What to do with old TV sets? If you are considering scrapping a TV, learn about recovering the precious metal they contain.
Many people simply put old TV sets out in the trash, but there is a way to make money from them. They have copper, aluminum and circuit boards that are worth money when separated from the other TV scrap.
Scrap dealers will buy the precious metal and resell it to manufacturers who use it (recycle it) for new products.
When determining what to do with old TV sets that you have around the house or have picked up, the first thing to consider is safety.
TV’s that have recently been unplugged will still have a charge that may take up to seven days to dissipate. When scrapping a TV it must be taken apart in order to retrieve the precious metal inside.
• Power drill with screw bits and hex (socket) head bits (a screw driver can be used but with more difficulty)
• Wire strippers and wire cutters
• A razor cutter
• Some 5 gallon buckets to sort the different types of metal
• Gloves
• Ability to use these tools
Remove the TV’s back cover by finding and removing the screws that hold it in place. These screws may be hex head screws, Phillips head screws or regular screws, and each TV may be different.
Once the screws are located and removed the back cover should come right off. Often the power cord must be cut off in order to get the cover off.
The electrical charge is powerful enough to give a shock that can cause injury. The capacitor may need to be discharged before proceeding with retrieving the precious metals.
There are usually two circuit boards to recover from TV scrap. They can either be removed by hand or the zip ties may need to be cut, but the process is very simple.
There is also a copper yoke on the end of the tube held by two stainless steel screws; once the screws are removed, the copper yoke should easily twist off.
The copper yoke can be separated from the ceramic ferrite core by pulverizing it with a hammer inside a five gallon bucket. Lift the copper out of the bucket leaving the smashed ceramic core behind.
The degassing coil is a copper or steel wire wrapped in electrical tape. If it is steel it will be much lighter than copper and not worth salvaging.
Use a razor cutter to cut away the electrical tape to salvage the wire if it is copper.
Best Buy has a program where you pay to have them come and pickup your old TV set but they do not offer any money for it.
They do tell you within the details on their website that they also plan on breaking down the tv for scrap.
Parts of the scrap TV that you can not sell can be disposed of in your normal trash.
Therefore, if you are wondering what to do with old TV sets, if they are older models, you should scrap them.
Additionally, nearly all of the wires within the TV are copper, so be sure to save them as well.
Many scrappers will tell you that screws are worthless but the fact is, they are worth money too.
It may take a lot of them but if you save all of the screws that you handle over a two week span you will more than likely have 40 to 70 pounds of scrap metal screws. Someone already threw away the money the first time, don’t throw it away again, all metal is worth money.