YEAH! A/C Thieves CAUGHT!

[mrb627]

Finally,

The theft ring in Atlanta was caught today. They stole an average of 6 units a day for the past six weeks. They would go through neighborhoods looking for homes that were vacant and cut the lines. Then come back during the night and grab the condensers. Some homes were hit 3 times. These guys should be shot on site!

Malcolm

 

[tomturbomatic]

Amen! Save the cost & trouble of a trial and incarceration. I do not believe incarceration plays a role in rehabilitation; it is just a place where evil skills are honed.

 

[redcarpetdrew]

I hope they get Federal charges and fines as well. Last I checked, the EPA was handing out some very ugly fines for freon venting...

RCD

 

[mrb627]

Grand Theft

Seems they did around 200k in damages to get about 8k at the recycle center. Seems to me the recycle center would hold some liability here too.

Malcolm

 

[cfz2882]

scrappies

no problems with A/C vandalism that i know of locally for the last few years,but in
2008,when scrap copper prices were high,scrappies got on the roofs of businesses
and stole the condensers off of rooftop units-ruining units worth thousands of
dollars for a few dollars worth of scrap copper pipe! Local wendy's got hit-
saw the top panel of the unit with the fans laying on top of the compressors
with the condenser coils missing.Also we had an ice storm that knocked down a
bunch of utility poles-before they could be put back up scrappies stole the
(aluminum) wire...

 

[tolivac]

the "scrappies" hit the churches out my way-and even at the place I work-love to see them try to take a peice of transmission line copper with 250 or 500Kw of RF going thru it!Would fry them like an onion.-but it would trip the transmitter VSWR circuit-but they would still get bit!they were trying to take the ground leads to the transmission line support towers.and would like to see some scrappers get bit with 120, 208,240,277 or even 480V if they are poking around in HVAC gear-those sorts of voltages could be lurking inside!That could end up being the LAST hvac unit they take!

 

[tolivac]

Just remembered a "scrappie" incident from many years ago-was in a radio station in the Baltimore area.The jock called a friend of mine-both of us are radio engineers that work on various station problems-the DJ said the remote readings on the tower currents are "funky"So Roger and I went to the station to see what was going on-3 tower directional AM.Went to the first tower-"funny-the feedline from the ATU to the tower is gone!"next tower same thing.the stations transmitter is still going at 5Kw output-now essentually we have a 1 fed tower with two other now acting as parasitic reflectors-went to the last tower---and peices of burnt SKIN hanging from the transmission line-that theif got BIT but GOOD!Hope he learned something-RF burns are slow to heal-and PAINFUL!!!All that for just a couple dolars worth of copper?Well-Hechingers was still open(home store for the Balt DC area like Lowes or HD)bought a coil of copper water tubing and made up new feedlines-after telling the jock and turning the TX off-bout 20min later back up again as the station should be.radio and TV stations are targets for copper takers.

 

[combo52]

SCRAP THEAVES

Laws should be made more strict for scrap dealers, here in Maryland we have to show a photo Id to sell any scrap and they should require an EPA refrigeration permit to sell any old AC parts, I think that should be a Federal law as that would put a dent in this costly crime.

 

[tomturbomatic]

Good point John and good for MD for having such a law, but some would say that it interferes with commerce and places unnecessary record-keeping burdens on small business people. You know who I mean; those from the same party under indictment for the robo calls trying to keep African Americans home on election day here in MD.

 

[whirlcool]

Here in Houston, people have tried to steal power lines off the poles while they are still energized!

Houston ordnance states that anyone turning in any kind of copper for scrap MUST have a photo ID and leave their fingerprints behind. But they are still trying to get at copper. At some businesses you'll see the A/C units encased in an anti-theft cage with some serious bars on them.