Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I am an electrician. I rewired a house in July after a copper theft in which thieves got the wire & ripped open an AC unit for the coils. Owner spent a fortune replacing stuff. He bought a metal cage from the heating contractor to protect the new unit. He had someone reinforce the crawlspace door too, before I started work. In December, they defeated the stronger crawlspace door & stole the wire again. This time a friend of mine totally reworked the door & also put bars over a basement vent nearby. I then rewired again. Owner spent about $8,000 all told the first time & about $1,500 the second time. I looked at another copper theft a mile from there, where they got most of the wire, most of the water pipes, the heat pump and coils from the crawlspace unit. That owner will wind up spending about $10,000.
Please be safe rather than sorry. Reinforce your crawlspace door & fix it up with a good lock. Use hardware that is difficult to cut with bolt cutters. Most thieves have them. If you're handy, you could fix it up yourself for about $50 to $100. Even if you have to hire the work out, it is much cheaper than a copper theft. Much as I need the work, I don't like anyone being ripped off this way.
You may not need the cages so much if you're not in a high crime area, but for sure fix up your crawlspace door. If you need cages, try your heating/ac company first. Some of them sell cages, others can recommend metalworkers.
A plumber friend of mine had his shop broken into a year or so ago and they took the copper tubing he had stored there. He keeps most of his supply elsewhere but he needs to have some on hand. Many abandoned houses (foreclosed, etc.) have had copper taken from them all over the country.
Outside compressor units are a popular target. That urethane insulation foam that expands when you spray it is a great deterrent for copper thieves. First, they cant tell what is copper under the foam, second, it is a mess to get it off the copper. and, HVAC repair people never work on that stuff anyway. They always replace the whole unit if you have copper leaks. The motor and the starter is about the thing they service.
We had a thief here in the Charlotte, N.C. area recently who was trying to steal copper wire - and cut a live wire and electrocuted himself. That ought to deter them for a little while.
My goodness, some people will do anything not to have to go out and get a real job...
Spraying foam on a/c lines is a waste of time. The lines are always copper, so the thieves know whats under the foam. They will just toss it in a barrel and burn it off like they do with copper wiring. They don't seem to care what they may inhale, they just want the copper.
I've inspected a few foreclosures that have been gutted for copper. Its a huge mess.
Had some thieves break into a rental home we were remodeling, and stole the new wood flooring that was still in the boxes. I'm just thankful they didn't do any damage. It hurt to buy new flooring, but They could have destroyed the place, so we were lucky there...
From the houses I've seen around here, the thieves are either considerate or lazy. Usually, they only go after the visible plumbing in the basement. Sometimes, I've seen them knock a few holes in walls to get copper supply lines leading to the second floor. But I haven't seen a house yet that has been gutted like that described in the first post.
My goodness, some people will do anything not to have to go out and get a real job...
A lot of this is due to drugs, it's easy cash and they don't actually have to physically rob someone. There was an incident locally where they stole all the veteran grave markers from a bunch of cemeteries. I believe they are bronze.
A lot of this is due to drugs, it's easy cash and they don't actually have to physically rob someone. There was an incident locally where they stole all the veteran grave markers from a bunch of cemeteries. I believe they are bronze.
Yes, in my city a couple of years ago when commodity prices were so high thieves were stealing the copper floral holders from graves and copper downspouts off of historic homes. Recently, thieves peeled off copper roof sheeting from a 100 yr. old city park monument. Copper wiring rolls (weighing tons) are often stolen from power companies at their plants. There was even an elaborate theift of thousands of pounds of copper bullets from an army ammunition plant. Luckily the theives were turned in by a recycler to whom they'd attempted to sell more than 100 miles from the munitions plant.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
