Copper thieves suck!!!!

[red-beard]

Our business was hit last night for 30 feet of 3 phase copper wires.

What a mess to get temp generator power and to get the wiring fixed.

That is all

[speeder]

That sucks. I hate thieves.

[GH85Carrera]

All thieves suck.

[bivenator]

Too bad they did not get electrocuted, that always makes for a good ending to these stories.

[Hugh R]

Over a few weeks, I suspect my gardener took a 6' aluminum ladder, a bronze decorative bell, a copper bird bath, and 4 or 5 six foot lengths of 1/2" copper pipe from my yard. He is no longer my gardener. I'd guess the scrap value was about what I pay him or one week, or less.

[vash]

this crap pisses me off. we go to great lengths to protect our utilities..we now fill our pull boxes with sand, and concrete the last 2", then put the pullbox cover on..sucks.

nothing is gonna change until they police the recyclers..we sometimes take our surplus scrap to fund holiday parties..no one ever checks ID. (maybe they do now)

[red-beard]

There was a $1000 air conditioning condensor sitting right in front of them. It would have been easier and quicker to steal.

3/0 copper is about 1/2 lb per foot. 120 feet = 60 lbs. Kitco says $3.50.lb for ingot. I expect they get about $1/lb. They also hit the unit 2 doors down. That has to be nearly 100 foot run. So 120 from me and 400 feet from the other guy, maybe 500 total feet. Maybe they got $250, or less.

Probably less, since the cops are watching for this kind of thing. I bet it is going to cost me $`000 to get it repaired. And the unit 2 down will be much more expensive.

[widebody911]

nothing is gonna change until they police the recyclers

This is what has always perplexed me; when some bum shows up with 1000# of copper wire at the recyclers, nobody wonders where it came from?

Do a google search for copper theft electrocution

[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by bivenator

Too bad they did not get electrocuted, that always makes for a good ending to these stories.

Almost worth having to repair your wiring.

[fastfredracing]

They do police the scrapyards around here. My local scrapper will not deal with you without a valid copy of your drivers license on file with him. He says they check him out every 3-6 months.
If I ever walk get that lucky to catch one of them in action........
A few years back, I had a house hit, this was my first one. I re plumbed it (myself ) also first one. Was down there two weeks after I was finished, to show the place to tenants, when I spy a turd in the toilet. I thought that odd, as I did not remember making a doodie last time I was there, and I'm not a Cretan, I would have flushed. Hit the lever, no water, go back to the basement, and bam, no copper again, and another broken window.
We just bought a house on Wednesday of this week, and it has all it's systems still intact. Lots ,and lots of copper pipe . We are going down there on Sunday to lock the place down like Fort Knox. I like the houses that the plumbing is already missing from. I re plumb in plastic, or pex, and give them no easy targets.
I had a close call, and almost caught them last year.

[Groesbeck Hurricane]

They cut down a telephone pole to get to the transformer. Cut through all the live wires. Left the wires on the ground.

Burned down the neighbors house and barns, burned down about 25 of their acres.

Burned down more than five acres adjoining.

Burned down 115 acres of prime hardwood timber on "our" place. Good luck with the insurance on that one!!!!!!

Actually stopped about 30 feet from the house, the house is on the top of a hill.

Burned down an historic building that was an illegal bar and other things. Served during prohibition. Bonnie and Clyde were said to have holed up there, though I doubt it. Several other questionable suspects most definately did. It had great timbers and we were planning on tearing it down to add to our home when we built it. Yes, I'm still fuming!!!


Oh, and no one saw anything! but a couple died a few months later pulling the same stunt.

[red-beard]

I requested we get re-wired with Al, but the electricians wouldn't do it.

[slakjaw]

They stole an entire reel of cable from us once. Hooked up the end of the cable to their truck and then drove off. too bad for them it was FIBER. hahahahaha!

They have gotten copper a few times though.

[PorscheGAL]

Here in SC you need a permit to to sell copper. You can only get the permit from the local sheriff's office. They are free but make it less desirable for would be thieves. The junk buyer must keep a copy of the permit, a drivers license and license plate number for every sale for 2 years.

[NY65912]

A few years ago my company whom does work for the NYC Health & Hospitals Corp got a call from Bellevue Hospital for a large leak.

Thieves cut out a section of 8" copper water line, LIVE, on the fly. Now that's balls!

[Evans, Marv]

Got the copper plumbing stolen from under my house during construction. The insurance covered it. I'm sure it was somebody who worked on the house or a friend. Recyclers here are supposed to check ID & keep records, but I doubt any do it when a load comes in they probably know was stolen, and they can buy low & sell high. I hate thieves too.

[GWN7]

Copper is about $2.50 lbs, AL is $0.55 lbs and general scrap is $130 ton. General scrap was $220 a ton in May.

Here you have to show ID and if you take a car in the car has to have your issued ID number on it. You scale in, Yard Inspector comes and checks your load. Vehicles have to be preped (gas, oil and antifreeze drained). Yard inspector writes down serial number. Crane lifts car off and you scale out. You go in to get payed and if you have a account your payed out. No account, photo Id, address & phone number or no $$. Everything is videotaped.

If a strange guy showed up with a coil of copper wire they would prob call the police on him.

Anyone who gives me a car to take in gives me a bill of sale or I'm not hauling it. I prep them by pulling starters, alt, cat converters and rads. I also pull all the wireing I can and depending on if I need the trailer for another job I'll pull apart a aluminum engine and trans for the casings. It's actually fun taking apart a engine with a sledge hammer.

[Black968]

You can always tell when times are tough, the copper thieves are on the prowl. I have worked for a large hydro company for 25 years. Last year a thief was killed trying to cut 46KV Copper Primary at one of our Substations, LIVE. Unbelievably stupid and desperate move. Saw the pictures in our monthly safety meeting, can you say bacon.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by widebody911

nothing is gonna change until they police the recyclers

This is what has always perplexed me; when some bum shows up with 1000# of copper wire at the recyclers, nobody wonders where it came from?

Do a google search for copper theft electrocution

You have to give your name, address, and DL license # to sell any copper or aluminum to recyclers in Ohio. Government regulations - they're a biatch.

[gtc]

We had some tweakers steal some high voltage generator cables a while back. The stuff has more insulation than copper in it.... i bet that was fun to strip off. (Supposing they didn't just burn it off)

Originally Posted by Black968

You can always tell when times are tough, the copper thieves are on the prowl. I have worked for a large hydro company for 25 years. Last year a thief was killed trying to cut 46KV Copper Primary at one of our Substations, LIVE. Unbelievably stupid and desperate move. Saw the pictures in our monthly safety meeting, can you say bacon.