How To Prevent Thieves From Stealing Your Air Conditioner - 5 Steps To Turn The Odds In Your Favour

There has been a lot in the news lately about criminals stealing air conditioners and heat pumps from unsuspecting home owners. This is due in large part to the value of scrap metal such as copper and aluminum. You may not be able to stop it from happening but you can take some steps to make stealing your air conditioner less appealing and more difficult if someone does try. An air conditioning system is a big investment and like any other investment you should take steps to protect it.

It’s not just the copper refrigeration lines that these thieves are after, the copper or aluminum condenser coil has some value also or maybe they need a new condensing unit for their own home.

To reduce the likelihood of someone stealing your air conditioner take these simple precautions.

• When you have the unit installed try to avoid long pipe runs outside the building. Have all piping enter your home as soon as possible, leaving a minimum amount of pipe outside. You should be able to keep pipe runs outside to less than four feet. By reducing the length of pipe outside you reduce the perceived dollar value available to anyone scoping out your neighborhood.

Many times these units are placed on stands or on the ground and nothing more is done. At the very least they should be placed on patio slabs. Not doing this just shows poor workmanship on the part of the contractor. Condensing units tend to vibrate and can move, stressing refrigeration and electrical lines.

• Use bolts to secure the condenser to the stand that it sits on. All condensers should be bolted down but often they are not. There are bolt holes in the bottom of most condensing units for this purpose. If the unit sits on patio slabs, use concrete anchors to hold the unit in place. If the unit sits on a stand, bolt the unit to the stand and put patio slabs under each leg of the stand and then bolt the legs of the stand to the patio slabs. For added protection, round the corners of the bolts so they can’t be removed with a wrench. Patio slabs weigh about 60 to 70 pounds each, thats a lot of extra weight to move around.
• Use heavy mesh material to cover the condenser coil openings. This will prevent the condenser coil from being cut out of the unit. Use material which has large openings so that air flow through the condenser will not be affected. You also have to be very careful not to puncture the condenser tubes with screws. This will cost you.
  
• When you have the system installed, make sure the contractor uses an electrical disconnect switch that can be locked. If the power cannot be turned off from the outside it will be less appealing to criminals.
• Have the equipment installed in a well lit area or near a light with a motion sensor. Anybody going near the unit will cause the light to come.

These guys like to get in and out as fast and quietly as possible so anything you can do to make things more difficult and risky the less likely they are to even attempt to steal from you. These steps may not stop all thieves but the smart ones will move on and the dumb ones will be more likely to get caught.