Your heat pump is valuable. It keeps your house or business cool in the summer and warm in the winter. It’s an investment in your comfort—and thieves want to get their hands on it.
Recently, there’s been a spate of heat pump thefts across the country and right here in Southeast Michigan. In fact, lawmakers in at least 23 states have introduced legislation aimed at stopping the theft of copper from residential and commercial heat pumps. What are the thieves after? Not the benefits of climate control, but the large amounts of valuable copper inside the system. Thieves dismantle the heat pumps, strip the copper and sell it as scrap metal.
Guarding your heat pump (and your air conditioner condensing units, for that matter) can be a challenge; criminals, it seems, will stop at nothing to make some easy money at your expense. But it is possible, thanks in large part to an array of products that are available and relatively inexpensive (compared to the cost of replacing your heat pump or air conditioner condensing unit):
Alarms
At first, the idea of buying a security system for a heating unit might seem a little strange, but when you consider that it can take fewer than five minutes for a thief to steal your heat pump system, it’s worth it.
The alarms on the market today use sensors to monitor your heating and cooling unit. If someone tries to dismantle the unit a loud alarm will sound—hopefully scaring off the criminal and saving your unit. There are also alarms available that can be programmed into your home security system, so the police will be notified if someone tries to steal your system.
Cages
Many homeowners are choosing to install cages around their heat pumps and air conditioner condensing units. Cages can be an effective deterrent, especially for small-time criminals. However, they can be difficult to incorporate into your landscaping and more experienced thieves can easily cut through them.
Want to protect your cooling and heating system from the criminals? Contact us today to discuss which option is best for you.
Our goal is to help educate our customers in Detroit, Michigan about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about heat pumps and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.
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