SELL SURPLUS MEDIUM AND HIGH-VOLTAGE CABLE

Medium-voltage cable carries power at 5kV and above, usually from a service point or substation to a transformer, switchgear or large motor. The construction is layered: conductor, semiconducting strand shield, EPR or XLPE insulation, insulation shield, a metallic shield of copper tape or wire, and an overall jacket. Many designs add a concentric neutral of copper wires over the shield, and every cable carries an insulation level, 100% or 133%, which states the dielectric margin built in.

Surplus in this class is not like building wire. The reels are few, the lengths long, and the value per reel is real. A project ordered 15kV cable for three feeders and built two; a plant replaced a run with tape-shielded cable where the original was concentric neutral; a contractor over-ordered 1/0 CN by 800 ft when the duct route changed. The reel is too heavy to move casually and too valuable to scrap, so it sits under a tarp.

What we buy

• 5kV and 8kV cable — plant distribution and older industrial systems, often EPR insulated.
• 15kV cable — the most common distribution class in this region, in 1/0 through 1000 kcmil copper and aluminum.
• 25kV and 35kV cable — higher-class feeders, usually jacketed, with heavier insulation walls.
• 69kV and above — reviewed case by case: the reels are large, the market narrow and documentation matters.
• EPR and XLPE insulation — including tree-retardant XLPE, in 100% and 133% levels.
• Shield constructions — copper tape, wire shield, concentric neutral and flat-strap neutral.
• Jacketed single conductor — full and partial lengths on large wooden reels, plus three-conductor assemblies.

How to read a medium-voltage reel

At this voltage the print carries the engineering, and a partial reel without a legible legend is close to unidentifiable. Start with class, insulation system and shield:

Condition and length

Shielded cable is less tolerant of storage than anything else on this site. Water is the main enemy: moisture reaching the insulation shield through an open end will travel, and cable stored for years with bare ends in the rain is a different proposition from one with capped ends under cover. Bend radius matters too, because a coil dropped off a lift can damage insulation and shield without a visible mark.

• Factory reels with tag, class and length readable
• Ends capped, with the jacket continuous to the cut
• Covered storage, off the ground
• 15kV concentric neutral and tape shield reels from closeout
• Partial reels of several hundred feet or more, measured

We decline cable with jacket cuts that expose the shield, ends left open to weather for years, reels that were crushed or dropped, and any reel whose class cannot be established. A reel of unknown class is a bargain for neither side, and we will say so rather than guess.

What to photograph

1. The reel flange with the tag, so class and factory length read together.
2. The jacket print in one unbroken shot; the legend is long and hard to fit in a frame.
3. Both cable ends, showing whether they are capped or open.
4. The storage position: on the ground, on dunnage or under cover, and any flange damage that shows how it was handled.

Medium-voltage surplus in Washington, DC and Maryland

Maryland holds the industrial base that generates the larger reels. Baltimore plants run their own 5kV and 15kV distribution and re-cable a line when a transformer is replaced; water and wastewater facilities rework pump station feeders; data center campuses take medium-voltage service and reconfigure as halls are added; and quarries, mills and processing sites outside the Beltway produce 25kV and 35kV reels that are hard to dispose of locally.