Storm salvage · Georgia
We buy storm damage conductor and line salvage
After an event, conductor is the least orderly material on the site. It comes down in mixed piles with hardware, poles and mud, and the first useful act is not valuation but sorting it by size while the cut ends are still readable.
- Downed spans
- Mixed piles
- Time-critical
01Overview
What this page covers
A storm produces a specific kind of lot. Conductor is cut at the ends of damaged spans, dropped, dragged and coiled by whoever was clearing the road, and piled with crossarms, insulators, guy wire and whatever the tree brought down. Some of it is sound; most of it is recovery; all of it is wet.
The difference from a reconductor lot is control. Nothing about a storm pull is measured, and the material has been subjected to impact, abrasion and tension it was never designed for. It is also time-critical, because aluminum lying in wet clay and sun does not improve.
02Specification
What a storm lot looks like
- Events
- Ice, straight-line wind, tornado, tropical remnants, vehicle strike
- Material
- Conductor, guy wire, hardware, crossarms, transformers
- Damage
- Kinks, broken strands, impact flattening, tree abrasion, mud
- Presentation
- Mixed piles, cut spans, hand coils, some sound reels
- Sorting
- By size and construction, at the staging area
- Timing
- Off the ground, covered and moved early
- Documentation
- Event, work order, contractor release, utility authorization
- Condition
- Recovery, part re-usable, wet, contaminated with soil
Photograph the pile before it is moved and after it is sorted. The before picture shows the scale, the after picture shows what the material actually is.
03What we buy after an event
What we buy after an event
Cut spans
Conductor cut at each end of a damaged section and coiled on the ground. Lengths are short and irregular. Reviewed on strand condition, because the cut ends are usually the only undamaged part.
Impact-damaged conductor
Conductor that took a tree, a pole or a vehicle. Impact flattens the section, cracks the core on ACSR and leaves the strand work-hardened either side of the hit. That section is cut out and the rest is judged separately.
Mixed storm piles
Conductor, guy strand, tie wire and hardware in one heap. Separating by material is the work, and a pile that is sorted before it leaves the site is worth more than the same pile sorted later.
Sound reels from the same event
Reels that were on site for the repair and never used, or stock that survived the event in a yard. These are normal surplus and are reviewed apart from the salvage.
04Evaluation
How a storm lot is reviewed
Separate first, value second. Pull out anything that is still on a reel or in a whole coil, then sort the rest by size and construction. A pile sorted into three sizes is three lots; the same pile unsorted is one recovery lot at the bottom of the range.
Then the condition, which in storm material is usually obvious. Kinks, flattened sections and broken strands are visible without tools. The hidden damage is at the cut ends and where the conductor was dragged, and the hidden risk is corrosion, because wet aluminum with soil on it starts to pit within weeks.
Then the paperwork. Storm work is authorized by work orders, and the material is released by the utility or by the contractor clearing for it. Get the event, the work order reference and the name of whoever can authorize movement, because a storm lot without a release is a pile that belongs to somebody.
Storm salvage is the highest-risk material on this site. A downed conductor can be re-energised by a backfeed, by a generator plugged in by a customer, or by a recloser closing into a fault, and it can lie in water or against a metal fence. Nothing is touched until the utility has isolated and grounded it, and unstable poles, leaning trees and damaged structures are as much of a hazard as the conductor.
05Seller terms
Before you sell: how it works
Four things a seller should be able to pin down before a truck is booked.
Verification
Footage is checked against the reel tag, the sequential marks on the jacket, the wrap count against the barrel, or a published weight per 1,000 ft — whichever the reel actually supports.
Payment
Payment method and timing are agreed in writing for the specific lot before anything is loaded or moved. No verbal number is treated as an agreement.
Paperwork
A bill of sale for the lot, and for utility material the owning utility’s release reference. Neither is optional and neither is created after the fact.
Freight
Collection is arranged as part of the terms. Say what can lift the reels and whether a 53-foot trailer can reach them, and the pickup is planned around that.
Sending a reel list and photographs costs nothing. A review is not a purchase, and nothing is bought, moved or scheduled until written lot terms are agreed for that material. Request a pickup when the lot is ready.
06Related
Related material
- Reconductor and removed conductorConductor pulled during reconductor and upgrade work
- ACSR conductorAluminium conductor steel reinforced, distribution to transmission
- Distribution conductorPrimary and secondary overhead distribution conductor
- Static and guy wireShield wire, overhead ground wire, guy strand and anchor rod
07Questions
Storm-damage conductor questions
Is storm-damaged conductor worth recovering?
The aluminum is, and a proportion of the conductor is sound enough for lower-duty use. The lot is reviewed on recovery value plus whatever can be separated out as re-usable.
Why does sorting on site matter so much?
Because handling mixed conductor twice costs more than the difference between a mixed lot and three sorted ones. Sizes and constructions also stop being readable once the tags and cut ends are lost.
Who releases storm material?
The utility that owns the line, or its storm contractor acting under the utility's authority. The work order reference is the document that proves it.
How quickly should a storm lot be moved?
As soon as it is released and covered. Aluminum in wet soil pits quickly, and a pile left through a rainy week is a lower grade of material than the same pile under a tarp.
Send the work order and a photograph of the pile
Event, work order, approximate tonnage and how the material is stored are enough to plan a review. Sorting can be arranged on site.