600 V thermoplastic building wire
THHN, THWN and THWN-2 wire buyers in New York
Nylon-jacketed thermoplastic wire is the most common surplus cable in New York, and the one most often sold by weight. The gauge, the print on the jacket and the condition of the copper decide what it is actually worth.
Sell this cable
Send the construction, size and footage. Photographs can follow.
Prefer to talk? 614-715-3047 · saleselectricalbuyers@gmail.com
THHN is copper, 600 V, with a PVC wall and a thin nylon jacket. Value comes down to gauge and copper weight first, then whether the coil is a factory reel with footage or a bundle of cut ends. A part reel of 500 kcmil is a different asset from a box of 12 AWG pigtails, even though both are called THHN. Jacket print, footage and clean cut ends are what a buyer reads before anything else.
PVC for insulation, nylon for the pull
THHN is a copper conductor covered first with a wall of polyvinyl chloride and then with a thin polyamide jacket. The PVC does the electrical work and the nylon does the mechanical work. It resists abrasion while the wire is dragged through conduit, it slides against EMT and rigid bends with less effort, and it keeps the PVC from scuffing away at a tight pull. That combination is why almost every feeder and branch circuit in a New York commercial building is THHN rather than a plain thermoplastic wire.
The conductor is soft-drawn copper, solid to ASTM B3 in the smaller sizes and stranded to ASTM B8 above that, with compact stranded construction from 8 AWG up. Sizes 14, 12 and 10 AWG are commonly solid because they terminate neatly under receptacle and lighting screws; anything larger is stranded, because a solid 250 kcmil conductor will not bend into a panel. The wire is listed to UL 83 and rated 600 V, which is enough for every common building system in the state.
THHN, THWN and THWN-2 are ratings, not three different wires
The three designations describe the same basic construction with different temperature and moisture limits. THHN is rated 90 C in dry locations and 75 C in wet. THWN is the wet-location rating at 75 C. THWN-2 carries 90 C in both. Most wire sold in the last two decades is dual- or triple-rated and printed THHN/THWN/THWN-2 on the jacket, so a coil labelled THHN is often legal in a wet location. The print on the jacket is the authority, not the invoice or the carton.
That distinction matters twice. It matters in a wet location such as a parking garage, a chiller room, an outdoor conduit run or a wastewater plant, where only the 90 C wet rating lets the conductor use the full 90 C ampacity column. It also matters for derating. Adjustment factors for conduit fill and ambient temperature are applied to the 90 C figure, and the result is then capped by the temperature rating of the terminations, which for most breakers and lugs is 75 C.
| Size | Typical construction | Where it usually sits | 75 C copper ampacity |
|---|---|---|---|
| 14 AWG | Solid | Lighting and control drops | 20 A |
| 12 AWG | Solid or stranded | Receptacle and lighting branch circuits | 25 A |
| 10 AWG | Solid or stranded | Small equipment, 30 A circuits | 35 A |
| 8 AWG | Stranded, compact | Ranges, small subpanels, AC units | 50 A |
| 6 AWG | Stranded, compact | Subpanels, larger equipment drops | 65 A |
| 2 AWG | Stranded, compact | Feeder to a small panel or shop | 115 A |
| 1/0 AWG | Stranded, compact | Panel feeders, risers | 150 A |
| 4/0 AWG | Stranded, compact | Service and large feeders | 230 A |
| 250 kcmil | 37-strand, compact | Main feeders, switchgear ties | 255 A |
| 500 kcmil | 37-strand, compact | Service entrance, chiller and switchboard feeders | 380 A |
What condition does to a coil of building wire
THHN is a tough wire but not an immortal one, and the failures that matter at resale are mechanical rather than electrical. A coil that has been dragged across a floor, a reel whose outer wrap has worn through the nylon, a length pulled around a tight bend with a kink set into the copper, or a coil that stood in water with the ends open all reduce what the material can be used for. Copper wicks moisture along the stranding under the jacket, so a coil that looks sound outside can be green and oxidised at the center.
Sunlight is the slow killer. PVC chalks and hardens under ultraviolet light, the nylon skin goes brittle, and a reel that has stood outside through several summers will crack when it is finally bent. Print legibility matters for the same practical reason: the size, the type and the footage marking are how a buyer confirms a coil without cutting it open. A coil with no print and no tag is priced as copper, not as wire.
- Photograph the jacket print close enough to read size, type and voltage
- Photograph the reel tag or the coil label, including any footage count
- Photograph one square cut end so the strand count and copper color are visible
- Photograph the coil as stored, so the buyer can see whether it sat in water or sun
- Note whether the reel is wood or plastic and whether it will survive a loading
Specification
What a buyer needs to know about this cable
Every row below changes what a lot is worth. If the reel tag is gone, the jacket print and a cut end usually answer most of it.
Missing detail is not a problem — say what is missing and the review works from photographs.
| Standard | UL 83; NEC Article 310 for general wiring and ampacity |
|---|---|
| Voltage rating | 600 V, which covers 120/208, 277/480 and 600 V systems |
| Conductor | Soft-drawn copper, ASTM B3 solid or B8 stranded; compact stranded from 8 AWG up |
| Insulation | PVC wall with a polyamide (nylon) jacket over it |
| Temperature rating | THHN 90 C dry and 75 C wet; THWN 75 C wet; THWN-2 90 C dry and wet |
| Size range | 14 AWG through 500 kcmil; 14 to 10 AWG solid or stranded, 8 AWG and larger stranded |
| Colors | Black, red, blue, white, green, brown, orange, yellow and gray |
| Identification | Surface print gives size, type, voltage, UL mark, manufacturer and often a footage count |
Constructions
THHN lots that cross this desk
The same wire is worth different money depending on which of these it is, and the difference is usually visible in one photograph.
Factory reels with tags
Unopened reels with the mill tag, footage and often a purchase order. The best category, and the only one that can go straight back into a contractor's stock.
Part reels with readable footage
A reel that has been drawn down but still carries its tag or a written remaining length. Valued on the remaining footage and the size, with a discount for handling.
Cut coils and bundles
Coils wound by hand at the end of a job, usually 50 to 250 ft, often mixed colors. Reusable when the length is stated; scrap when it is not.
Wire pulled out of conduit
Removed branch and feeder wire, usually kinked, sometimes nicked by a pull, and almost always in odd lengths. Reviewed as recovery material unless the lengths are long and clean.
Mixed branch-circuit surplus
Boxes of 14, 12 and 10 AWG in several colors, the normal residue of a commercial fit-out. Separated by size and color it is worth more than as one pallet.
New York
THHN in the New York market
New York builds in conduit. Commercial interiors in the five boroughs, hospitals and schools upstate, warehouse and distribution buildings along the Thruway corridors and plant maintenance work everywhere all run THHN through EMT, rigid or PVC. That makes it the highest-volume surplus family in the state by a wide margin, and it means most lots are a mix of part reels and short cut lengths rather than tidy full reels.
Volume does not mean value per pound. A 500 kcmil feeder coil carries roughly 1,540 lb of copper per 1,000 ft before insulation, while 12 AWG carries about 25 lb. The metal is the floor in both cases, but the large sizes are the ones that can be reused as cable, and the small sizes usually are not. Sorting a lot by size before it is quoted is the single most useful thing a seller can do.
What helps a New York lot move
- Size and type exactly as printed, not as remembered
- Full or part reel, with remaining footage if it is known
- Color mix, and whether the coils are separated by size
- Where it was stored: indoors, covered outside, or open yard
- Whether the wire was new surplus or pulled out of conduit
Seller questions
Questions sellers ask
Is THHN the same as THWN?
Not exactly, but they are usually the same wire. THHN is rated 90 C dry and 75 C wet; THWN is rated 75 C wet; THWN-2 is rated 90 C in both. Most modern wire is printed with all three designations, in which case the coil can be used in a wet location at the wet-location rating. Read the jacket print rather than the invoice.
What sizes of THHN are worth collecting?
Any size can be collected, but the economics change with gauge. Sizes from 8 AWG upward, and especially 1/0 through 500 kcmil, hold enough copper per foot to justify handling as cable. Small branch-circuit sizes are usually worth collecting only as part of a larger lot or as recovery material.
Can you use THHN in a wet location?
Only if the jacket print includes THWN or THWN-2, and only within the temperature limit that designation carries. A dry-location-only THHN conductor in an outdoor conduit, a parking garage or a washdown area is not compliant, which is why the print matters to a buyer as much as the gauge.
How do you tell solid from stranded without cutting?
The print often states it, and the stiffness of the coil gives it away: a solid 12 AWG coil holds its shape when lifted, while a stranded coil droops. At a cut end the difference is obvious. Both are saleable, but stranded large sizes are the ones with real reuse value.
Does the color of the insulation affect value?
Only slightly, and mostly through sorting cost. Black, red, blue and white are the common branch-circuit colors and move easily; green grounding conductors are sold as grounding wire; brown, orange and yellow are the 480/277 V system colors and are worth keeping separate because a buyer specifying those systems wants them together.
Keep reading
Related pages
- XHHW wire buyersThe thermoset alternative for wet and industrial work
- Feeder cable buyersLarge-size feeders, often THHN or XHHW-2
- Copper wire buyersWhere bare and stripped copper ends up
- Partial reel buyersThe situation most THHN lots are actually in
- Contractor leftover buyersMixed job-end wire in small quantities
- Aluminum wire buyersFor the aluminum branch of the same family
Next step
Send the lot details
Include the storage city, how it is stored and what can reach it. If you have photographs of reel tags or jacket print, send them with the enquiry.
Send the lot
One desk reviews every lot that arrives.
Prefer to talk? 614-715-3047 · saleselectricalbuyers@gmail.com