Business Security Information

Recently, I have been at a couple of businesses that had experienced theft or attempted theft of their outside HVAC units.  It appears from their situations that the thieves were motivated by the copper in the HVAC units.  Over the past couple years, copper theft has been an issue for a variety of contractors, home builders and other related businesses.  Last year, I even discussed copper theft issues with a carnival ride manufacturer because they were experiencing thefts of long electrical leads on machines being stored outside in a lot prior to shipment.  With the high price of metals and the down-turn in the economy, the theft of copper and other metals will continue to be a problem for most businesses in the near future.

Figure 1

Although there are no one-size-fits-all security measures related to copper theft, I did come across security measures taken by a couple of businesses to protect their outside HVAC units.  Whether you are trying to protect the outdoor unit for a heat pump, air conditioner or some other type of exterior refrigeration unit, your goal needs to be preventing the easy removal of the outdoor unit.  Most of the thefts that I have run into recently involved the quick and easy removal of the exterior HVAC unit.  The thieves haul the unit off and remove the copper from the outdoor unit at their leisure.  For larger exterior units such as the one seen in (FIGURE 1), you want to prevent easy access. These cannot be easily hauled away so thieves usually try to cut the copper from the unit right on the spot.  These thefts occur in any unit that has a high value metal, not just copper.

If you look at the pictures I have included in this article, you will see that all the security measures used involve an enclosure of some type that either prevents easy access to the outdoor unit or does not allow easy removal of the outdoor unit.  The barriers used for the smaller outdoor HVAC units are secured directly into the concrete or pavement or they are secured to the surface with some type of bolts.  Additional security measures can also be implemented to add to any barrier you may put in place.  Find ways to be notified when thieves are on site and learn what type of security response is available to your business.  Most businesses must depend on public law enforcement for a response, but you need to know how long it will take them to get there after being notified.  You should implement any additional security measures based on these determinants.

Please leave a comment if you have experienced copper or metal theft and what you were able to do to prevent it from occurring again.

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