Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: Airscrew on November 30, 2006, 09:36:50 AM
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so yesterday while at work setting here getting some work done, messin around here on the bbs and discussin things, getting ready to go bowling I get a phone call from my daughter (17) and son (16). Seems they came home from school and the power is out. My son says theres a pole on the ground and a wire laying out on the ground. Call the wife, shes already on her way home. I call the power company to report it and tell them that its possible there is a live wire on the ground. About 30 minutes later I get a call back from my son, power guys are there and said we've been robbed. He puts the power guy on (John) Says thieves stole my meter loop. They opened up the main breaker on the pole, cut the power, yank out the meter loop, hook it up to a truck and jerk the copper line right out of the ground, including the conduit. John says nothing he can do, I need to call an electrician to get a new meter loop. So i call the wife back, shes almost home, tell her whats goin on and when she gets home call the neighborhood electrician (kinda lucky, guy and his son are contractors and do plumbing and electrical work and only live about half mile from my house) and call the insurance company to make sure we're covered. Meanwhile I call the county sheriff.
long story short, deputy shows up, takes pictures, dusts for prints makes out report. Insurance says its covered, $250 deductible, electrician says he needs to come out and look at it but estimates $2000 to replace the meter loop.
So we sat last night, candles lit, trying to read books, listen to MP3 players.
So now here we set, no electricity and the cold front is here. Luckly there was still hot water in the water heater and there was enough for everyone to take showers. I should have a smaller electrical bill for November ;)
I am definitely pissed off but no one to take it out on
:furious . What kind of scum thinks its ok to steal someones electricity, to cut a family's house off, remove our heat, ruin our food, damage our property, and create a financial hardship...:mad:
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For the copper, maybe?
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The cost of copper combined with a crappy economy make wire look good to theives. I've read where in the Chicago area houses have been roughed in two or three times because as soon as the electrical installation crew leaves the crooks show up and pull all the wire out of the walls. It just seems like there should be an easier way to make a living as a criminal...
Sorry about your misfortune. At least you have neighbors that can help and an insurance company that is at least being cooperative. I'm sure you don't want to hear it but it could be worse.
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Moot, yea for the cooper, I guess that makes it ok :huh
I've heard of them stealing loops and wiring from houses, but usually they are unoccupied homes. these guys hit our house and one of our neighbors, and maybe others. The electrcian says he has some rental property thats been hit 4 times in the last few years. He said good luck with the county doing anything about it, they cant catch the guys.
I just called home and wife said the electrican (Bob) was just there. He has to go home and make sure he as everything he needs and if he does he can probably get the loop in today. she gave him the insurance adjusters numbers and he'll fax her the estimate and the insurance company said they could cut a check tomorrow.
Luckly my parents live in Pflugerville and if he cant finish today then we can spend the night at my parents house.
Sluggish, yea i know it could have been a lot worse, they could have robbed the house, we could have had a $1000 deductible, and my son could have been electricuted when he thought it was a good idea to kick the wire to see if it was live :confused:
Also lucky the house is still warm inside, when the house was built I ordered 6 inch walls with extra insulation
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Wow. I have never heard of copper-heads pulling it out of the ground before. Hopefully one of them will grab a live wire in the near future and check out early.
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Copper theft is the fastest rising crime currently. Most done by meth heads.
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/31738/aluminum_and_copper_theft_stealing.html
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We had an incident a couple years ago where a thief was stealing wire from an old rock crusher plant. Turns out the power was still on. ZZZAP!
He ain't stealing anything anymore.
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We had several vans broke into a month ago at the verizon yard. Theives took all the cat5 and coax out for the copper. Funny thing is they left the majority of the tools and testing equip and set top boxes. roughly 25k worth of stuff they left lol. I blame drugs. makes em do REALLY stupid stuff
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Originally posted by Ripsnort
Copper theft is the fastest rising crime currently. Most done by meth heads.
Yep this is pretty much what the deputy said last night. He said they are planning more frequent patrols in our area.
A couple of years ago they busted a big meth lab about a mile from our house.
I'm considering getting an inexpensive video system and point the camera at the power pole. I guessing if it was easy the first time they might come back.
maybe wrap some heavy chain around the meter box and the pole :t
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wife just called again, Bob is back and says he can get it done today, and the insurance company has already cut the check and put it in the mail. But... Of course theres a but,... when they jerked the cable they also practically yanked the circuit box in the laundry room. the box is all twisted and breakers are popped out and the conduit going up in the house is all shattered.
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Collecting copper is a fun hobby for me.
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Dam!:huh
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Originally posted by Regular
Collecting copper is a fun hobby for me.
that funny Reg, my youngest, Sara (9) "Daddy why did they take our wire?"
"For the copper"
"Why dont they just collect pennies?" :lol
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They climbed an electric pole? Don't worry, justice will eventually catch up with them in the form of a jolt of unlimited amps
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Sixpence, I have no idea how they setup meter loops where you are from but in my particular case, the main braker is mounted on the bottom of the pole about 4 feet from the ground. Conduit with cable runs from the main breaker, underground about a foot or so, and then runs about 35 feet to the house, we have a manufactured house (euphenism for mobile home), then up the floor and into the breaker box in the house.
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My guess you should look at the electricians in the area looking for work.
Not the same but similar instance, There was a body repair shop who did work for a dealership in the area and what was happening was people were targeting new cars bought from the delearship stealing their headlights etc. So what would happen is the dealership would refer them to that body shop to get work done and they'd pretty much resale you the parts and the labor for the work.
They eventually got caught but they said they could have done more than 5,000 cars.
-B
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Call me ignorant, but what is the alure of copper to criminals?????
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Originally posted by cav58d
Call me ignorant, but what is the alure of copper to criminals?????
You can pawn it at various places for cash and it's much more "clean" then appliances with serial numbers.
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Originally posted by cav58d
Call me ignorant, but what is the alure of copper to criminals?????
just some info
Where does the recycled copper come from?
There are two types of copper scrap:
Old scrap comes from the public. It is collected from discarded, dismantled or obsolete products at the end of their lives. For example: copper pipes from old buildings, old taps from a bathroom renovation, old hot water cylinders or disused electrical cable.
New scrap comes from factories which make articles from copper, brass or bronze. Their machines will produce offcuts and shavings that can be collected and returned for recycling.
Copper is made with different purities depending on the application. The highest grade copper is electrical grade. It is 99.99% pure and is used for electrical cables because it has the best electrical conductivity. Electrical grade scrap must never be mixed with any of the lower purity grades such as plumbing tube scrap. This contains too much phosphorus which drastically reduces the electrical conductivity.
Shipping Pt. / Location: USA, QUEENS NEW YORK
Quantity Units Frequency
minimum 40,000 lbs Ongoing
Price Per Unit Funds
1.52 lbs USD $
No.2 Scrap Copper - 50%-55% Network wires and Coax cables. Buying 50%-55% insul copper network wires and coax cables. Price: $1.52 per pounds. Terms: More than 42,000 lbs / FAS. We paid before the materials leave the yard. Pick up is available, contact us for more information.
Shipping Pt. / Location: SAUDI ARABIA, DAMMAM PORT
Quantity Units Frequency
1000 MT Monthly
Price Per Unit Funds
3.02 lbs USD $
No.2 Scrap Copper - Copper Cathodes. Copper Cathodes 99.99% purity, and No.1 Heavy Scrap Copper Shall consist of clean unalloyed copper solids and must be uncoated.May include copper clippings, punchings, bus bars, commutator segments clean copper pipe or tubing and Copper wire over 1/16'' thick but free of burnt or brittle wire. This grade is equivalent to the ISRI code CANDY
Average U.S. Refiners Buying
Prices for No. 2 Copper Scrap
Aug02 55.48 cents
Sept 55.68 cents
Oct 56.70 cents
Nov 60.50 cents
Dec 61.33 cents
Jan03 62.38 cents
Feb 64.11 cents
Mar 64.26 cents
Apr 61.80 cents
May 65.43 cents
June 67.36 cents
July 68.23 cents
Aug 69.43 cents
(per pound, monthly average)
Source: American Metal Market
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Sorry to hear, there have been reports of hobos breaking into the little power stations (technical name escapes me). Anyway, they start going for the copper and BAM fried hobo.
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ok, heading home, electrician started about 1:30 putting in the new loop, he thinks he can get it done before the end of the day.
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ok, we got partial power now, lights in living room and my bedroom, some outlets also. in process of trenching though they cut the water line :lol so the choice was, finish the power or fix the water line. We voted power, and they'll come back tomorrow and finishup with wiring job and fix the water line. I think I'll just take a day off.
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Well nuts, a heck of a week there. I'm glad you got power back so you have heat again. It ought to be rather cold there right now. I hope it's all back in operation tomorrow.
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Yes heat is working, just gonna take a few hours to get the temp up in the house, luckly with the extra insulation in the walls, even though the outside temp was 34-35 with 26 degree wind chill, house temp didnt fall below 58 degrees so it was still comfortable.
I also found out talking to the electricians and the power guy that came to turn the power back on the going rates for salvaged copper like this is anywhere from $3 to $5 a pound. They estimate that the thieves got away with about 150 pounds of copper just from my house. They also hit the next door neighbor and they said they heard a few houses got hit last weekend a few miles down the road from us.
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There is divine justice, however! Not a month ago one meth head tried breaking into a substation out in the boonies near here. Reason? Copper. Several PFD firecaps (brass covers on the fire hydrants around buildings) were swiped by a pair of junkies. Turns out this dweeb was one of 'em; they located two dozen firecaps in his truck along with receipts for three different scrap yards. How did they catch his sorry rear? The easy way: he zapped himself trying to use bolt cutters on a length of 2" copper cable. Not just any copper cable, though. This cable had 22,000 volts and several hundred amps running through it!
Methkabob anyone?
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Flakbait [Delta6]
(http://www.wa-net.com/~delta6/sig/stupid_ppl.gif)
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And to think, with a little ambition, they could be putting wires in, instead of yanking them out.
You should try leaving a few hundred feet of copper tubing lying on a jobsite before rough.
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Originally posted by Airscrew
Sixpence, I have no idea how they setup meter loops where you are from but in my particular case, the main braker is mounted on the bottom of the pole about 4 feet from the ground. Conduit with cable runs from the main breaker, underground about a foot or so, and then runs about 35 feet to the house, we have a manufactured house (euphenism for mobile home), then up the floor and into the breaker box in the house.
Yeah, up here the lines run from high up the pole across to the house, then down to the meter. There is nothing near the bottom of the poles. New developments have the lines run underground.