How To Disassemble A Compressor From A Refrigerator Without An Angle Grinder

If the farm has a failed equipment, do not rush to throw it in a landfill, in some details you can find a large amount of copper, and its price in the scrap metal purchase market varies within 300 rubles per kilogram, depending on the category.

Given that there are a lot of scrap collection points and often they are located in residential areas, and transportation costs will be small or absent altogether, then why not turn in copper and other metal and get additional income.

Copper in refrigerators

Compressor SK 140 contains about 30% copper

Often, old refrigerators are handed over to collection points with a total weight of black metal. However, if you take your time and arm the angle grinder, you can extract much more benefit from the old technology.

The price of ferrous metal will be much lower than non-ferrous, and in the refrigerator there is both copper and aluminum. What is important to know? The only part containing copper is a compressor.

It is necessary for compressing the refrigerant vapor and their further movement into the condenser. Copper is present in significant amounts in the compressor design. But in order to remove it, you must first remove this part from the refrigerator. It is located on the back wall and is a steel casing in which the stator, rotor, bearings, springs, motor, piston, serpentine tube, copper wire are placed.

Copper tube in an old copper refrigerator

The question of how much copper in the compressor is from the refrigerator, you can accurately answer, knowing the model of technology and the year of manufacture, but on average it can contain from 700 to 1200 grams.

Having removed the compressor from the refrigerator, it is necessary to saw it, you can do it with a hacksaw, but since the steel used for the case has a rather large thickness, this process will take a lot of time and effort. It is better to use an angle grinder in this case. An incision must be made along the seam of the joint, so you can carefully remove the contents.

You can not try not to damage anything, because in this case only copper is of interest, and making a cut from the opposite side, you get a cylinder from which it is easy to get the contents, namely the copper wire.

• Wear protective gloves;
• Mask or glasses;
• Carry out cutting better on the street;
• Do not use an angle grinder without work experience.

Is it worth it to extract copper from household appliances?

One can answer unambiguously the question of the expediency of handing over copper scrap. Yes, it is quite profitable and, moreover, saves natural resources. The second argument may seem insignificant, but if you think about it, then all natural resources are exhaustible, and copper in the earth’s interior, according to expert estimates, 5 billion tons remain, which is quite a bit in comparison with other metals.

Is there copper in the details of the refrigerator?

In addition, copper is not contained in pure form, ores have a large percentage of impurities and gangue. From 70 to 95%. Currently, technologies allow the development of deposits containing 0.5% copper. When enriching such ore, a large amount of energy is expended, quarries and underground mines adversely affect the environment. That is why the metal recycling industry is so developed, including copper.

If we consider the profit from the delivery of scrap metal in monetary terms, then for each kilogram of ferrous metal you can get about 6 rubles, in a standard old refrigerator about 60. 80 kg. There are also two-chamber models weighing 100 kg, so you can earn up to 500 rubles, but if you take the refrigerator apart and remove the copper from the compressor, you can add another 300 rubles.

If the freezers are made of aluminum, then this is still about two kilograms or 200 rubles. Total, you can earn 1000 rubles, if you make minimal effort.