On 7/7/2011 8:24 AM, wrote:
On Jul 7, 9:11 am, wrote:
On Jul 6, 9:29 pm, Home wrote:

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2011/07/...am-targeting-a...

How many AC units are using copper instead of aluminum these days?

And now people are putting cages around them?

I don't see how. I save scrap that I generate and I kept my old
carrier unit and inside coil. It didn't amount to much when I took it
to the scrap yard. The inside coil counted as mixed copper because of
the steel frame so the price per pound was far less. The aluminum
outside parts was only worth a couple bucks. They would not take the
actual compressor in my pile of scrap iron/steel. I think I got like
$12 dollars total that day and I mostly made the run because I had a
cracked bare chevy 350 block I really needed to get rid of. I mostly
save scrap as a way to be more environmentatlly responsible than for
the money anyway.

I was wondering what these thieves do with the units they
steal too. There was a foreclosure house here in a nearby
town that a friend was looking at buying. When we saw it
the house was still occupied and in perfect condition. Stopped
maybe 5 months later and it's a wreck. Inside, the flooring is
gone, all the kitchen cabinets, countertops, etc. Outside
both AC units were gone. The owner was a doctor.

I was puzzled as to who did the stripping. Like would a Dr.
sit there and pull up flooring? And if so, what could he
do with it? Even if you sold it on Craigslist, would not seem
to be worth the effort. And for street thieves, it's hard to
imagine they would want to be in a house long enough to
rip all that stuff out.....

And then with the ACs, I wondered if they could sell them
on CL? Who would buy unknown eqpt that could be
contaminated, burnt up, etc and if they did how much
would they pay for it? And scrap price isn't that much
is it? Doesn't make a lot sense to me.

We had an article in the local paper that said the latest thing to
steal and scrap for metal is...cars. A couple ran out of gas on the
freeway and had to abandon the car. When they went back to retrieve it
a few hours later, it was gone. The following day they learned that a
tow truck driver picked it up and sold it to a scrap yard for $500
bucks and it was already destroyed. Turns out car thieves have been
selling stolen vehicles to the same scrap yard without titles. The
yard pays them, crushes the car, and the lawful owners are SOL.