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#33161 01/13/04 09:33 PM
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 599
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Nick Offline OP
Member
The breaker thieves are back! [Linked Image] A job my company is doing (On the other side of the freeway from mine [Linked Image] ) got hit last weekend for about $35K worth of breakers. This seems to go in cycles so if you are in the LA area, watch out.

#33162 01/13/04 09:45 PM
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 7,381
Likes: 7
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Nick:
Was that 35K in breakers??? Was it a break-in, or an unsecured building?? Were the breakers all that was taken??

John


John
#33163 01/13/04 10:09 PM
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 599
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Nick Offline OP
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Yes that $35,000.00 in breakers. (Replacement cost of course not including labor) That was all that was taken and that is all they are usually after. 500MCM copper isn't even worth there time. They just leave it there. The building is a Central Plant under construction so it's only semi secure. There is a night guard. He must have been sleeping. [Linked Image]
We have been hit in the past for much larger dollar amounts. One job was 250K before it was all over and done. It's hard to stop it from happening without posting a guard with an AK47.

#33164 01/13/04 10:38 PM
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 1,691
S
Member
i guess the breakers are easier to fence at the local hardware stores....

it's small stuff...easy to carry. do they even steal switches and sockets sometimes? tha's also small stuff but not worth as much.

#33165 01/13/04 10:44 PM
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 1,143
D
Member
OK, I'm not doubting the dollar amount, just having a hard time wrapping my brain around it.

What size breakers were they? (Pinky logic - Seimens 15a SP breaker @ $3.50 x 1000? Narf!)

Have you guys considered using a semi-trailer as a jumbo gang box?

#33166 01/14/04 12:08 AM
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 2,723
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OHHHH NOOOOOOO!!!! They're Back Again!!! [Linked Image]

Forgot all about those Clowns!

Thanks for the Heads-Up, Nick!

I can see $35K easilly being ripped off by these dullards!

We lost an easy $5K in one night's sweep by those Jokers - all from switchgear and service sections which were not heated up yet.
Main Breakers of >1000 Amp frames, Subfeed Breakers of >225 Amp Frames - only all < 480 VAC (240 VAC equipment).

The following crime spree was not so profitable for these bone heads - as the Transformers were live and ready.
Still did not detour them, and they tried again to steal - starting with the 1000 Amp Main Breaker for one certain section.

Must have been 1:1 Fireworks show for that Clown, once the Ratchet Wrench bolted across the Øs!
500 KVA Transformer < 25 feet from Breaker; Bolted L-L-L fault: a test condition SCA calc in its best!
(very morbid thoughts from me,,, sorry!).

Must be the hazards one has to "Face" in that "Trade".
...Pun definitely intended!

Scott35


Scott " 35 " Thompson
Just Say NO To Green Eggs And Ham!
#33167 01/14/04 01:20 AM
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 599
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Nick Offline OP
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Doug,
There were several 1200A frame 480V Square D Micrologic electronic breakers. List price off the shelf can easily reach several thousand dollars each. A couple guys that know what they are doing can get them out and off the job in no time.
Scott,
They are usually very active in your neck of the woods. The job I mentioned before was right around the corner from your house. You know, the ugly one along Ball Rd. & the 5 freeway that changes colors depending on the angle you view it from. (Oh, that famous Mouse also has his administrative offices there [Linked Image] )

#33168 01/14/04 02:01 AM
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 1,143
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Member
Knew you had to be talking about a little bigger than the neighborhood hardware store variety! [Linked Image]

#33169 01/14/04 08:07 AM
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,392
S
Member
so can we assume a thriving black market in our trade?

~S~

#33170 01/14/04 11:29 AM
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 1,691
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Member
Isn't that the case with almost any trade?

Masons steal cement and substitute with sand.
Bricks and block walk off sites....

Sheet metal and iron workers probably make off with welding rods (easilly fence-able). What's a box of nails....some doorknobs, hinges....etc.

I'm sure the occasional plumber may make off with a few valves or even a blowtorch.

An electrician (or a friend of one, details are fuzzy) who was working on the refurbishing of Grand Central Terminal in New York tried pawning off one of the old light fixtures to an antique store. He said someone had let him take it. The dealer put it up for auction.

These fixtures were supposed to be re-furbished and cleaned and re-installed, not removed and replaced. Someone saw the auction, recognized the fixture for what it was and reported it to the police. The dealer ratted out the crook.

What's that country song about the guy who gets a job at a Cadillac plant and over the period of a few years manages to sneak an entire car out in his lunchbox? [Linked Image]

[This message has been edited by SvenNYC (edited 01-14-2004).]

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