What we buy
Ranges we buy on this page
Transformer Buyers NC buys used, surplus, failed and obsolete transformers across North Carolina. This index organizes 45 type pages for plant engineers, utility asset managers, facility directors, contractors and trustees identifying equipment from a nameplate, drawing or yard inspection.
The groups below separate construction from electrical duty. Each individual page explains a narrower class, including the bushings, cooling equipment and handling details that distinguish it.
| Phase | kVA | Voltage | Fluid |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-phase | 10 - 333 kVA | up to 25 kV | Liquid or dry |
| 3-phase | 75 - 20,000 kVA | 46 kV | Liquid or dry |
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
The two families
Most equipment falls into two construction families: liquid-filled and dry-type. Liquid-filled transformers place the core and windings inside a tank containing insulating fluid. Dry-types use air around exposed, encapsulated or cast windings.
A nameplate photograph usually establishes which family starts the identification process for buyers.
Electrical duty creates another division within those families. A padmount feeding a 480-volt building belongs to distribution; a generator step-up unit connects generation to a higher-voltage system.
The individual pages separate these duties without treating every transformer with a steel tank as equivalent equipment.
Local reality
Distribution classes
Distribution pages cover padmounts, pole-mounted transformers and related service equipment. A padmount may have dead-front elbows behind locked compartment doors; a pole can commonly has exposed bushings and mounting brackets.
Single-phase or three-phase construction further narrows the class before anyone plans removal from its installation.
For a 12.47-kV primary serving a 208Y/120-volt load, record both voltages rather than calling the unit a building transformer. Photograph the bayonet fuse compartment, terminal arrangement and nameplate.
Those details help distinguish a loop-feed padmount from a radial-feed unit with a similar tank shape.
Around the site
Substation and power classes
Substation transformers, power transformers and generator step-up units occupy different pages because their connections and transport requirements differ.
A unit with 115-kV bushings, detachable radiators and a conservator needs more planning than a compact distribution tank, even before its shipping weight is confirmed from drawings.
Unit substation equipment may sit between primary switchgear and a secondary bus throat, making separation part of the removal scope. Larger power units can require radiator removal, fluid handling and a lowboy.
Outline drawings identify shipping dimensions, lifting points and components excluded from transport weight.
Where it sits
Dry-types and cast resin
Dry-type pages distinguish ventilated units, encapsulated designs and cast-resin transformers. Open windings behind a ventilated enclosure differ from resin-cast coils supported on a frame.
The enclosure label alone may not identify the winding construction; interior photographs taken after safe isolation help establish the correct class.
A 480-to-208Y/120-volt dry-type in an electrical room may leave through a doorway rather than over a containment wall. Cast-resin medium-voltage units can have substantial coil assemblies and restricted lifting arrangements.
Record enclosure dimensions, frame lifting provisions and any cracked resin or damaged winding supports.
On the ground
Specialty and drive units
Specialty pages cover duties that a voltage ratio alone cannot explain: rectifier service, furnace service, grounding and motor-drive applications. Multiple secondary windings or unusual terminal groups can identify equipment designed for a converter.
Preserve the connection diagram rather than labeling every multiwinding unit a standard distribution transformer.
Drive transformers may use phase-shifted secondary arrangements to feed multipulse rectifiers. Furnace transformers can have heavy secondary connections and demanding thermal duty.
Photographs of tap-changing equipment, cooling connections and terminal markings help separate these classes, especially when a plant drawing uses only an internal asset number.
Local reality
Instrument transformers and reactors
Current transformers and voltage transformers belong under instrument equipment, not ordinary load-serving transformers. Their nameplates identify ratios, accuracy information and insulation ratings rather than a building service capacity.
Record whether the unit is a freestanding assembly, a bushing-mounted current transformer or part of a switchgear compartment.
Reactors limit current, manage reactive power or serve filtering duties; they do not fit neatly into transformer voltage-ratio categories. Air-core coils and iron-core reactor assemblies need different handling precautions.
The reactor pages use nameplate inductance, current rating, terminal arrangement and mounting details to establish the class.
Around the site
What the class tells a buyer
Class helps a buyer assess reuse potential, recovery characteristics and the work required to remove equipment. Copper or aluminum windings, core construction and service duty matter alongside condition.
A failed bushing on a documented substation unit presents a different assessment from burned windings without records.
Rigging follows the actual assembly, not its informal yard name. Provide nameplate photographs, dimensions, lifting drawings, fluid records and access details for the North Carolina site.
A spreader bar, crane position or removable radiator bank may determine the removal sequence before a truck enters the gate.
Local reality
Why the class decides the pickup
A padmount sits at grade behind a locked cabinet, so the job is a lift and a strap. A substation unit sits on a plinth with bushings in the air, so the job is clearance, isolation and a route survey.
A dry-type sits inside a building, so the job is a doorway.
The class pages carry those differences. They are the fastest way to work out what a pickup will involve before anyone has seen the unit.
Every class we buy
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
How do I identify an unmarked transformer?
Start with photographs of the tank or enclosure, bushings, terminals and mounting arrangement. Look for an asset tag and matching one-line diagram. These can narrow the class, but they do not establish voltage or capacity reliably enough to replace a missing nameplate.
Service area
Can failed transformers still fit these classes?
Yes. A failed padmount remains a padmount, and a failed generator step-up unit retains its original duty classification. Describe the failure separately: leaking gasket, cracked bushing, winding fault or fire damage. Test reports and fluid records help document condition without changing the equipment class.
Payment
Which type page should cover a complete substation?
Use the transformer’s construction and electrical duty to choose its type page, then identify attached equipment separately. Primary switchgear, secondary bus, radiators and control cabinets may affect removal boundaries. A general arrangement drawing helps show which assemblies must be disconnected before lifting.
Logistics
Specialty and drive units: what should a seller know?
Specialty pages cover duties that a voltage ratio alone cannot explain: rectifier service, furnace service, grounding and motor-drive applications. Multiple secondary windings or unusual terminal groups can identify equipment designed for a converter.