Dripping Springs, Williamson County up through Georgetown and Leander, and the fast edges of Bastrop County along SH-71. A phase finishes, the next one changes, and leftover reels sit on a pallet behind the trailer.
Utility work around Austin Energy and the municipal systems in Georgetown, Pflugerville and San Marcos produces the same material in smaller quantities, often a single reel from a transformer changeout. We cover the whole ring, from Lake Travis west to Taylor east, and take mixed pallets as readily as clean ones.
Sellers ask
Will you take URD that sat outside for two years?
Yes, but the jacket decides. Two summers of sun can crack the outer covering and let water into the wraps. Send close photographs of the outer layer and the reel ends, and the review will treat the lot as recovery if the jacket has gone.
Do the reels have to be full?
No. Partial reels and short lengths are ordinary in this trade, and a pallet of half reels is reviewed on the total footage by size and class rather than reel by reel. What matters is that the lengths are marked so they can be added up.
Is unjacketed URD worth sending in?
It is. Unjacketed cable has no outer covering over the concentric neutral, so the wires are exposed and the question becomes the insulation underneath. Photograph the neutral wires and any bare spots, and the reel will be reviewed with the rest of the lot.
Send the reel list
Six details are enough to start: what the cable is, how much there is, where it is and what condition it is in. Photos can follow by text or email.
Prefer to talk 954-740-1983