Valuation Guide
What is my transformer worth?
The honest answer is that it depends — but not vaguely. Value turns on a handful of things you can read off the nameplate and one question about whether the unit still works. Below is what the market data actually shows, every figure attributed and dated.
The short answer
Two prices, and the gap between them is enormous
Every transformer has two possible values, and which one applies to yours depends almost entirely on whether the unit still works. As material, a transformer is priced by the pound: mostly steel, with copper or aluminum windings buried inside it. As equipment, it is priced against what a replacement would cost and how long that replacement would take to arrive.
The material price is public and you can check it yourself. Yards that publish their own scale prices have recently quoted whole copper transformers in the range of roughly $0.15 to $0.30 per pound — Rockaway Recycling, a New Jersey yard that posts and updates its own list, showed $0.21/lb as of July 27, 2026, and iScrap App's user-reported prices sat between $0.15 and $0.25/lb in reports dated May 2026. One aggregator quotes a wider $0.20–$0.60/lb band without a date attached.
The equipment price has no published index, because it is negotiated unit by unit. The most specific public claim comes from Maddox, a transformer remanufacturer, which states it pays 2–5 times the scrap value for units it can rebuild and resell — and describes real payouts ranging from a couple hundred dollars for some low-voltage dry-type transformers up to up to hundreds of thousands of dollars for some substation transformers. That is a competitor's own figure about its own buying, not an independent index, which is exactly why we attribute it rather than repeat it as ours.
What follows from that: if your unit was working when it came out of service, the scrap price is your floor, not your price. Do not accept a per-pound number for a functioning machine without first finding out what it is worth as equipment.
These are reference figures, not quotes. Every price on this page is attributed to a named third party with the date it was published. Scrap and equipment prices move constantly, vary by region and by yard, and no yard or buyer is obliged to honor a price published anywhere else. We do not operate a price feed. For a number you can act on, send us your nameplate details.
Published scrap benchmarks
Copper transformers, whole units, per pound. Each row is one named source.
Copper transformers, posted scale price at a New Jersey yard
price list last modified July 27, 2026
One yard's own buying price, updated daily by the yard.
Copper transformers, prices reported by scrappers at U.S. yards
user reports dated May 2026
iScrap App states these are reference prices only and that no yard is required to honor them.
Copper transformers at scrap yards, national range
range published without a date
Undated range — treat as a wide outer boundary, not a current quote.
Large transformer scrap, U.S. average index
quoted July 9, 2026
ScrapMonster's public page states its displayed prices run roughly three months behind its subscriber data.
Figures referenced as of July 31, 2026. Check your local yard before relying on any of them.
The most useful comparison on this page
Clean copper: $5.35/lb. A copper transformer: $0.21/lb.
Both figures come from the same yard's price list on the same day — Rockaway Recycling, July 27, 2026. The copper in your transformer is genuinely valuable. The problem is that you are not selling copper. You are selling a multi-ton steel assembly with copper locked inside it, and the per-pound price reflects the whole weight plus the labor of getting the copper out.
$5.35 / lb
#1 Bare Bright Wire
Clean, stripped copper wire
$5.05 / lb
#1 Copper Tubing / Flashing
$4.85 / lb
#2 Copper Tubing / Bus Bar
$4.05 / lb
500–750 MCM (bare bright inside)
$3.70 / lb
Insulated Cable
$3.40 / lb
THHN Cable
$1.85 / lb
Insulated Copper Wire
$0.35 / lb
Small Electric Motors
$0.21 / lb
Copper Transformers (whole units)
The same copper — but priced as a heavy steel assembly
Source: Rockaway Recycling posted price list, last modified July 27, 2026. Yard prices change daily and vary by region.
What actually moves the number
Eight factors, roughly in order of impact
Maddox puts it plainly in its own guide: there is no simple answer or easy formula for transformer value. That matches our experience. What we can do is tell you which variables a buyer is actually weighing, so you know what to gather before you ask anyone for a number.
Working or failed
This is the single biggest fork in the road. A unit that passes electrical testing is priced as equipment. A unit that fails is priced as material.
Type and mounting
Substation, padmount, polemount, and dry-type are different markets with different buyers and wildly different value ranges.
kVA rating
Capacity sets the replacement cost the unit competes against. It is the first thing any buyer looks for on the nameplate.
Primary and secondary voltage
Common distribution voltages have a deep resale pool. Unusual voltage combinations narrow the buyer list, which shows up in the offer.
Winding material
Copper and aluminum windings carry different material value, and copper-wound units generally price higher both as equipment and as scrap.
Age and manufacturer
Newer units from major manufacturers hold value better, but a well-maintained older unit that tests clean can still be a strong resale candidate.
Fluid status
A confirmed non-PCB oil-filled unit is straightforward. A unit with PCB-contaminated fluid carries disposal obligations that dominate its value.
Location, access, and quantity
Freight is a real cost on a multi-ton asset. Yard access, rigging needs, and whether you have one unit or a truckload all move the net number.
The one thing to photograph
The nameplate is the price
It is the metal or plastic placard inside the cabinet door or bolted to the outside of the tank. It carries the kVA rating, the voltages, the year, and the type — which is to say it carries almost everything a buyer needs to quote you accurately.
One clear photo of the nameplate, one of the whole unit, and one of any damage is enough for a written offer in most cases. Without it, anyone quoting you a price is guessing — including us.
How to read a nameplatekVA rating
Sets the capacity class and the replacement cost the unit competes against.
Primary voltage (HV)
Determines which systems the unit can be redeployed on.
Secondary voltage (LV)
Together with the primary, defines the resale pool.
Phase
Single-phase and three-phase serve different markets.
Manufacturer and serial number
Identifies build quality and lets a buyer trace specifications.
Year of manufacture
Drives both resale value and whether PCB screening is likely to be needed.
Fluid type / gallons
Mineral oil, FR3, or silicone changes handling, freight, and compliance.
Winding material
Copper or aluminum, when stated, materially changes value.
Impedance (%Z) and taps
Affects which applications the unit can drop into without redesign.
Weight
Sets freight cost and, for scrap, the number your payout is calculated from.
Go deeper
The four questions behind the price
Scrap value vs. resale value
Why a whole copper transformer scraps for cents per pound while the copper inside it trades for dollars — and what that means for your unit.
Is my transformer electrically OK?
The four tests that decide whether your unit is priced as equipment or as material, plus the shortcut for sellers with no test gear.
How to read a nameplate
The ten fields a buyer needs before quoting, and where to find the plate on each transformer type.
When you should just scrap it
Four situations where recycling genuinely beats resale — including PCB-contaminated oil. We would rather tell you than sell you.
Sources
- [1]Rockaway Recycling — Copper Transformers scrap price — Posted yard price of $0.21/lb for copper transformers, plus the comparison grades from the same list ($5.35/lb #1 bare bright wire through $0.35/lb small electric motors) (price list last modified July 27, 2026)
- [2]iScrap App — Copper Transformers prices — User-reported yard prices of $0.15–$0.25/lb, and the disclaimer that these are reference prices no yard is required to honor (reports dated May 2026)
- [3]MyScrapStop — Copper transformer scrap prices — Published national range of $0.20–$0.60/lb (no date published on the source page)
- [4]ScrapMonster — Transformer scrap prices — U.S. average of about $0.30/lb for large transformer scrap; the page itself notes its public prices lag its subscriber data (quoted July 9, 2026)
- [5]Maddox — Recycle Surplus Transformers for 5X Their Scrap Value — A remanufacturer's own statement that it pays 2–5 times scrap value for units it can rebuild, that payouts range from a couple hundred dollars to hundreds of thousands, and that there is no simple formula for transformer value (published October 31, 2023)