SER / SEU cable · Harris County / Greater Houston
We buy SER / SEU cable.
Service cable comes out of a panel change in short, specific lengths. Aluminium SER in 2-2-2-4 and larger is the bulk of it, and the meter loop is where the useful pieces hide.
A service change is the most common source of heavy cable in Houston housing. The old 100 amp service comes out, a 200 amp panel goes in, and the cable between the meter and the panel is left over in lengths of ten, twenty, thirty feet. It is almost always aluminium SER, and it is almost always too short to use again on the same job. Nobody coils it neatly.
SEU is the older style and it turns up in the same places: a concentric neutral wrapped around the insulated conductors, usually with that neutral doing the grounding. Both are 600 V cable, and both are bought here by the cut length, the partial reel or the pallet, from electricians, builders and the crews that clear out a service yard. Meter loops add their own short pieces.
SER and SEU: what the cut end shows
SER is round overall, with insulated conductors laid side by side and a bare ground sitting in the interstice, all wrapped in a grey or black jacket. SEU is the earlier construction: two insulated conductors with a bare concentric neutral wound around them, which gives it a lumpier profile and a tighter bend. The jacket printing settles it when the shape does not.
At the cut, count conductors and check the neutral. SER in 2-2-2-4 carries three 2 AWG conductors and a 4 AWG ground, the size that fits most 200 amp residential services. SEU in the same class often reads 2-2-4 or 4-4-6. Aluminium strands should be bright under the jacket, not dull grey from water that got in at an unterminated end.
Service upgrades and the lengths they leave
A residential upgrade produces three or four pieces: a meter loop, a run from the meter base to the panel, a grounding electrode conductor and the tail that fed the old panel. The longest piece is usually between eight and twenty feet. Anything that came out of conduit in a wall may be shorter still, and weatherhead drops get cut back at the splice.
Light commercial work leaves heavier and longer material. Strip centres, restaurants and small warehouses off Hempstead Road or Airline Drive run three-phase four-wire SER for 208Y/120 distribution, and a panel replacement in one of those buildings can leave a forty foot piece. Those are the lengths worth listing separately from the residential offcuts, and they are the pieces a buyer asks about first.
- Meter loops and weatherhead drops
- Panel to meter base runs from a service upgrade
- Three-phase SER from light commercial panel work
- Temporary service cable from a construction pole
- Subpanel feeds in 2-2-2-4, 4-4-4-6 and larger
Lengths under about six feet are still bought, but they travel with other material. List them by count rather than by exact measurement.
Why most of it is aluminium
Aluminium took over service work because a large conductor is easier to handle in aluminium than in copper, and it is what the supply chain carries in 2-2-2-4 and 4-4-4-6. The trade-off is that the conductor must be larger for the same ampacity and the terminations have to be rated for it. Every electrician who has re-done a service knows the antioxidant and the torque spec.
Copper still appears, mostly in older services, small services and anything a careful owner specified. It is graded differently because the metal content is different, and it is worth separating from the aluminium in a mixed lot. Both are bought, and neither is refused for being the wrong metal. Copper is lighter for the same ampacity, which is why it still shows up in tight panel rooms.
One practical point about aluminium: the strands work-harden. A service cable bent sharply during removal, or dragged around a corner, can look fine and still be stiff at that spot. Bend it once and look. If the jacket puckers or the conductor feels crunchy inside, the length is a metal lot rather than a re-usable run.
- Aluminium SER, 2-2-2-4 and larger, the common Houston size
- Copper SER and SEU in older and smaller services
- Two, three and four conductor constructions
- Jacketed cable, not single conductors pulled from conduit
Cable with the jacket slit open along its length is still bought, but it is graded on the conductor alone.
Sending service cable from a panel change
List the size as printed on the jacket, the number of conductors, roughly how long each piece is, and whether it is SER or SEU. A photograph of the jacket print and one of the cut end will confirm the metal and the construction, which is what the review turns on. If the printing is gone, measure the overall width across the flat face.
Say where the cable is and what can reach it. A bundle of service cable is heavy for its size and awkward to carry, so a driveway, a loading dock or a forklift changes the plan. If the material is still at a house with the meter pulled, note who is on site and when.
Related review paths
Questions sellers ask
Do you buy one cut length from a service upgrade?
Yes. A single meter loop or panel run is a normal lot for an electrician who does service work. Lengths from a few feet up are reviewed, and short pieces are grouped rather than refused.
Is aluminium SER worth collecting on its own?
It can be, when the size and length are right. A twenty foot piece of 2-2-2-4 is a real lot. A handful of six foot tails is not, and those usually join a larger load from the same yard.
Can you take SEU with the neutral cut back?
Yes. A cut-back concentric neutral is normal on cable that was removed from a service, and it does not disqualify the lot. The conductor and the jacket condition are what get reviewed, along with how much neutral is left and whether it was cut cleanly.
What identifies SER if the jacket print has worn off?
The flat, side-by-side conductor layout and the bare ground in the interstice. Measure across the flat face and count the conductors, then compare the result with a cable chart before assuming a size. Photographing the print along the jacket is easier if any of it survives.
Buying desk · Greater Houston
Got this cable in stock?
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