Copper thieves are becoming a big headache for commercial property owners. Although the copper they steal might only be worth a few dollars per pound, the amount of damage they do to buildings can end up in the thousands of dollars.
Instead of writing these losses off, there are a few safeguard measures businesses and office managers can take to thwart would-be copper thieves.
High Cost of Copper Thieves
When police are able to bust copper crime rings, they sometimes recover over a thousand pounds of copper wire and the associated tools used to steal the precious metal. Thieves must melt the copper before taking it in bulk to a scrap yard. To accomplish this, they melt the wax coating off of the copper wires, which can lead to toxic fumes being inhaled by nearby residents.
These thieves also jeopardize city services, businesses and neighbors by cutting phone wire or removing copper plumbing from houses or buildings. This disrupts the plumbing and telephone services of both businesses and residences, causing a drain on both a business’s bottom line and a local resident’s quality of life.
While your focus might be on protecting the commercial heating and cooling unit inside of your building, don’t forget about protecting the copper on the exterior of your building from being stolen. This can include downspouts and copper backflows for sprinkler systems, or any other visible elements not hidden within your building.
Protecting Copper Downspouts
Copper downspouts make an easy target for thieves as they are large and promise minimal effort to detach from their moorings. As a general rule, don’t use flat stock straps to anchor downspouts to the wall. It’s relatively easy for thieves to tear a downspout off the wall when they are only anchored by copper straps (which are easily cut by thin strips). The easiest way to secure downspouts is to use circular clamps that screw shut.
Affix downspouts to the wall and use a lock-tight method of anchoring it (such as a paddle lock). You can also use a pin bolt to hammer the anchor straps into the wall. Pin bolts are an ideal method of anchoring when you’re dealing with brick or concrete walls. These attachment methods will be an improvement on the stock downspout straps. Some people also use deception by painting their copper downspouts a different color. If that sounds like too much work, you can get rid of the problem entirely by replacing your copper downspouts with vinyl ones.
Preventing Light Pole Copper Theft
Copper theft is unfortunately on the rise as commodity prices rise, and stealing copper – especially from light poles – is an easily learned skill by common thieves. Thieves often using standard power tools like battery-powered saws separate the copper from the rest of the system.
Since it is more difficult to break into an HVAC or heating and cooling system, instead thieves commonly go after low-hanging fruit and break into exterior fixtures like your light poles by prying open the light pole boxes and removing the expensive copper wiring. This can often become a safety issue as those light poles hit by thieves will no longer work, leaving you, your employees and your customers trying to navigate at night in the dark. Light pole copper theft is best prevented by purchasing a light pole padlock manufactured and sold by a company that warranties them against break-ins.
