ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area Solution for wire thefts?

I should probably keep my trap shut but, I have to disagree with that. Why?

I've made money in the past for scrapping wire. No I didn't steal it. It came from a Comcast dumpster after they remodeled. (about 200feet of 12/2NM.) Seeing as my father works there, and knows I like helping him scrap old cable parts, he brought it home.

Cha-ching. One week and a utility knife later, I had $90 in my pocket.

Now mind you we didn't pull in with new reels of MC or a big tangle of NM, we had cans, old cable junk, and two buckets of wire.

So IMO, if someone pulls in with brand new, uncleaned wire, start getting suspicious. Small amounts of cleaned copper? Just a guy snapping cords off appliances on the curb.

Not every non-EC with copper in the truck is a thief.

Just my 2¢.
Ian A.

ITO if you have been around a while what you should have noticed is we do go off topic quite a bit.

What we try not to do is talk about subjects that will cause bitterness between members.

Religion

Union or Merit shop

Abortion

Politics

Etc.

In my personal opinion talking about the social causes of wire theft will get us nowhere, we will not come up with a solution, we will not come up with an answer. What we will accomplish is lines being drawn between members.

This has always been a friendly forum where we can talk about hot dogs, BBQ and electrical without finding a need to go into the more controversial subjects.

You want to talk about how you secure your stuff on the job...fine go for it.

If you want to talk about the social causes of theft I think another forum is more suited to that.

This is just my opinion, it's Bill's site so it's really up to him.

Bob

For what it's worth, the 'General Discussion' Forum was never meant to be an 'Off-Topic' area. It was meant for those trade-related topics that didn't seem to fit in one of the other areas.

I don't want it to seem too 'stuffy' here or 'all work and no play' so I don't see harm in an occassional off-topic thread, but it should stay away from volitile issues.

In general I think Bob (Iwire) summed up my thoughts on this pretty well.

Bill

Bob and Bill:

Thank you both. I now better understand where you're coming from on this and how difficult the decision can be on what's appropriate and what's not.

Bob did indeed hit the nail on the head, with this especially:



And drawing lines between members would be a very bad thing!!

Wow. You guys have a more difficult job on the "mod squad" than I'd thought....

Hot dogs and BBQ are not trade related? I beg to differ. I will now post 'why' on the hot dog thread

ITO, do you regularly check up on Mike Holt's forum too? The traffic there is a bit more regular.

Btw, I really think you are about the most sophisticated EC here, and I greatly appreciate the insight. I too am a big fan of MS excel and the 99,000 different things it can do.


On the subject of theft now: #1 Bright Copper brought 2.80 a lb. last time I hauled in some scrap, but Aluminum was around 60 cents.

Considering the price break on Aluminum, that 2 men can pull an AL 250kcm feeder as easily as 3/0 Cu, why aren't EC's upsizing conductors from 3/0 Cu in 2" emt to 250kcm Al in 2-1/2" emt for a 200A sub-panel?

Not only is there a price break on the install, with the exception of the conduit and maybe an extra 3 minutes per termination to ensure it is stripped, noaloxed, and torqued correctly... I don't see meth heads jones for Al scrap like they do a reel of copper.

Reno, that was funny..I'd love to see your co-worker's faces...

And who can forget frying a hot dog with two nails and a zip cord?

I built a great BBQ last month - an adventure in welding and my first big project... And I guess that trade related, because I haven't met a vegitarian electrician yet. I thought it was a cultural requirement to like your meat smoked and charred in this trade?

Well, you're not going to let all those crispy critters go to waste, are you?

I don't think the licensed only idea would be a good idea either. In the past, we JW's here give whatever scrap that's left over to the lowest apprentice on the job.