| Old water heaters and copper? I was watching one of those home improvement shows and they were replacing a old water heater. One of the contractors mentioned how the older ones have a lot of copper in them and how it can be worth quite a bit of money. Anyone heard of this and by the way, are all these people/thieves just taking the copper to a recycling center or something? |
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 tp0dyabbazooiePremium
join:2001-02-13
Carnegie, PA
kudos:2
1 edit | said by FirstStateDE:I was watching one of those home improvement shows and they were replacing a old water heater. One of the contractors mentioned how the older ones have a lot of copper in them and how it can be worth quite a bit of money. Anyone heard of this and by the way, are all these people/thieves just taking the copper to a recycling center or something? The contractor meant a REALLY old water heater, one out of production since late 1950 (initial production was pre-1900, we have a heater in the area dated at 1898, still functioning). They were made by the RUUD and Pittsburg water heater companies (among others), and had 100+ feet of minimum 1/2" copper tube for the heat exchanger.
Here is a pic..
»www.waterheaterrescue.com/pages/···open.jpg
My company rebuilds and restores these heaters, actually.. The picture above is of a "multi-coil" unit, used in commercial instances only.. Residentials were a good deal smaller..
-j
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if it aint broke, tweak it!!
currently on FiOS (kick aZZ!) |
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|  Thanks for the information. The picture was very interesting. The home I live in is over one hundred years old and will be looking into the maker of the water heater. It is very large and still in the basement with the new one that replaced it.
I am in dire straights financially and discovering I have something of some value would be great.
Thanks much for your response and help. |
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