Theft of condensing units for the copper-

[waine]

Does anything work to prevent theft ? ADT says they "tape" them with wire.

[brocco82]

you can put an beacon alarm on the low pressure switch i guess. I've seen it done once or twice. Or a pitbull or other mean dog. Watch out though. They might pee on your condensing unit and mess up the fins.... I'm not joking.

[johncavh]

even a locked door only keeps an honest man honest

[alltexaspride]

even a locked door only keeps an honest man honest

there was a guy up in camden new jersey who did this to get money supposedly for drugs. brok into a building , which happened to be where they stored food to feed homeless people. went into a room where they kept all their compressors started cutting lines passed out and didn't wake up.. family sued and won..... justice at its best

[acjourneyman]

A case like that is where they should take the family's lawyer, the family and the jury and shoot every one of the stupid sob's in the head.

[brocco82]

That's where i've seen the alarm beacon in Camden, NJ. You can drive down the street and see people walking down the street carrying condensing units. It's actually amazing cause i wouldn't want the money that bad to do that.

[jsherhvac]

At a buddy of mines company they have an 8 ft. fence w/ barbwire, and they still had 2 of their 8 air cooled screw rentals to be cut up for scrap. Its a brand new million dollar facility, with cameras and alarms. Good luck w/ catching those low life copper thieves.

[Coolmaniac]

A company I was with had a never installed 400 ton Dunn & Bush chiller sitting in a yard with 10' fence and razor wire for a couple yrs. I guess it wasn't noticed cause everything on them is painted the same color. A couple months before we needed it, it got hit. 7k to replace what they probably got a couple hundred for in scrap.

[refer guy]

i was at a jobsite once that had a few condemed units, these unit had to of been around 30 years old and you could tell that alot of the tenants just did not care for replacing them. Any way a few months go by, i return for the pm and the units that had been condemed had their coils cut out, i thought that it was nice of whoever took the coils to have only touched the unit that were condemed and not the ones that were actually working.

Also i was heading to another job in the inland empire and i saw this sign regarding copper theft, I kind of laughed when i saw that it shows a guy behind bars and the prison bars are made of copper.

[crstephens83]

I just replaced two condensing units at a house on friday due to copper theft, the guy probably made 50 bucks off the copper, and it cost the homeowner 3500. ouch!

[SkullMonkey]

In some theft prone areas many people have cages built to protect the condensing units.This is more for refrigeration condensers and exhaust fans.

When you go service the unit you need to get the key to open the cage for access.

[boat racer]

We had a retail store loose about 7 or 8 big condensers about a year ago ... 25 ft roof. These guys must have had a truck, 32 ft extension ladder and battery Sawsall ready to go. They hit the adjacent retail stores as well, about 15 units in all. Have the customer buy good insurance ...

[cxagent]

[QUOTE=SkullMonkey;1735101]In some theft prone areas many people have cages built to protect the condensing units.This is more for refrigeration condensers and exhaust fans.[QUOTE]

There are pictures on the Wall of Shame where someone has cut the copper out of the condenser right through the cage.

[dieselairman]

They are stealing the copper because scrap yards are buying it. These guys know what is going on, but they don't want to plug up their supply. So until you police them [ scrap dealers] this problem is not going to stop.

[mrlighturfire]

Went on a no heat call one time homeowner went on vacation got home she had no heat went down to basement where boiler was at came back up told lady where did you say boiler was? She went down with me and said "oh my god where is my boiler". I said your kiddin right? looked around saw where they cut pipe and everything at least they had water and gas turned off. First time I ran into somethin like that.Funny now but not at the time.

[cjcargo]

We had a retail store loose about 7 or 8 big condensers about a year ago ... 25 ft roof. These guys must have had a truck, 32 ft extension ladder and battery Sawsall ready to go. They hit the adjacent retail stores as well, about 15 units in all. Have the customer buy good insurance ...

Was that in Beltsville, MD.?
I had the same thing happen at a PETCO and the adjacent stores there.
They now have cages on a few of the rooftop units, and a fence on part of the roof.

[boat racer]

Edgewater, just south of Annapolis. In the Beltsville area we had stuff disappear from the roof of the KFC. Either these guys were gypsys and moved on or they got caught, it stopped as suddenly as it started. Maybe it was the same guys who were pulling the wire from the lighting at the ballpark in Linthicum

[boat racer]

They are stealing the copper because scrap yards are buying it. These guys know what is going on, but they don't want to plug up their supply. So until you police them [ scrap dealers] this problem is not going to stop.

I think it was the scrap dealer who they were selling the wire to who called the cops. Some guy was stealing aluminum bleachers, the scrap dealer called the cops on them too

[retired1]

If they are stealing the condensing unit, you are probably going to start losing the copper lines as well. One trick that has worked in the past is to spray paint the copper lines with Krylon semi flat black paint. This makes them appear to be black malable and the thieves leave them alone.;)

[feelthejoe]

Run a concealed leg of 480 under the suction line... and setup a camera.

oh and send it to me when you get something good.

[Texas-Tech]

These were all on one rooftop here in Houston

[Texas-Tech]

well I had uploaded some pics but they didn't make it for some reason:(

[DJC]

Wow! Looks like copper thieves are creating headaches for more than just us in the wireless industry. It sucks to get to a cell tower only to find all the grounding gone!

DJC

[sinsee]

Jackson Systems is now selling an alarm to curtail condenser thefts. I believe it is activated by either pressure loss or when the wiring is cut.

http://jacksonsystems.com/search/161

[bamatech]

Here in Montgomery AL. the city has just passed a new law to try to curb copper theft.Anyone selling copper to the scrapyards must provide a photo ID. Also they can not be paid in cash only by check and they must either return in 24 hrs to get the check or provide a mailing address. Not sure how much this will actually stop but I guess time will tell.
Copper theft here has been extremely bad.Lots of churches and schools hit. Any kind of vacant building doesn't stand a chance.They will bust all the sheetrock to steal the wiring and plumbing in the walls.
I bid a unit that was at the gift shop for the Governors mansion a while back.
Pretty brazen to rip off the Governor.

[monterais]

On Saturday, around 3:30 p.m. the lights went out to about 700 homes and businesses in northeast Pickering. At 4 p.m. employees of Veridian Connections Inc. arrived at the utility station to fix the glitch.

What they found was the body of a man on top of a power transformer. He was electrocuted by a whopping 44,000 volts of electricity.

“He came into contact with high voltage equipment,” George Armstrong said, manager of regulatory affairs for Veridian Connections. “He was an individual who was definitely unauthorized. We don’t know him.”

The victim was pronounced dead at the scene. His age is unknown.

Police said there was evidence to suggest the man had broken into the fenced and locked compound by cutting a padlock.

Armstrong added that there was also reason to believe the victim was trying to steal copper wiring from the site.

He said this kind of theft happens all the time.

“It happens periodically,” he said. “It’s happened a lot in the last year or so. The high price of copper these days has driven these thieves. But it’s not just limited to our area. Quebec has had problems with it as well.”

Hydro workers had to wait hours as the police investigated the scene, but went to work on restoring power once the body was removed.

It is unknown exactly how the alleged copper thief electrocuted himself.

Power was restored to the area later that night.

Armstrong said the tragedy speaks to how these dangerous areas are best left alone by the public.

“It points out how hazardous it can be for people to enter these highly restricted and dangerous areas,” he said. “It’s certainly not a place he should have been.”

[Mikeylikesit]

It is unknown exactly how the alleged copper thief electrocuted himself.


I guess he couldn't read. STAY IN SCHOOL......it may save your life!


I have been building cages around cond. units installed at ground level............I know its only a matter of time before I get hit...........but Im sure the cages have deterred a few thieves.

Found one cage all bent up around the bottom, obvious prybar marks on the slab........dummies. I use those "argus" padlocks with a "hidden" bolt.....works so far!

[PHRoberts]

I wonder if simply putting a lock on the electrical disconnect would help? I have seen several of these lately, especially on obviously vacant homes and foreclosures. They always pull the disconnect, and usually take it or throw it far away... guess they don't want to get electrocuted. Since it's a crime of opportunity I would think anything to slow them down or send them to the next place would help. These have all been homes in subdivisions with other homes less than 25' away, so noise and lights might be a pretty good deterrent.

My next thought would be to have some sort of latching relay under the house or nearby that would open when the power to the unit is disconnected... That would trigger flashing lights, sirens, etc. on a unit that isn't powered on the same circuit. Maybe that's what the Jackson Systems unit does... I haven't read the specs. I think by the time it's depressurized, there's a good bit of damage, so some sort of sensor that deals with the wiring would be ideal.

Putting one of these $12 dummy cams from HFT (http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=95154) nearby might help too:

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/photos/95100-95199/95154.gif

Heath

[retired1]

With my luck, they'd steal the camera also.

If there was just an easy way to solder aluminum...

[asticot]

We had a call for a hot server room at 3:00 a.m. on arrival at 4:00 found 12 units missing condenser coils and two units with the evaps hacked out. The thiefs were so crazy that they didn't even shut the units off. Disconnects up, oil everywhere. Looks like they used a hatchet or bolt cutters. Peeled the tops up like tin cans. But they did take out screws so I'm believing they knew something about a/c. It must have been some sight when the refrigerant was spraying all around them.

[waine]

The police here seem to think so. They say many thefts are "off season" and its very very neatly done- switches off or disconnects pulled, fans unscrewed and lifted off, side panels neatly taken off etc - nothing bent even. Cept the cut copper feed and return to the coil itself.

Most people are replacing with trane (the 4 units I saw last week - were Carrier)

[Texas-Tech]

Here is what I found on top an Office Depot here in Houston one night. They removed the doors and top but never cut the power. The blower was still running when I got on the roof.

[mdnbiker]

While at work Friday a lady came to the shop and said she smelled gas at a vacant house, two houses from our shop. Went down there and found copper gas lines cut out from under house and nat gas blowing out of stub. Shame the thief was not a smoker.

[JBM1000]

Here in Okieville, a guy was using a cut section of tire to insulate from getting hit with 240v and chain pulled an entire neighborhood under construction with his cronies and a large flatbed. The place was a gated community so the cops after using a chopper above decided to just wait at the gates! :D