AAAC conductor · Harris County / Greater Houston
We buy AAAC conductor.
No steel core, no galvanic couple, and a conductor that outlasts the ACSR strung beside it. AAAC turns up on coastal circuits and feeders right across the region.
All-aluminium alloy conductor carries no steel at all. The strands are 6201 alloy, heat treated for strength, and the whole conductor is one metal. That single-metal construction is why it holds up on the Gulf Coast, where salt air and constant humidity make short work of a bare steel core. There is no core here to attack.
AAAC also looks like ACSR from ten feet away. Same grey finish, same general proportions, same wooden drum underneath. The difference shows at the cut end, and it changes how a lot is sorted, handled and valued. A pile holding both is not one lot. It is two, and each is reviewed on its own terms.
Why coastal circuits lean on all-aluminium alloy
A steel core in a coastal environment is a maintenance item. Salt deposits hold moisture against the metal, the galvanising gives way at a scratch, and the core begins to rust from the inside where nobody can inspect it. AAAC removes that failure mode from the design entirely, which is most of its case.
Houston-area coastal circuits and some distribution feeders use it for exactly that reason. The conductor is lighter for the same diameter, which eases loading on older structures, and its strength-to-weight ratio is higher than an equivalent all-aluminium strand of the same cross-section. It also sags differently, which matters on a line built around a heavier conductor.
The trade-off is conductivity. Alloy strands conduct slightly less than the pure aluminium used in ACSR, so a AAAC design may need a larger diameter to carry the same current. That decision was made on a drawing board years ago, and it is not something a seller has to reason about when offering a drum.
Telling AAAC from ACSR at the cut end
Look at the middle of the conductor. A steel core is a distinct, darker, harder bundle of wires at the centre, and a magnet will find it instantly. AAAC has alloy strands all the way through, so the centre looks like the outside and a magnet does nothing at all.
Strand count helps as well. AAAC sizes commonly use 7, 19, 37 or 61 equal wires arranged symmetrically. ACSR counts are uneven by design, because the aluminium layers sit over a core of a different size and a different material. An odd count is a hint rather than proof, since a few designs sit close to the line.
Diameter and unit weight refine it further. If the tag is unreadable, cut a short piece and look at it in daylight. Alloy conductor shows a uniform silver-grey section, while a steel core reads as a different texture in the middle of the bundle. A magnet and a tape measure finish the identification.
- No steel core in the centre section
- Seven, nineteen, thirty-seven or sixty-one equal strands
- Uniform silver-grey section at the cut
- Lighter drum than an ACSR of the same diameter
- 6201 alloy marking on the tag where it survives
6201 alloy and the sizes it comes in
6201 is a heat-treatable aluminium alloy with magnesium and silicon in it. It reaches a strength that plain aluminium cannot, which is why a conductor with no steel can still hold a long span. It is also the reason the material is bought on alloy content rather than as generic aluminium scrap.
Sizes run from small distribution conductor up to heavy transmission designs. A drum of large AAAC from a coastal circuit rebuild is a serious lot, and it is one of the few overhead materials a buyer will drive a distance to collect without any other stops attached to the trip.
Age shows differently than it does on ACSR. Without a core to rust, alloy conductor fails at the surface instead: pitting, scrape damage from hardware, and the flattening that comes from a drum dropped on its side. A drum that has been dragged shows it along one side of the outer layer, and most of that is visible without cutting anything open.
Mixing AAAC with other conductor on one pallet
Do not bundle AAAC with ACSR and call it one lot unless there is no choice. One metal in a strand assembly and two metals in the other are graded differently, and a mixed pile has to be sorted before either can be valued properly. Sorting is not a reason to refuse a lot, but it does change the basis.
If the material is already mixed, say so and photograph it as a group. Keep drums separate where you can, label the flange with paint marker, and note which are full and which are part used. That small effort is usually worth more than another paragraph of description. One accurate line per drum beats an approximate total for the whole pile.
- Separate drums from loose coils
- Label each drum with alloy and approximate length
- Photograph each group rather than the whole pile
- Note any conductor that has already been in service
AAAC and ACSR can travel on the same collection. They are simply reviewed line by line rather than as a single weight.
Questions sellers ask
How can I tell AAAC from ACSR quickly?
Put a magnet against the cut end. If it grabs, there is a steel core and the conductor is ACSR. If nothing happens, the section is alloy throughout. A uniform silver-grey centre with no darker bundle is the visual version of the same test.
Do you buy AAAC that has been in coastal service?
Yes. Alloy conductor is chosen for coastal service precisely because it has no core to corrode, so used material is normal. Surface oxidation is expected. Deep pitting, mechanical damage and crushed sections are what a buyer looks at instead.
Is AAAC graded the same as aluminium scrap?
No. A clean, identified drum of 6201 conductor is a conductor lot, not scrap. It is valued on construction, length and condition first, with metal content as the floor beneath that. Mixed or badly damaged alloy falls back to a scrap basis.
Can small AAAC coils go with a larger lot?
Yes, and that is often the practical answer. A few short coils on their own rarely justify a trip. Grouped with drums from the same yard they add weight and are reviewed together, provided they are described honestly as cut lengths.
Buying desk · Greater Houston
Have this cable on the yard?
Tell us what is on the reel, where it sits and what condition it is in. A buyer reviews the lot, asks for photographs of the tag and the cut end, and comes back with a real answer — not a request to call a call centre.
- Cable type, size and voltage class
- Footage, reel count or weight, and condition
- City, and whether the site has loading equipment