SELL SURPLUS SER AND SEU SERVICE CABLE

SER is service entrance cable in the round style: two or three insulated conductors plus a bare ground, all wrapped and jacketed into one assembly. SEU is the flat version, where the neutral is a concentric conductor wrapped around the insulated cores and also serves as the ground. Both are 600V products, both are made in aluminum and copper, and both are used for service drops, subpanel feeds and feeder runs where conduit is not wanted. Aluminum SER in 2-2-2-4 and up through 4/0 and larger covers most residential and light commercial work.

Surplus appears when a service calculation changes after the cable is on site. A panel upgrade gets re-engineered to a larger service, a meter location moves, or a crew buys a coil sized for the longest possible run and cuts it once. Because SER is a short-run product, the leftover is rarely huge, but it is also rarely worn out — it usually sat in a truck or on a shelf from the day it was cut.

What we buy

• SER cable — round assembly, two or three insulated conductors plus a bare ground, 600V.
• SEU cable — flat assembly with a concentric neutral serving as the ground, 600V.
• Aluminum SER — 2-2-2-4 and similar configurations from #2 up through 4/0 and larger.
• Copper SER and SEU — less common in new work, priced on copper content and length.
• Coils and reel lengths — 125, 250 and 500 ft coils, plus reel lengths from larger service work.
• Outdoor-rated jackets — sunlight-resistant constructions marked for exterior and mast runs.

How to read a SER or SEU coil

Service cable is identified by its configuration rather than by a single type name. The print reads something like 2-2-2-4 AL SER, and each of those numbers matters: the insulated conductors, then the reduced neutral or ground. Photograph the print and the coil tag together.

Condition and length

SER lives outdoors and in crawl spaces, so jacket condition matters more than it does on indoor building wire. The outer jacket is what keeps the bare ground and the neutral wrap dry. A coil that sat on a truck bed for a season is usually fine. A coil that sat in standing water, or one where the jacket is split for several feet back from the end, is not.

• Full coils still banded with the factory tag
• Part coils with a tagged or measured remainder
• Aluminum SER in 2-2-2-4 and larger configurations
• Sunlight-resistant SEU from exterior service work
• Mixed coils from a service crew clearing out a truck

We decline coils with a jacket split back into the assembly, cable that has been pulled through a mast and removed, lengths under about 25 ft, and any coil where the configuration cannot be read. Copper SER with corroded or badly oxidized conductors is also usually declined, since the loss at the terminations cannot be recovered.

What to photograph

1. The coil as a whole, with the band, tag and wrapper visible.
2. The jacket print, showing the configuration and the metal.
3. The cut end, so the insulated conductors and bare ground can be counted.
4. Any sunlight-resistant or outdoor marking, shot close.
5. The cut ends of both coil ends if the cable has been cut twice.

SER and SEU surplus in Washington, DC and Maryland

District surplus is dominated by service changes in older housing stock. Rowhouse and small apartment buildings in Northwest, Northeast and Southeast DC are constantly having panels replaced and services upgraded, and the cable is bought before the meter and mast details are settled. When the service size or the routing changes, a cut coil is left over.

Maryland spreads it wider. Townhouse subdivisions in Prince George’s and Anne Arundel counties generate SER offcuts by the coil, while Frederick, Hagerstown and the Eastern Shore produce SEU from well feeds, barns, outbuildings and detached garages. Those rural runs are long, so the coils are often large and only partly used, and they sit in a shed until someone decides to clear it.