600 V building wire · Georgia
We buy THHN and THWN building wire in Georgia
Single-conductor copper building wire with a thermoplastic insulation and a nylon jacket over it. Leftover from a fit-out, bought for a job that changed, or sitting dead in a warehouse — the reel is reviewed on its print, its size and its condition.
- 14 AWG to 1,000 kcmil
- Solid and stranded
- Jacket print identifies it
01Overview
What this page covers
THHN is the wire that fills a contractor’s truck: single copper conductor, a thermoplastic PVC insulation with a thin nylon jacket over the top, supplied on 500, 1,000 and 2,500 ft spools in every colour the code recognises. It reaches a buying desk in three shapes — a part spool at the end of a fit-out, a full reel bought for a job that was redesigned, or a rack of dead stock in a building that has changed hands.
Those three are not the same lot and should not be photographed as one. The part spool is a length question. The full reel is an inventory question. The dead rack is a sorting question, and it is usually worth more once the sizes and colours are listed separately than it is as a single mixed pile.
02Specification
What the jacket print tells us
- Types
- THHN, THWN, THWN-2 and MTW, single conductor
- Temperature
- 90°C dry, 75°C wet for THWN; THWN-2 is 90°C wet and dry
- Voltage
- 600 V, the standard building wire class
- Sizes
- 14 AWG through 1,000 kcmil; 1/0 and larger are stranded only
- Stranding
- Class B, C and D; compact and compressed strand on large sizes
- Insulation
- PVC insulation with a nylon jacket, applied over the conductor
- Reels
- 500, 1,000 and 2,500 ft spools; 250 ft coils on the small sizes
- Colours
- Black, white, red, blue, green, and the phase and traveller colours
A photograph of the jacket print, taken close enough to read, settles the type, the size and usually the stranding. Nothing needs to be stripped to identify this wire.
03Wire we buy on the spool
Wire we buy on the spool
THHN, the dry-location standard
90°C in dry locations and the type most often pulled through conduit above a ceiling or inside a wall. On a reel it is indistinguishable from THWN until the print is read, which is why the print matters more than the appearance.
THWN and THWN-2, the wet-rated versions
The same construction with a moisture rating added: 75°C wet for THWN, 90°C wet and dry for THWN-2. Dual-marked THHN/THWN-2 covers both, and that marking is what makes a reel usable underground in conduit rather than only indoors.
Solid 14 and 12 AWG
The residential sizes, sold in 250 ft coils and 2,500 ft spools. Solid wire kinks rather than strands when it is mishandled, so a coil that has been dropped and re-coiled unevenly is reviewed as a length problem, not a type problem.
Cut lengths and part spools
The last fifty feet on a spool, and the offcuts a crew kept because they were too long to bin. Worth reviewing when the lengths are marked and the colours are separated; a bin of unmarked offcuts is a mixed lot by definition.
04Evaluation
How a building wire lot is reviewed
The sequence of questions is fixed. Type first, because THHN and THWN-2 travel to different places. Size and stranding second, because 12 AWG stranded and 12 AWG solid are different products with the same number on them. Colour third, since a full spool of green is a grounding conductor and a full spool of black is not. Condition fourth, and remaining length last.
Condition on this family is mostly about the jacket. A nylon jacket that has been scraped back to the PVC at the spool end, sun-bleached insulation on a reel that stood outside, or a spool that has taken a forklift tine through the barrel will all show up in a review. Wire that has been pulled and returned to the spool is not disqualified, but it is reviewed as pulled wire, because the jacket remembers conduit bends.
Give the reel tag if it survives — manufacturer, legend, size, footage — and say whether the spools are shrink-wrapped or open to the air. A wrapped reel on a pallet moves easily; a loose coil on a shelf does not, and coil count drives freight on this family more than weight does.
Building wire that has been pulled into a live raceway is not surplus until the circuit is locked out and proved dead. A conductor that looks disconnected at one end can still be backfed from a panel or a transfer switch somewhere else on the floor.
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.
07Questions
THHN and THWN questions
Is THHN the same as THWN?
The construction is the same; the ratings are not. THHN is 90°C dry, THWN is 75°C wet, and THWN-2 is 90°C wet and dry. Most modern wire carries a dual marking, so read the print rather than assuming from the colour.
Do you buy wire with no reel or tag?
Yes, if the jacket print is legible. Type, size and stranding are printed along the insulation at intervals, and the remaining length can be estimated from the coil weight or the wrap count on a spool.
What about wire that has already been pulled?
It is reviewed as pulled wire. Kinks, jacket scuffs and tight bends reduce what the lot will do, but a clean pull returned to its spool in even wraps is a normal lot and is treated as one.
Should mixed colours be sorted first?
Yes. Separating by size and colour before the review costs an afternoon and is the single largest improvement a seller can make to a dead rack of building wire.
Read the print and send it
A close photograph of the jacket legend, the size of the spool and the number of spools is enough to start. Footage can follow from the tag or from a weight ticket.