SOOW cord buyer in Wilmington, NC
Portable cord is what a working waterfront runs on, and Wilmington’s waterfront changes its mind often. What is left behind is coils of SOOW in every gauge and length.
- New Hanover County
- 600 V portable cord
- Docks and sets
SOOW cord in Wilmington
SOOW is a flexible cord rather than a cable: stranded conductor, rubber insulation, a thermoset jacket rated for outdoor and wet use, oil resistant, and built to be coiled and moved rather than fixed in place. It is the cord on a dockside pedestal, the temporary distribution on a film set, the lead from a boat hoist, and the extension that runs from a shop to a piece of equipment in the yard. It comes in gauges from 18 AWG two-conductor up to 2 AWG four-conductor, and the jacket print states which.
Portable cord goes surplus for reasons that have nothing to do with failure. A set wraps and the distribution cable goes back into a warehouse with three coils left over. A yard re-rigs its pedestals and the old cords are the wrong length. A boatyard changes a hoist and the lead no longer reaches. The cord is often perfectly sound, and it is almost never tagged, because nobody tags a coil of cord.
Wilmington’s SOOW sits in three places. The first is the port and the industrial land around it, where pedestals, reefer plugs and ship-to-shore equipment use heavy portable cord and replace it on a maintenance cycle. The second is the marine trades along the Cape Fear and the boatyards and marinas down towards Carolina Beach, where cords are used outdoors, in salt air, and wear at the jacket first.
The third is production. Wilmington has a long history of film and television work, and a set is a temporary industrial site: distribution panels, cable runs, lights on stands, all of it portable and all of it struck at the end of a shoot. When a production wraps, the leftover cord goes into storage and stays there until somebody clears the space.
Why this material gets reviewed properly
Gauge and conductor count come first
18/2 and 12/4 are not the same product and are not used for the same thing. Portable cord is priced on the copper in it, which means gauge and conductor count drive the number before condition is even discussed. We read the jacket print on both ends of a coil where possible, because a coil that has been re-taped may have two different cords inside it.
Outdoor cord ages in a particular way
A SOOW jacket left in sun will chalk, harden and eventually crack, and salt air accelerates the process at the ends where the copper is exposed. A cord that has lived on a dock for three years is a different proposition from one that has lived in a warehouse. We look at the jacket at the coil’s outer wrap, which takes the exposure, and at the cut ends for corrosion.
Coils, not reels
Almost all surplus cord arrives as a coil or a bundle rather than on a reel, and that changes how it is handled. Coils are counted, measured by the circumference and the wrap count, and weighed when the count is unclear. A tidy coil with a manufacturer’s label is worth more than a loose bundle, and we will say which one we are looking at.
Related wire types
Questions on this material
What is the difference between SOOW and STOW cord?
SOOW has a thermoset rubber jacket rated for 600 V and outdoor, wet and oil exposure; STOW is a thermoplastic-jacketed cord with a lower temperature rating and a different feel. The print on the jacket states which. In a mixed lot the two are usually separated before pricing, because they do not serve the same applications even when the gauge matches.
Do you buy cord that has been used on a film set?
Yes. Set cable is used hard but usually for short periods, and a lot from a wrapped production is often in good condition with the original labels still on the coils. The common problem is that it has been stored in a warehouse with no inventory, so the lengths and gauges have to be established at the review rather than taken from a list.
How is a loose bundle of cord measured?
By weighing it and converting, or by measuring the coil circumference and counting the wraps. Weighing is quicker and usually close enough for pricing; the wrap count is more accurate on a tidy coil. Either way we state the basis, so the buyer downstream knows whether the footage is measured or estimated.
Is cord with a failed jacket at the end still worth anything?
The undamaged part is. A 100 ft cord with 4 ft of damaged jacket at one end is a 96 ft cord after the end is cut back, and that is how it should be described. What is not worth anything is a cord that has failed along its length, and we will say so rather than pricing it as if the whole coil were sound.
Send soow cord details
Pickup is in Wilmington. Include condition, footage and how the material is stored.
Or email saleselectricalbuyers@gmail.com
- No fee and no obligation to sell.
- Written lot terms before anything moves.
- Pickup scheduled around your access rules.