Pipes

Thost look like copper.....not to sound like a looter...but, you could sell those for lots, and lots, of money.

Cyrus, Motts, Radical Ed, Goddog et al. - what's the deal with the copper? I see the comments about it being stripped out of old buildings and sold. Is this the tubing or what all is in old buildings that is made of copper? I mean, is it large objects or are we talking thousands of feet of pipes or something? Obviously there is some sort of market for it. And is there any chance of asbestos or anything nasty being associated with it? Seems like there could be a lot of potential for danger in stripping it out. Just curious.

the reason people strip the copper is becuase it canbe melted down and recycled. salvage yard will by big bucks in bulk

Oops - sorry - didn't mean to leave you out. So is there a lot of copper in buildings or do people have to work pretty hard to get it out? I guess I never think of copper being used but when I watched a house being built some years ago I remember being there when they put in some copper tubing for what I guess was the water pipes? But then water and air turn copper green. OK, you building-savvy people - what all is copper used for?
Thanks for answering, MaDMaN. :-)

copper was and is also today used for plumbing and heating... today copper is somewhat getting phased out by the use of Pvc plastic piping but for heating you need copper. when copper "oxidizes"( i think i spelled that right" it does turn green but not all the way through.. under the green is still that copper finish.. technically the statue of liberty could be sanded and polsihed down and shine like a brand new penny. as for working heard to get the copper out it all depends on how u can acess it... if your in a basement where yits easily accessable ita a matter of cutting the tube and probabally getting a little messy... i honesly wouldnt wanna know what resides in a 20 year old copper pipe though.

Great info - thanks!
And you are right - there is something bizarre about the Statue of Liberty being copper colored rather than green - seems "wrong." 8`-)

i love to see industrial type things when i explore. if u ask me nothing is more exciting. u can email me lynne if u wanna chat and see some of my xplorin pics.... MaDMaNmf@aol.com

not copper,steel high pressure pipes which are rusted.the white covering is asbestos, the piles are potty for pigeons{don:t slip}.

looks like green carpeting on top of the tubes!

ya, its old shag rug from the 70's :-)

It would be my guess that the furnaces produced steam for heat and pipes ran it through the entire facility. Then they also used the same steam to produce electricity in the steam engines. Electric pumps for water, coal as the heat source and the place was off the power grid. Just keep trucking in coal and food.

i know that copper yeilds a higher scrap rate then reg metal, as ar as the asbestos,my bf is a heating tech and when he does abaitments the asbestos is usally contained to the furnace and duct work, sometimes tho it is in the walls as an insulation... so pulling copper pipes as long as theyre not wrapped in asbestos should be relativly safe.(I know i cant spell please dont pick on me)

Homer Simpson....Piiiipes.

We just had a guy south of the city(Phila.) over the wkend (4/5/08) try to strip copper from high voltage cables--while they were still hot!!!
He's in the hospital-lost his eyebrows too, and he's still being charged.

I work in a NY Psych. Hospital & our closed buildings are always being brocken into for the copper pipes BUT those same pipes are aspestos insulated to be carefull is the potential monitary gane worth the potential mesophilioma or aspestosis I THINK NOT!

PS I inspect these buildings in my job duties they are insulated thru out with asbestos walls pipes ect & the paint on top may not be lead BJUT they do not strip the wall before repainting in these places so the lower coats of paint are