Thermocouple wires are not like simple gold, silver, or platinum wire, because they contain a combination of valuable metals, as you will learn in today’s post. If you are a regular reader of our blog, you already know thermocouples are used where temperatures must be monitored or controlled remotely. 

It's important to note that the availability and accessibility of medical scrap can vary depending on factors such as local regulations, disposal practices, and the specific healthcare facilities in your area. Some used medical devices that were used on patients are true medical waste and must be properly disposed of. Other medical devices that were never used are easier acquire without violating the law. 

Platinum, silver, and gold wire are most often found among the supplies at companies that make or repair jewelry, such as jewelry stores and jewelry factories. 

Where will you find those precious-metal wires in those facilities?

• As part of generalized scrap, like bench and floor sweepings. 

• In jewelry-making supplies. Often, wire will still be rolled up on spools of unused materials.

A few years ago, it was time to replace the muffler/silencer on a riding mower. The company that owned it ordered a new muffler and yanked the old one off. At that point, the owner noticed that it had been installed by wrapping wire around one of the pipes that came out of the old muffler. 

That wire, which was about two feet long and weighed about 2/10 of a Troy Ounce, turned out to be made of pure platinum. It was worth more than $200.00. 

Wires are one of the most common kinds of scrap. The majority of them contain very little gold, silver or platinum. But some do. In today’s post, we’ll explain how to identify wires that contain precious metal.

Where to Look for Wire

In answer to the question above, “do all thermocouples contain platinum?” we will offer you a quick response . . .

No, not all thermocouples contain platinum

But we would like to offer an additional comment . . .

Everybody likes to invest in platinum. Even small quantities of it are valuable, which means you can store a lot of money’s worth of it in just a small space. It’s not that difficult to find, as we will discuss in our post today. It’s liquid, meaning that when you decide to sell what you have, you can do so fast.

And as an investment, platinum has the traditional virtues that all precious metals do. Even though trading prices can rise and fall, precious metal values have been shown to be more stable in the long term than the investments you make in stocks.

With platinum currently trading at $762, it is certainly a metal that merits your consideration as you look for ways to invest in precious metals.

To be sure, there are so many ways to invest your money today. You could buy bullion, coins, gold scrap, and more. But of all the many precious metals to invest in, platinum wire merits special consideration right now.

We write a lot on this blog about platinum scrap. But what is platinum scrap, and why is it your best way to invest in platinum?

In today’s post, we’ll explain. Platinum scrap falls into several categories.

There is an old saying, “All that glitters is not gold.”

A similar thing could be said about platinum, which is “Not everything that contains platinum is worth recycling.” How can that be? It is true because even though platinum is worth a lot of money, not every kind of scrap that contains it is worth recycling. Why spend $100.00 to extract $5.00 worth of platinum, for example? It wouldn’t make any sense.

Platinum comes in many forms. There are nice bars of platinum bullion that sell at high prices. (After all, platinum is trading for $872.00 on the London Fix . . . why shouldn’t bullion bars be selling for a lot of money?) Platinum can also be found in catalytic converters, in some aircraft components, and in used laboratory testing equipment. 

We have often written on this blog about places where you can acquire precious metal scrap for pennies on the dollar. Today we would like to offer advice on a higher level, by telling you about some places where you can get precious metal scrap for free.

We have written on this blog in the past about stoves, furnaces, space heaters and other “hot” places you can find platinum thermocouple wire that we can recycle for you in our precious metal refinery.

But what about cold places? Don’t air conditioners contain thermocouple wire that we can process for you? Yes, they do. But before we delve into that subject, let’s consider the fundamental difference between devices that generate heat and devices that cool things off . . .

Many people like to invest in bullion and coins that are made of gold, platinum or silver. The predictability appeals to them. They buy a pure piece of platinum, gold or silver that comes in a hard plastic case that they can either open or put in a safe.

After you send your platinum scrap to Specialty Metals Smelters and Refiners and we extract the pure platinum it contains, where will that platinum be used?

If you’re on the hunt for platinum scrap, you could sweep the floors at a jewelry factory, pull up old drain pipes and floorboards you find there, or tweezer out bits of old platinum screens and sponge from plating tanks and drains.

That’s hard work. There are much easier places to find platinum . . .

Platinum wire can turn up just about anywhere where platinum was used in manufacturing. Even though it doesn’t look valuable to the casual observer, it could be. So, if you find bright, shiny white wire... 

Recycling precious metals often involves analyzing and refining big messy batches of mixed materials. People who own these mixed lots of material know that gold or silver or platinum is “in there” somewhere, but don’t know where it is, what it is, or how much of it is present. 

Although platinum doesn’t rust or oxidize, it can discolor after it is exposed to high heat in laboratories. That bluish patina can be deceiving. You look at a discolored piece of thermocouple wire or a testing crucible or a stand that was used in the lab and think, “this discolored stuff can’t possibly be platinum.” The discolorations that affect used platinum mesh or sponge can be even more deceiving. They can be reduced to a blackish powder that you’d be tempted to sweep up and toss away.

If you’re emptying an old factory that produced products that contained metals, chances are good that you will discover wire that contains precious metals.  You might find coils of it in storage areas. You might find little rolls of it hiding in drawers. Unless the previous owners labeled their supplies carefully or the wire is still in its original packaging, you have very little way of knowing what kind of wire you have.