Sell Your Medium Voltage Breakers
Medium voltage breakers — 5kV and 15kV class — are the most valuable individual items that come out of an electrical room. A single vacuum breaker can be worth more than a whole pallet of molded case breakers, and plenty of sellers don't realize it until we tell them.
Nameplate, ratings label, and a shot of the whole breaker: text all three to (951) 903-9804 and prepare to be pleasantly surprised.
Vacuum, air magnetic, and everything between
Modern vacuum breakers — GE PowerVac, Square D/Merlin Gerin VR, Eaton VCP-W, Siemens GMI/GMSG, ABB ADVAC — hold the top of the market. Behind them, the classic air magnetic breakers (GE Magne-Blast, Westinghouse DHP, Allis-Chalmers) still sell steadily because hundreds of plants and utilities keep old lineups alive and need spares.
We buy them installed in switchgear or already racked out on the floor. Racked-out breakers on pallets are actually our easiest purchase — quick to verify, quick to load, quick to pay.
- Vacuum breakers — VCP-W, PowerVac, GMSG, ADVAC, VR
- Air magnetic breakers — Magne-Blast, DHP, DH
- 5kV and 15kV class, all interrupting ratings
- Drawout elements with or without the cubicle
- Complete MV switchgear lineups too
Utilities and plants: retirement lists welcome
When a substation modernizes or a plant re-powers, a row of MV breakers gets orphaned. Send us the retirement list — manufacturer, type, ratings, quantity — and we'll quote the lot sight-unseen from nameplate data, then verify at pickup. We've bought single spares and forty-breaker fleets; the process is the same, just more zeros.
What drives a breaker's price
Breaker value is replacement demand, not weight. The question we are answering when we price your lot is how many facilities still need that exact frame and rating, and how easily they can get one new. When the answer is 'many facilities, and they cannot buy new,' the price goes up sharply.
Completeness is the second lever. A breaker with its trip unit, rating plug, and mounting hardware present is worth substantially more than a bare frame, because the buyer does not have to source parts. Sorting is the third: forty like breakers on a pallet price better than the same forty in a barrel, because we can grade them accurately instead of conservatively.
| Molded case, 15–1,200A | Highest volume; sell in sorted lots |
|---|---|
| Molded case, 1,600–2,500A frames | Strong individual value |
| Insulated case breakers | High value, especially complete |
| LV air power breakers (drawout) | Industrial demand; worth removing carefully |
| MV vacuum and air breakers | Heaviest value; we handle removal |
| Obsolete lines (FPE, Zinsco, old Westinghouse, early Square D) | Frequently out-price new equivalents |
| Trip units, rating plugs, accessories | Bought separately — do not discard |
How to prepare a breaker lot for the best number
Sort by manufacturer first, then amperage. Stack on pallets rather than loose in drums — loose handling chips cases and bends lugs, and damaged units price lower. Keep trip units and rating plugs with their breakers rather than in a separate bucket.
For photos, one clear label shot per distinct type plus a count is enough. You do not need forty pictures of forty identical breakers. Anything unusual, old, or large deserves its own photo from a couple of angles. Daylight, label facing the camera, no flash glare across the print.
If the breakers are still in panels, leave them there. We would rather buy a loaded panelboard intact than a bin of breakers that were pried out, and you save yourself the labor.
- Sort by manufacturer and amperage
- Palletize; avoid loose drums and barrels
- Keep trip units, plugs, and hardware attached
- One legible label photo per type, plus a count
- Leave loaded panels intact — we remove them
Before you scrap anything, send one photo
Scrap is priced by weight. Used electrical equipment is priced by what the next facility needs, and those two numbers are rarely close. A scrapyard has no reason to tell you that the item in your hand keeps a plant running somewhere.
There is no cost to finding out. Text photos to (951) 903-9804 — labels and nameplates if you can get them, wide shots if you cannot — and you will have a real number, usually the same day. If the honest answer is that your lot is only worth scrap, we will tell you that too, and you have lost nothing but a text message.
Common questions
What's a used vacuum breaker worth?
Commonly four figures for in-demand types in good condition. Type, ratings, and vintage set the number — the nameplate photo gets you there in one text.
Do you buy old air magnetic breakers?
Yes — Magne-Blast and DHP breakers keep countless legacy lineups running, and working spares are getting scarce. Solid money, always.
Breaker only, or do you need the cubicle?
Either. Drawout elements alone sell fine; complete cubicles or whole lineups just make the check bigger.
Do you buy breakers that were never installed?
New-in-box overage is the best material in this category and earns close to wholesale pricing. Contractors who over-order routinely sell us the balance of a job.
Will you buy a mixed pallet I have not sorted?
Yes. Sorting improves the number because it lets us price precisely, but unsorted lots are normal and we buy them constantly. Send wide shots plus close-ups of anything that looks unusual.
Related pages
Ready to sell? Call or text (951) 903-9804 or email photos to sellelectricalequipment@gmail.com.
Got equipment to sell?
Call or text us photos. We'll give you a price and take it from there.