Avoiding Air Conditioner Thieves During Spring

April 1st, 2018

We’re coming into the spring period of the year, and that means a few things when it comes to your home’s air conditioning system. And while you may have many areas of this under control, some homeowners forget an important area here: Keeping your AC unit from being stolen for scrap metal.

At Expert Services- Plumbing, Heating, Air & Electrical, we can help prevent this from happening to you. You may not consider it a big risk, but thieves today will steal even a small amount of scrap metal to sell it for money – here are some basic tactics to help this from happening.

Light

Experienced thieves will generally operate during the night time, and they can usually complete the entire process of stealing your unit from outside your home in just a few minutes. A little light shed on them, however, will make those minutes far riskier than they might have otherwise been.

Consider motion detector lights for the area near your unit outside the home. Train these on the area where thieves would have to walk to do anything devious.

Cover

Down similar lines, consider ways to make the area where your AC unit sits a bit more open. Remove cover items like lawn furniture or shrubbery to other areas, so that there are lines of sight available for both you and your neighbors to your unit.

Cage Cover

For the particularly careful homeowner, a locked cage surrounding the AC condenser is the best single form of protection against theft. These enclosures make it far less than worth it for thieves to spend the time trying to steal your system. Keep in mind that if you’re designing a custom cage for yourself, do so in a way that won’t disrupt the airflow of your unit.

Home Security System

With today’s technology, there are simple ways to involve your home security system here as well. There are products that allow your AC unit to sync with your security system and communicate with it directly – this system can sound an alarm or notify police if your AC is stolen while you aren’t home or are sleeping.

For more on keeping your AC unit safe this spring, or to learn about any of our heating and air services or air conditioner repair, speak to the pros at Expert Services- Plumbing, Heating, Air & Electrical today.