Earning a little extra income during a time of economic uncertainty is always valuable. One of the best ways to earn money on the side is to sell scrap metal. Many companies will buy scrap metal in bulk, but if you want to earn a little bit extra, you can sell copper separately. Scrap copper buyers tend to pay more than scrap metal buyers since they don't have to sort through a collection of questionably valuable metal themselves. You can find scrap copper in many locations

Old Plumbing Systems

Plumbing systems typically run potable water throughout houses and businesses, so not just any metal is used to create them. Old systems are made with a plethora of copper fittings and pipes, especially in high-pressure lines. Drain lines were typically made from cast iron. For the last few decades, many plumbing installations have been made almost entirely out of plastic parts. These systems do have some copper, though, as moderately sized fittings between plastic lines. Even today's smaller, lighter, plumbing fittings are heavy enough to be worth significant amounts of money to scrap copper buyers.

Some Home Appliances

Copper is used in many home appliances for two reasons. First, it is lead-free, so it can transport drinking water. Second, it conducts heat very well. For these reasons, copper lines are used in air conditioners, refrigerators, dishwashers, washing machines, water heaters, and other home appliances to transport water, coolant, or refrigerant. These lines can typically be found on the backs or bottoms of the machines, but you may have to remove paneling or otherwise gain access into the internal components of an appliance to access the copper tubing. Make sure to follow the tubing along its entire length even if that means removing other appliance components like interior trim pieces or machine parts. 

Electronic Devices

Copper's thermodynamic properties also make it a key component in many electronic devices. As computers, phones, tablets, and game systems turn binary code into rapidly changing images or text, they create a significant amount of heat. If this heat stays near the processing unit in these devices, it can permanently damage the system by overheating and warping its delicate metal and plastic components. To move heat away from the source, most electronic devices have copper cooling coils that transfer heat and fans that blow air across them to move their stored heat out of the system as efficiently as possible. These copper coils can be valuable to scrap copper buyers.