AC Compressor Problem

[Eddie Watkins]

I have been renovating some rent houses to sell this summer and things had gone pretty well until this week. It usually takes 3-4 weeks to totally renovate and during that time they are empty. Tuesday night somebody helped themselves to the coils in the outside compressor. Replacement is going to run somewhere around $1200 and house insurance on rental property does not cover theft of AC units. I am looking for a way to secure the unit after the new unit is installed. I have thought about building a "cage" around the units to protect them with cyclone fence but am not sure how much of a deterent that would be. Has anybody seen this or have a better way of securing the unit?

Eddie

[Bud Zysk]

Copper thefts have been increasing quite a bit everywhere it seems, since the price just about skyrocketed. Don't know what to tell you other than tying a large dog to it.;)

[Terre Hooks]

Wow. This is extremely shocking.

They must have had some equipment with them to evacuate the refrigerant. You can get killed if you just go fooling around with something like that and don't know what you are doing.


I really don't know what to tell you to do other than get yourself a Glock 32 or a Sig 229 in .357 Sig and give the next one a couple of warning shots.

[Matt Warfield]

I've heard it happens in the south quite a bit simply so the thief can have AC. :mad:

If you talk with your AC installer, there's a good chance he can remove the fan assembly to facilitate using a big a** bolt, washer, and nut or two through the middle. This only fixes part of the problem though. The first thing they'll do is hack the coolant lines and they'll probably damage the unit trying to break it free.

Other options: Put 'er on the roof!! Build a scaffold for it to put it up in the air(I'm picturing a two story apartment building.) Both methods make it a not so easy target.

HTH

Matt

[Joe Pelonio]

You need air circulation so cannot box it in, but I have seen several around here in commercial areas protected by a steel cage. They use angle iron to make a box, fill the sides and top with that steel diamond shaped grid, welded into the inside of the angle iron. Then on the base
they have a piece of steel on two opposite sides that appear to be studded into the concrete slab with epoxy, nuts welded to stud. Hinges on one side and H.D. hasp on the other are welded to that steel, then a big bulletproof padlock.

[Eddie Watkins]

The suggestions are good. THe angle iron with expanded metal might be the easiest to implement. This is on a single family dwelling, just a regualr house. I could elevate it possibly and bolt the unit to the frame so they would have to climb up to get to it but it would still create some maintenance problems. And a really big dog might eat more than replacing the unit costs or bite me:D . Thanks for the ideas.

Eddie

[Terre Hooks]

Other options: Put 'er on the roof!! Build a scaffold for it to put it up in the air(I'm picturing a two story apartment building.) Both methods make it a not so easy target.

HTH

Matt


Putting it on the roof is not a good installation practice. The oil in the refrigerant will settle down to the evaporative coil in the air handling unit when the unit is not working.

The oil needs to be settling in the compressor if anywhere, therefore the condensing unit should be installed level or lower than the air handling unit.

[Terre Hooks]

A better solution for this is to look at replacing the 5/16" head sheet metal screws that are used on the units with vandal-proof screws. These should be available at HVAC/Plumbing/electrical supply houses.

[Al Willits]

I'm assuming its because the house is empty that there getting ripped off, what about waiting till the last minute to install the condensing unit?
I'd think once people move in it'd be ok?

Al

[Bob Childress]

What Al said. It's becoming common practice in new construction to hold the AC at the warehouse until the day before closing. Ditto for pool equipment.:(

[Jim Bell]

Leave a dead body next to it.
Jim

[Don Baer]

Get a Pit Bull..

[Norman Hitt]

I have been renovating some rent houses to sell this summer and things had gone pretty well until this week. It usually takes 3-4 weeks to totally renovate and during that time they are empty. Tuesday night somebody helped themselves to the coils in the outside compressor. Replacement is going to run somewhere around $1200 and house insurance on rental property does not cover theft of AC units. I am looking for a way to secure the unit after the new unit is installed. I have thought about building a "cage" around the units to protect them with cyclone fence but am not sure how much of a deterent that would be. Has anybody seen this or have a better way of securing the unit?

Eddie

I feel for you Eddie. We lost one compressor unit where they dismantled it and stole the coil, in one of my daughter's houses that we were renovating about 6 weeks ago, and then they broke into the house, and used bolt cutters and cut every piece of copper pipe they could get to, as well as every piece of electrical wire. This was in Denton Tx, and last week, we had a compressor unit stolen from our commercial bldg here in Odessa. It too had the copper tubing cut with bolt cutters and they also took all the electric wiring that was outside of the building.

My daughter said the Building contractors all around the Dal/Ftw area were having to hire security guards in their additions to try to stop the theft there, and also, in the normal established residential areas, people were getting up in the morning and thinking their AC had frozen up for low Freon, and then discovering that their compressor unit had been stolen during the night while they were sleeping in the house.

Mounting them up on the roof doesn't necessarily deter the theives either, because over the last 15 years, we have had to replace part, or all of 4 different compressor units that were mounted on top of a large flat roofed single story commercial building we own.

I will say that you got a good price on that unit though, because during all the thefts we had, the compressor unit failed on our own AC unit at home, and it cost almost 4 times as much to replace it as it did when we put the failed one in in 1985, and this one was more than twice what your quoted price was. They couldn't find one of the older type units anywhere, and we had to go with a better (SEER Rated) unit.

Now for your question, A cage with legs mounted in concrete, and a lock that can't be cut with bolt cutters or a hacksaw would be the best bet. If the thieves are like these around here, I doubt that the expanded metal would stop them though, because they can cut it easily with a large set of bolt cutters. I think it would have to have 1/2" steel bars to slow them down enough to discourage them.

Good luck, and hope you are successful.

[Eddie Watkins]

Thanks for all the suggestions. The dead body sounds interesting but LOML says no.:( We've been trying to figure out some kind of cage. I guess 1/2" rebar welded together would work. The vandal-proof screws is something that we could implement regardless of any other measures and waiting until somebody is ready to move into it is also a keeper. I agree with Al, I had decided to wait until it was sold and ready to be occupied before installing the outside unit but with them breaking in and stripping the house, that might be a little scary and dangerous.

Eddie

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

Build a fence. Build it about 5' high and put a couple electric fence wires around the top. You don't need a solid wall and so long as air can get through you'll have plenty of airflow.

Might also consider a motion sensor light.

[Terre Hooks]

Instead of the dead body, take some white spray paint and just paint an outline.

[Eddie Watkins]

THe outline would definitely work :eek: and the motion detector would help as well. I've thought about laying $25 under a brick with a note telling them to take the money and leave the A/C unit alone. I was told there is about $25 worth of copper in one of the units so it cost me $1200 so they could make $25. Last night on the local news thieves have been stealing copper from electric company substations and knocking out electricity to areas. This is really getting crazy.

Eddie