Clean copper/aluminum AC coil pays $1.55 to $3.02 per pound across US yards in August 2026, with a national reference around $2.07–$2.65/lb. Dirty coil with steel still attached runs about $1.70/lb, all-aluminum coils drop to $0.25–$0.75/lb, and sealed units go for $0.28–$0.30/lb. Stripping the aluminum fins off to get bare copper tubing loses money at every price point — the math is below.
| Grade / Item | Low | High | Unit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Copper/alu coil, clean | $1.55 | $3.02 | USD/lb |
| Copper/alu coil, dirty (irony) | $1.20 | $1.70 | USD/lb |
| All-aluminum coil | $0.25 | $0.75 | USD/lb |
| Sealed units / compressors | $0.20 | $0.32 | USD/lb |
| #2 copper tubing (line sets) | $4.05 | $5.25 | USD/lb |
| Country | Typical Range | Per Tonne | Cur. |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | $1.55 – $3.02 /lb (clean coil) | $3,400 – $6,650 | USD |
| Canada | C$4.60 – C$9.00 /kg | C$4,600 – C$9,000 | CAD |
| United Kingdom | £2.60 – £5.00 /kg | £2,600 – £5,000 | GBP |
| Australia | A$5.10 – A$10.00 /kg | A$5,100 – A$10,000 | AUD |
The four coil grades every yard uses
Walk into any yard with HVAC material and it gets sorted into one of four buckets. Knowing which bucket yours falls in before you pull up to the scale is most of the job.
Copper/aluminum coil, clean
Copper tubing running through stacked aluminum fins, with all steel removed. This is the good grade. It comes out of evaporator coils and older condenser coils where the tube is copper. Yards call it clean Al/Cu coil or clean ACR fin. Rockaway Recycling in New Jersey listed it at $2.65/lb on 21 August 2026.
Copper/aluminum coil, dirty (irony)
Same coil with the steel end plates, brackets or casing still on it. Yards call this dirty coil, irony coil, or dirty ACR fin. The steel is dead weight you get paid copper-adjacent money for — except you do not, because the whole lot gets downgraded. Rockaway had it at $1.70/lb on 21 August 2026, a 36% haircut off clean.
Irony in scrap language just means iron is present. If a magnet sticks anywhere on your coil, it is irony until you cut that piece off.
All-aluminum coil
Aluminum tube, aluminum fin, no copper anywhere. Microchannel condenser coils in newer high-efficiency units are built this way. Yards grade these as aluminum breakage or painted and old sheet aluminum, not as coil. That is a collapse in value: aluminum breakage sat at $0.25/lb on 21 August 2026, and even the better painted-and-old-sheet grade only reached $0.63–$0.75/lb.
Sealed units and compressors
The steel can with the motor inside. Heavy, and priced like the steel it mostly is. $0.28/lb on the iScrap national reference (20 August 2026) and $0.30/lb at Rockaway (21 August 2026), with recent yard quotes spanning $0.20–$0.32/lb.
Current AC coil scrap prices, August 2026
| Grade | Price per lb | Date / source |
|---|---|---|
| Copper/aluminum coil, clean — national ref | $2.07 | 21 Aug 2026, iScrap App |
| Copper/aluminum coil, clean — national avg | $2.25 | 17 Aug 2026, ScrapMonster |
| Copper/aluminum coil, clean — NJ yard | $2.65 | 21 Aug 2026, Rockaway Recycling |
| Copper/aluminum coil, clean — regional high | $3.02 | 20 Aug 2026, Columbus IN |
| Copper/aluminum coil, clean — regional low | $1.55 | 21 Jul 2026, Houston TX |
| Copper/aluminum coil, dirty (irony) | $1.70 | 21 Aug 2026, Rockaway Recycling |
| Aluminum breakage (all-alum coil) | $0.25 | 21 Aug 2026, iScrap App |
| Painted and old sheet aluminum | $0.63 | 20 Aug 2026, Scrap Monitor |
| Sheet aluminum | $0.65 – $0.75 | 18–20 Aug 2026 |
| Sealed units / compressors | $0.28 – $0.30 | 20–21 Aug 2026 |
| #2 copper tubing (reference) | $4.19 national, $4.05–$5.25 regional | 21 Aug 2026, iScrap App |
The regional spread on clean coil is not noise. Prices reported by yards over the last two months run from $1.55/lb in Houston to $3.02/lb in Columbus, Indiana, with Northeast yards clustering at $2.50–$2.90 and Southern and Western yards lower. Sources also disagree at the national level — iScrap shows $2.07/lb, ScrapMonster shows $2.25/lb. Both are reference figures compiled differently. Treat $2.00–$2.70 as the realistic middle and call your yard.
For context, copper spot was $6.43–$6.49/lb on 20 August 2026, up about 46% year over year after touching an all-time high of $6.83 earlier in the month. Coil prices follow copper, but with a lag and a wide yard margin.
Does stripping the fins pay? No.
This is the question that costs scrappers the most money. The logic seems sound: coil pays $2.65/lb, #2 copper pays $4.19/lb, so pull the copper tubes out and get paid more. It does not work, because you are trading paid weight for unpaid weight.
A copper/aluminum coil is roughly 25–40% copper by weight, the rest aluminum fin. When you strip it, the copper gets copper money and the aluminum fin drops to breakage at $0.25/lb. Here is a 10-pound clean coil worked three ways.
| Approach | Copper 25% | Copper 30% | Copper 40% |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sold whole as clean coil at $2.65/lb | $26.50 | $26.50 | $26.50 |
| Stripped: copper at $4.19 + fin at $0.25 | $12.35 | $14.32 | $18.26 |
| Stripped, best case: copper at $5.05 + fin at $0.75 | $18.25 | $20.40 | $24.70 |
Even at 40% copper content and best-case pricing on both halves, stripping nets $24.70 against $26.50 for doing nothing. At realistic copper content and realistic aluminum pricing you lose $8 to $14 on every ten pounds, plus two hours of hacksaw work and cut hands.
The reason is that the coil grade already prices in the copper. Yards buy Al/Cu coil at a blended rate because they know what is inside. You are not fooling anyone by leaving it assembled — you are getting paid for aluminum at near-copper rates, which is the whole advantage.
What stripping is worth doing
- Cut the steel off. This is the one that pays. Moving a coil from dirty at $1.70/lb to clean at $2.65/lb is $0.95/lb for a few minutes with a sawzall. On a 40-pound coil that is $38.
- Pull the copper line set separately. Line set tubing is clean #1 or #2 copper with no fins. It grades as copper tubing at $4.19–$5.25/lb, not coil. Do not throw it in the coil pile.
- Strip the wiring harness. Insulated copper wire runs about $1.90/lb, and bare bright after stripping is $4.73 national with yard quotes to $6.00/lb.
- Separate the aluminum fan blade and shroud. Cast and sheet aluminum both beat breakage rates.
What is actually in a residential system
| Component | Copper content |
|---|---|
| Line set | 2.0 – 4.0 lb |
| Evaporator coil | 1.5 – 3.0 lb |
| Condenser coil (copper-tube models) | 1.5 – 2.5 lb |
| Compressor windings | 1.0 – 2.5 lb |
| Electrical wiring | 0.5 – 1.5 lb |
| Complete residential split system | 4.0 – 8.0 lb |
| Package unit, 2–5 ton | 5.0 – 10.0 lb |
Note that published dollar values attached to these weights are frequently stale. One widely cited HVAC scrap guide values a complete split system at $12–$27, but it assumes copper at $3.80–$4.50/lb from early 2026. At August 2026 pricing the same copper is worth substantially more. Use the weights, recalculate the dollars yourself.
Evaporator versus condenser
Evaporator coils, the A-coil inside the air handler, are still overwhelmingly copper tube with aluminum fin. They are your reliable clean-coil material. Condenser coils in the outdoor unit are the gamble — anything built before roughly 2010 is copper tube, while newer high-efficiency units increasingly use all-aluminum microchannel. Check with a magnet and a file before you assume.
Rules for handling coils legally
- Refrigerant must be recovered by a certified tech. Venting R-22 or R-410A is a federal violation under the Clean Air Act. Most yards will refuse a sealed system without evidence of evacuation.
- Drain the oil from sealed units. Yards require it, and they will reject or downgrade wet compressors.
- Do not open a compressor. The copper inside is not worth the injury risk, and yards price sealed units expecting them intact.
- Some states regulate coil sales specifically. AC coils and copper are common theft targets, so expect ID requirements and ownership statements. In California, AB 476 took effect 1 January 2026 and requires a government-issued ID, a signed ownership statement, two-year record retention, and for scrap copper a valid Contractors State License Board license.
Reference prices bind no yard. Call ahead, ask specifically whether they grade clean and dirty coil separately, and ask what they do with all-aluminum.