Anyone seen refrigerant pressure switch integrated to security system?

[ICanHas]

Anyone seen a pressure switch installed near the indoor coil to signal security system of refrigerant to detect that condenser got jacked?

Obvious alarm wire to condensing unit would be all too easy to be pinched to short or cut to open the circuit, but pressure switch located inside that picks up sudden loss of charge would be much harder for the scumbag to defeat.

Seems to me that condensing units are getting jacked even with fences or cages, so rigging up to setup off silent alarm on pressure loss seems like it would be useful.

[ncboston]

Wouldn't a good leak create nuisance alarms? We thought about doing the pressure switch thing, but went with magnetic switches screwed into the panel tied into the burglar system.

[Six]

We've been rigging them up with press switches tied into alarms for a few years now.

[madhat]

Got a loss of charge switch on my home unit, it's wired thru the thermostat wiring extra leads. You have to really look at the unit to tell it's there. Also an EOL Resistor under shrink tube, takes care of cutting or jumping out the alarm system. There is also a reed switch on the cover, a power company contractor set that off, with little explanation to what they were doing. It was very tempting to have the idiot arrested.

[ICanHas]

That works too, but rigging up something only you can understand presents subsequent service problems.

Pressure switch marked "alarm system" and located INDOORS provides clear indication of what it does while still providing good security since scum bag would have to get inside first and past the motion detector alarm or door pry sensor in your garage.

[yunggun]

Ive seen them on suction lines in office buildings with stickers on outdoor units.

[Gunslinger]

There is a company that makes them with different resistors in them for different alarm systems.

[-80guru]

So the security switch is to let someone know the condensing unit is being stolen. I suppose if someone can get there in time to stop or catch the thief then fine, but other wise why spend money on something you will find out soon enough with the same result of not catching the thief. Just thinking it through, maybe it will hit me.

[corny]

I set the burgler alarm off at work the other morning and had to wait 20 minutes for the police to respond.

20 minutes...more than enough time to load a condenser or two and be gone.

What Id like to see commercial folks do is set a fake condenser...... a real one.... but isolate it from the ground on a pad with some of those plastic feet. Make it look like an actual installation but have everything isolated from the ground.....

Run a wire to the condenser and bolt it to the body....say something like a number 4 and connect it to a 100 amp breaker inside....

Run a hose out around the unit with some holes poked in it and turn the water on just enough to keep the ground nice and soaked....

Then wait....lol

Thinning the herd......one dumba** at a time.

Oh yes.... put some sort of camera out there so you can post these idiots killing themselves on you tube.

[madhat]

That works too, but rigging up something only you can understand presents subsequent service problems.

Pressure switch marked "alarm system" and located INDOORS provides clear indication of what it does while still providing good security since scum bag would have to get inside first and past the motion detector alarm or door pry sensor in your garage.

LOL, no one one but one person has worked on my home system in 40 years, and they figured it right away since they were pro.

Some of the units at work I'm tempted to set bolt cutters and hack saws around them, as that's the only way I'd get rid of the junk, owned by the state gov.

[jpsmith1cm]

Some of the units at work I'm tempted to set bolt cutters and hack saws around them, as that's the only way I'd get rid of the junk, owned by the state gov.

Now there is an idea with some merit....

[ammoniadog]

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[ammoniadog]

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[ICanHas]

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:????