Radiators & Heat Exchangers
A radiator pulled from a car, an air conditioner, or industrial equipment could be all-aluminium, copper and brass, or a mix of both, and that difference matters a lot for what it's actually worth. Here's how to tell what you've got, whether it's worth pulling apart, and how to sell it properly.
All-aluminium construction, tanks and core both. The standard in most cars built since the 1990s and 2000s. Grades toward clean aluminium once separated from plastic tanks and end caps.
Copper core with brass tanks, common in older vehicles and some industrial equipment. Two distinct valuable metals in one unit, worth more than an equivalent aluminium radiator by weight.
An aluminium core with copper or brass tanks and fittings, a genuine mixed-metal radiator that needs separating rather than selling as one grade.
The shift toward all-aluminium radiators has been steady in the automotive industry since the 1990s and 2000s, lighter weight and lower manufacturing cost drove it, so a rough rule of thumb is that most vehicles from that era onward run aluminium, and earlier or industrial equipment is more likely to carry copper and brass. Rules of thumb aren't certainty though, checking weight and colour on the actual piece is the reliable method.
If the tanks and core are different metals, an aluminium core with brass tanks and fittings is a common combination, separating them before you sell usually pays off. A mixed lot prices as generic mixed radiator scrap, lower than the two metals would fetch sorted individually, separated brass tanks can be listed directly under our Brass Scrap guide once they're clean of any steel fittings. Plastic end tanks and caps, common on many modern radiators, should come off too, they're pure contamination for scrap purposes and a buyer will price around having to remove them anyway.
Always drain any remaining coolant before you list or hand over a radiator, both for safe handling and because a buyer is pricing the metal content, not the fluid still sitting inside it.
Air conditioning condensers and evaporator coils go through the same basic logic. Most are aluminium fin-and-tube construction, similar in principle to a car radiator, and should be described as their specific type in a listing rather than lumped in under a generic "radiator" heading, it helps a buyer assess the material accurately on sight rather than guessing at what's actually in front of them.
Radiators aren't their own live-priced calculator category, since an intact unit is really a mixed-material item until it's sorted. Once separated into clean aluminium or copper, each maps directly to a real ScrapTrade category, our aluminium scrap guide and copper scrap guides cover live pricing for the sorted metal. Intact or mixed units can still be listed on the general marketplace, described accurately, or posted to the Wanted Board for a buyer who processes radiators specifically.
Radiators follow vehicle servicing, air conditioning maintenance, and industrial equipment turnover rather than one specific regional industry. Auto wreckers are one of the most consistent sources of vehicle radiators specifically, worth reading that guide if that's your business. Adelaide's manufacturing and engineering base handles a genuine share of industrial heat exchanger and radiator equipment alongside its automotive-adjacent activity.
Neither is a requirement. Mechanics, auto electricians, and HVAC technicians generate this material anywhere in Australia, and ScrapTrade connects buyers and sellers nationally regardless of where a listing is posted from.
Whether it's the aluminium in a modern radiator or the copper and brass in an older one, the metal itself recycles without losing quality, and both benefit from the same energy savings that make recycled metal broadly worth recovering rather than mining and refining from scratch. Sorted properly, a genuine batch of radiators is a real, multi-metal recovery opportunity, not a low-value category next to cleaner scrap streams. The sorting effort is really the only extra step compared with a single-metal item, and it's the same effort that makes the difference between a mixed-lot price and getting each metal properly valued on its own terms.
An unsorted radiator is exactly the kind of load that gets priced as generic mixed metal by a buyer who'd rather not sort it themselves. On ScrapTrade, you describe and sort your material properly, then list at a fixed price, run it as a live auction so verified buyers compete for it, or negotiate directly, negotiation is on by default on every listing. Every listing is GPS-video verified before it goes live, and payment sits in escrow from the moment a deal is confirmed until pickup or delivery is done, so neither side is exposed first. The full case for why that beats a single yard quote is on Why Choose ScrapTrade and Trust & Safety.
Weight and colour are the fastest tests. Copper and brass are noticeably heavier and have a distinct reddish or yellowish tone compared to aluminium's lighter weight and duller silver-grey. Most cars from the 1990s onward run all-aluminium radiators, older vehicles are more likely to have copper/brass.
Yes, if the tanks are a different material to the core, an aluminium core with brass tanks, for example, since selling it as one mixed lot prices it lower than separating the two metals would. Plastic tanks and end caps should also come off where practical, they're just contamination for scrap purposes.
Yes, always drain any remaining coolant first, both for safe handling and because a buyer is pricing the metal, not the fluid still inside it. It's a quick step that avoids an unpleasant surprise for whoever handles the load next.
Similar in construction, usually aluminium fin-and-tube, but distinct enough to describe separately in a listing. Both fall under the broader heat exchanger category and are handled similarly, clean, sorted metal, no contamination, but naming the specific type helps a buyer assess it accurately.
Not as its own calculator category, since radiators are really a mixed-material item until sorted. Once separated into clean aluminium, copper, or brass, each of those maps to a real ScrapTrade category, check our aluminium and copper guides for live pricing on the sorted metal.
There's no fixed minimum, a single radiator can be listed. Volume matters more for whether it's worth the effort of sorting into separate metal types before you sell, a handful of mixed units might reasonably go as one lot, while dozens accumulated over time are worth sorting properly first.
Yes, where practical. Rubber hoses, plastic caps, and steel or rubber mounting brackets are all contamination for scrap purposes, and removing what you reasonably can before listing gets a cleaner, more confident offer than leaving a buyer to strip it themselves.
Describe it properly, negotiate directly, or post it to the Wanted Board.
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