Has anyone been experiencing a problem with stolen A/C units - on your flips or rentals?
Apparently the big demand for copper is causing thieves to come out of the woodwork.
Might want to consider caging them in with steel.
Home Depot sells a Lincoln Electric® welding unit called the Weld Pak 100. Nice thing about it is that it runs off of 115V…not the standard 220V that a lot of welding units need.
With a good 10 gauge 50 foot extension cord you won’t loose much drop in amperage and you’ve got a good portable welding setup for securing things like windows, A/C condensors, A/C window units, etc.
-Mike
Yes just bought a house with a stolen A/C unit. If it’s a low income area like mine, why spend the $$$ to replace it? I put in window a/c units and baseboard heat.
I’ve got one, it’s not bad. I bought it due to the electric needs, it was the only thing I could plug in anywhere. It’s a little underpowered for some jobs but its not bad.
I’ve seen all the copper plumbing ripped out of rentals in my area before.
My rehab has been broken into twice… The first time they got some tools… The second they stole all our aluminum drip edge we were about to put on the roof.
It doesn’t help that our small town has a metal scrap yard right in the center of town. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve found junkers in my rental dumpsters.
I think it’s time those scrap yards get their heads on straight :banghead
you’d think a redflag would be raised when people pulling up in their hatchback with 3 AC compressors are strapped to the back.
gotta love loosers stealing a $1500 unit to make a few bucks.
-c
Just like the pawn brokers they know what’s up, but their business depends on these losers.
The key word is (drumroll please)…PEX!!!
I never bother using copper plumbing…and a lot of times if it’s already in the house, I change it out to Pex…Doesn’t cost much, nobody wants to steal it, and dependable as hell…
In my lower end houses (in Buffalo) I never never never have any appliances or A/C units…Nothing but a mainenance item to take care of and that tenants will beat to death…If it’s not absolutely necessary to have them in order to rent out your units, I’d do without them…I always put in real nice ceramic tile in bath/kitchen/hallways, beautiful paint jobs, etc., and tenants never seem to mind that there’s no A/C units or appliances in my units…Saves me headaches, I’m sure…
I’ll second the PEX. A lot of the plumbers that work in urban areas around here aren’t even doing copper anymore for that reason. For my current rehab my first question to potential plumbers was what materials they use. I won’t even consider anything but PEX.
I’m seeing a lot of listings for new construction/rehabs that specify AC units will be installed at closing.
There’s a new city ordinance requiring scrap yards to get ID - we’ll see if it makes any difference :rolleyes
Plus with copper prices skyrocketing PEX looks better every day.
And I forgot to mention…When you take out the copper, go ahead and sell it yourself and recoup some of the money you spend on the PEX…