What we buy
Ranges we buy on this page
A tenant returning a North Carolina building may need to leave its transformer connected, restore the original electrical arrangement, or remove tenant-installed equipment. This page covers that decision for facility directors, plant engineers, landlords, and contractors handling lease return.
The lease decides who owns the transformer and, therefore, who can sell it. The lease clause, the landlord’s written authority, and the move-out date are the starting documents.
| Phase | kVA | Voltage | Fluid |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-phase | 10 - 333 kVA | up to 25 kV | Liquid or dry |
| 3-phase | 25 - 10,000 kVA | 25 kV | Liquid-filled |
Who we buy from
Six kinds of seller
- Recyclers
- Electrical contractors
- Equipment dealers
- End users
- Demo contractors
- Distributors
Fast offers
A written offer the same business day, based on your photographs.
Dedicated logistics
Our own crew, trailer and crane, not a brokered haul.
No broker fees
One buyer from first call to cleared pad, with nothing skimmed.
How it works
Six steps from photograph to payment
- 01
Take pictures
Photograph the nameplate, the inside of the cabinet and the tank from both ends. Four frames on a phone are enough to price most units.
- 02
Send them to us
Email or text the photographs with the site address and whether the unit is still energised. We reply the same business day with questions or a number.
- 03
Review the offer
The offer names the unit, the site, the price and the pickup window. It is written, dated and good for thirty days unless the unit changes hands.
- 04
We schedule freight
A crew, a trailer and a crane if the pad needs one. You get the date and the arrival window, and the site does not have to close for it.
- 05
Testing on arrival
Winding resistance, insulation resistance and a turns ratio check, plus oil analysis where the unit is liquid-filled. Results travel with the unit.
- 06
Get paid
Payment is released against the signed bill of sale and the scale ticket, by check or ACH, with the paperwork copy left on site.
What we handle
The parts sellers dread
Rigging
Crane, skates and a route survey for anything that will not roll onto a trailer.
Oil containment
Pans, absorbent and a spill plan before a drain plug is touched.
Bill of sale
A document that clears a lien, a lease or a bankruptcy file, not a handwritten note.
PCB paperwork
Testing and manifesting for pre-1979 oil, handled before the unit moves.
On the ground
What happened
The tenant is surrendering a building, and the landlord wants the electrical equipment restored or removed. A transformer installed for a production line may now sit beside an empty loading dock.
Before anyone disconnects its secondary conductors, the surrender requirements need to identify what stays with the property.
A tenant-installed transformer is not automatically the tenant’s property at move-out. The lease may treat electrical improvements as landlord property, require their removal, or allow the landlord to choose.
Equipment tags and installation records help distinguish that transformer from the utility-owned unit serving the building across the same yard.
Local reality
How Lease Return affects value
For a lease return, ownership and removal restrictions affect whether the transformer can be evaluated for purchase at all.
A readable nameplate, intact bushings, and service history help establish its condition, but they cannot replace permission to remove equipment that the lease assigns to the landlord.
Restoration requirements also define the removal scope. Taking away a dry-type transformer may leave a wall opening, conduit stubs, and floor anchors; removing a liquid-filled unit may leave a pad and grounding connections.
Those obligations must be separated from the transformer assessment before a purchase decision is made.
Around the site
The paperwork
Provide the lease clause covering fixtures, electrical improvements, surrender, and removal. Include relevant amendments rather than relying on the original lease alone.
The landlord’s written authority should identify the transformer, name the party permitted to sell it, and state whether removal is approved before the premises are returned.
Match that authorization to the equipment itself with nameplate photographs, the building address, and any tenant asset number. An installation invoice can support the history but does not settle ownership by itself.
If the clause is disputed, the parties need legal clarification before a removal crew enters the premises.
Where it sits
Liabilities to settle
A landlord’s removal approval does not establish that a transformer is electrically isolated. The facility electrician must identify all sources, including possible secondary backfeed, and carry out the required isolation and verification.
Lease-return work should distinguish electrical disconnection from lifting the tank or enclosure off its mounting surface.
Oil staining around a gasket or pad needs attention before the tenant hands back the building. Available fluid records, including PCB documentation where applicable, should accompany the equipment information.
The lease-return agreement should identify who handles existing contamination, damaged concrete, abandoned cables, and restoration after the transformer leaves site.
On the ground
The clock
The move-out date is not necessarily the last day crews can reach the transformer. A landlord may change locks, restrict dock access, or begin another tenant’s fit-out before surrender.
Confirm the last authorized workday and any outage window while the departing tenant still controls access to the electrical room.
Build the schedule backward from the required handover condition. Utility coordination, electrical isolation, rigging access, and landlord inspection may each need separate appointments.
If a lowboy must cross the shared truck court, reserve that route before movers fill it with trailers and the incoming tenant starts using the loading bays.
Local reality
Our process for lease return
Transformer Buyers NC buys used, surplus, failed, and obsolete transformers throughout North Carolina. For lease returns, we first review the lease clause, written authority, and move-out date alongside nameplate and site photographs.
That review establishes whether the proposed seller has authority and whether removal fits the surrender requirements.
After ownership and permission are clear, we assess the transformer and discuss the pickup scope. Photographs should show bushings, radiators, enclosure doors, and the route to the truck.
The removal plan identifies responsibility for disconnection, lifting, transport, and any pad or conduit work required by the landlord’s surrender instructions.
Around the site
Your first step
Start with the surrender clause, not a scheduled crane. Ask the landlord to confirm in writing whether the transformer must stay, be removed, or be replaced by the original electrical arrangement.
Identify the exact unit by its location and nameplate so approval cannot be confused with another transformer on site.
Send those documents with the move-out date, site contact, nameplate photographs, and a view of the access route. Note whether power is still connected and whether the landlord requires an inspection after removal.
These details let us evaluate a lease-return purchase without assuming the tenant owns the equipment.
Get started
Get an offer in minutes
Five fields is all it takes. Photographs help, but a nameplate and a town are enough to start.
No fee, no obligation. We reply the same business day.
Tell us what you have
We reply the same business day.
Questions
Straight answers
Equipment types
Can a tenant sell a transformer before moving out?
Only if the tenant has the right to sell that unit under the lease and any applicable agreements. Review the fixture and surrender clauses, then obtain the landlord’s written authority identifying the transformer and approving removal before arranging pickup.
Service area
What if the landlord requires the transformer to stay?
A requirement to leave the transformer in place must be resolved before a sale involving removal can proceed. The tenant and landlord should document any revised surrender arrangement in writing, including ownership, electrical restoration, and the condition expected at handover.
Payment
Which date matters for a lease-return pickup?
Provide the move-out date and the last day authorized crews can access the transformer. Those dates may differ if locks change or another tenant takes possession early. Pickup planning also needs the electrical isolation window and any required landlord inspection.
Logistics
The clock: what should a seller know?
The move-out date is not necessarily the last day crews can reach the transformer. A landlord may change locks, restrict dock access, or begin another tenant’s fit-out before surrender.