What am I missing

[ban-all-sheds]

Not looked at loads of suppliers, but 25x3mm copper tape appears to be around £18-20 + bankers bail out fund per m.

22mm Table X copper pipe has a copper csa of 60mm².

So at that rate a single 3m length ought to cost between £43.20 - £48, plus.

But it's nowhere near that.

 

[Porque223]

Supply & demand is probably the first determinant of price.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

True.

Huge difference though.

 

[JohnW2]

True. Huge difference though.

Indeed, but there's presumably also a huge difference in size of the market for copper tape and 22mm copper pipe. If you wanted 24mm copper pipe (and could find it!), you'd probably pay for the copper at a price at least as high as they charge for the tape!

Kind Regards, John

 

[RF Lighting]

Electrical copper is much purer than plumbing copper.

This is why the scrap man pays top money for copper wire, and less for plumbing or brasiery copper.

 

[JohnW2]

Electrical copper is much purer than plumbing copper. This is why the scrap man pays top money for copper wire, and less for plumbing or brasiery copper.

I think "much purer" is perhaps misleading. Whilst what you say is, indeed, an explanation for the lower scrap value of plumbing copper (since the 'impurities' have to be removed for recycling), my understanding is that EN 1057 requires plumbing copper to contain at least 99.90% copper (much of the remainder being phosphorus). I would therefore think that the cost of producing plumbing copper would not be significantly lower (perhaps even higher) than the cost of producing (virtually 100% pure) 'electrical copper'. .. or am I wrong?

Kind Regards, John

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Dunno.

I am wondering about using pipe instead of earth tape in a trench though....

 

[JohnW2]

Dunno. I am wondering about using pipe instead of earth tape in a trench though....

I certainly would! I seriously doubt that the electrical properties are noticeably different and, if anything, I would think that the pipe may well be chemically more resistant to the effects of water and soil components than would be ('ultra pure') 'electrical copper'!

Kind Regards, John

 

[westie101]

And a copper coated steel earth rod is ?
If they are OK to be used vertically, why not join them end to end and lay them in the trench?

 

[bernardgreen]

Scrap plumbing copper has residues of solder, soldering flux and other impurities from central heating inhibitors and radiator sludge combined with the copper.

It is worth cutting soldered ends off pipes and weighing as two lots, clean pipe and dirty joints. Clean pipe ( joints removed ) will get more money.

 

[333rocky333]

I always thought that pipework tended to be more recycled copper as opposed to grade A copper for electrical use.

A lot of scrap copper apparently now goes to china for cable use, where there standards are perhaps lower

 

[RF Lighting]

And a copper coated steel earth rod is ?
If they are OK to be used vertically, why not join them end to end and lay them in the trench?

Screwfix sell 4 foot rods for about a tenner each.

Ban what are you doing that requires such an electrode?

 

[Lectrician]

Un-insulated, hard drawn copper single core is what we have used for trenched 'rods' in the past.

We fitted maybe a 25m run of some 70mm in a trench as a 'rod' for a huge standby generator. The trench was already open for some submains, so made sense. Not sure I would go to the efforts of a trench otherwise.

 

[RF Lighting]

That reminds me. I must start a new thread...

 

[JohnW2]

I always thought that pipework tended to be more recycled copper as opposed to grade A copper for electrical use.

'Recycled' doesn't necessarily mean 'impure'. I think all UK plumbing is meant to use pipe to EN 1057 and, as I said, that apparently requires a purity of a minimum of 99.90% copper - whether it derives from recycling or not.

Kind Regards, John