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australiantroubleman
03-08-2008, 12:37 AM
We are having big problems with copper thieves , stealing grounding conductors from poles , breaking into substations and taking all the copper that isn't mounted on insulators .
The thieves are becoming more brazen as the price of scrap copper escalates.
Its getting to the stage that you have to inspect everything closely before you touch any equipment to make sure its still earthed correctly.
We have lost bays of copper secondary overnight we arrive to a no power call and the mains have been stolen .
We are now replacing any copper stolen from poles with aluminium where possible , this seems to stop them stealing the new conductor a few weeks later.
They are stealing railway signal cables and traction equipment too .

Is this a world wide occurrence or it it just aussie thieves that are indulging in this crime?

T-Saw
03-08-2008, 08:17 AM
Our system has had several substation break-ins, resulting in copper theft. So far they have only taken the stuff that is close to the ground. I'm afraid that eventually we are going to find someone half baked , on the steelwork. As far as pole grounds, out on the sytem, so far we haven't had any of that, at least none that has been noticed .We also had 3 trucks ,that were at a jobsite, get stripped of all the copper, overnight. Normally the trucks are in a secured area, but these weren't. Of course if they are willing to cut the fence at a substation, I guess it probably wouldn't have mattered if the trucks were fenced in .

PA BEN
03-08-2008, 08:28 AM
Went back to pull a pole after the cable guys removed there wires. The transformer ground on the new pole was cut as high as you could reach. I took a walk and found the next 6 poles with transformers on and one 3 phase Primary riser ground cut the same was. We have found some transmission switches and distribution switch ground wire cut also. Drugs are the big reason this is happening. :(

LINCRW
03-08-2008, 09:41 AM
Copper theft is a problem everywhere. The price of copper and the money it will fetch at a recycling yard is huge. Unfortunately, we have already seen many of the thieves injured from trying to steal the stuff. They are not very bright when it comes to knowing what is safe to cut and what isn't.

jmorehouse24
03-08-2008, 10:17 AM
Here in Washington it is getting pretty bad. We went on a storm last year, where every job we went to, the wire was gone. Any conductor that a tree tore down, was gone. We had to string new wire at every job on that storm. And there actually was a guy that got killed trying to steal some conductor that was still hot and hanging a couple feet off the ground. We have had lots of subs broke into and tons of pole grounds missing. It is getting dangerous out there. Watch your ass and check your grounds before you touch anything.

linemansmilestones
03-08-2008, 05:18 PM
Another thief was stealing copper from inside a pad mount. It was a live front transformer and the busings were hot.
He reached down to take off the ground lug and hit his shoulder on the hot 12kv bushing on the primary side. Witnesses heard him yell and run down the road on fire and jump in a van.
The company caught up to him in the hospital. The company got sued for having the riser c/o's closed on an unused tx, and probably settled because of the court system. The idiot died from the flash and burns.

BigClive
03-08-2008, 06:22 PM
At least it had a happy ending.....

What can you do. Maybe it's time to start using electric fence energisers to protect your gear. They put out about 10kV at low energy to "bite".

Switching from copper to aluminium opens up the can of worms associated with aluminium joints or terminations.

johnbellamy
03-08-2008, 08:43 PM
Pole grounds, ground mats, How about 12 spans of #4 overhead neutral? I have often wondered who are training these guys. I am suprised there are not more dead ones laying on the side of the road, but it seems like they work awful hard for this stuff.

PA BEN
03-09-2008, 09:34 AM
Pole grounds, ground mats, How about 12 spans of #4 overhead neutral? I have often wondered who are training these guys. I am suprised there are not more dead ones laying on the side of the road, but it seems like they work awful hard for this stuff.
It could be guys that use to be lineman who got caught up in drugs and this is the best way to pay for there drugs.:mad:

johnbellamy
03-09-2008, 11:58 AM
It could be guys that use to be lineman who got caught up in drugs and this is the best way to pay for there drugs.:mad:

These guys no where to get it, how to get it, when to get it, the tools to get it, and not many get caught, and like guys say, they love storms, wire gone everywhere, not just primary, some hit the jack pot stealing 500 copper secondary, from larger older services.

They no not to cut energized primary, because it causes outages, but they that might be next, who knows?

mainline
03-09-2008, 03:49 PM
Up here we've had substation break ins to the point that they are putting in security systems. We also had somenone steal 75,000 worth of newly installed 500 mcm copper urd stolen out of conduit before it could be energized. You don't just haul that stuff out by hand. You need equipment so somebody obviously set up like they were supposed to be there. Huge balls. We're just waiting for he first fatality.

linemansmilestones
03-09-2008, 09:30 PM
The scrap metal recycling is not limited to copper. We had 23 subsurface aluminum transformer grates stolen in a couple of weeks. I'd get a call about a hole in front of a customers house, thinking it was a secondary splice box problem. Show up and here is a totally exposed subsurface tx. We started keeping plywood stocked in the yard for temporary barriers.
A check of a local scrap yard found the covers stacked on their yard.

johnbellamy
03-10-2008, 02:10 AM
Well trained? Damm straight, Hard work? Not really. We call ourselves the “Over the Hill Line Gang” We’re bored and need to supplement our retirement income to carry on our sinful ways of cheap booze and hot women; we’re old and that Viagree aint cheap. Plus we’re thinking of ya’ll, getin all that overtime. We don’t take anything that leaves a hazardous condition though. :D

I just heard that dirty copper was going for $1.80 & clean for $2.50 a pound, time to round up all my old pennies.

Sould have worked Union, Woulda had a better retirement income. Better booze, hotter woman.:p

Just ****in with ya.

Special ED
03-11-2008, 03:00 AM
Back in Louisville, KY copper theft has gotten bad. But the power companies got tired of it and started working with the recycle centers to nail people. They also started grounding poles with steel ground wire that is copper coated. So the thiefs dont get the copper and when the dumbasses try to sell it they get caught. We have only had one fatailty from it and that was at an old ammo plant the government closed down but still owns. Who ever does it is smart enough not to take the 4/0 and 500 mil bare copper neutrals on some of the cable poles right out side the subs...

loodvig
03-11-2008, 09:46 PM
A crime of the times

Copper thefts are on the rise all over the Merrimack Valley. Here's a look at recent thefts around the region:

Andover: Copper gutters and downspouts valued at $7,000 were stolen from Phillips Academy buildings in February. Last week, copper wiring controlling the Ballardvale train crossing was swiped. Police arrested four people, but two skipped their arraignments the following day and are still at large.

Haverhill: Three men were charged in February with stealing copper wire from a Knipe Road storage facility. A real estate agent also discovered copper piping ripped from a Hillside Street home that's in foreclosure.

Lawrence: Police say copper thefts throughout the city are at the "epidemic level." Patrolmen are told to be "vigilant in all investigations involving vacant homes and copper thefts," according to a police report.

Special ED
03-12-2008, 12:13 AM
The worst I seen was these guys ripped off an appartment complex. It was in the fall so no one missed their A/C but these guys cleaned out the whole complex about 150 units. Every A/C was gone and most people were home sleeping when it happend.

Squizzy
03-18-2008, 08:01 AM
We had some individuals stealing all the down earths of the poles in specific areas, to the point that one of the feeders had only 1 down earth left on the entire feeder. When the fault crew went to investigate fluctuating voltage they found 380V between phase and nuetral instead of 240V not real good. They steal from ground level to about 8 feet high. The award has to go to the IDIOT who opened up a RMU and switched yes switched of two of the feeds to cut the 22kV cables off. His downfall was he left another one on and guess which one he cut first? The guys found a burnt pair of cable cutters and a trail of burnt clothes leading to tyre prints but no one was found in any of the hospitals. Eventually a couple of weeks later the police picked up the guy in Kalgoorlie which is 560 kilometers away that must have been a long painful drive to hospital. I currently do alot of under ground connections and riser cables and they often get cut off the night they are put in so I am also getting real good at straight joints....

loodvig
03-18-2008, 08:17 AM
This week I've been cleaning out my parents house so I can sell it. I took some copper pipes to the junkman. I had to give name, rank and serial number before anything else. They even made a copy of my drivers license! So what do the bad guys give the junkman?

Squizzy
03-18-2008, 09:26 AM
Thats what they are supposed to do here but there are a couple of dodgey Chinese guys (they wouldn't be the only ones just I know about) that our contractors told me about:rolleyes: that will look at what you have roll down the door and weigh and pay no questions asked with the obligitory slightly reduced rate. I don't care what the guys do with it after the job is finished as long as I am looking at cable not for it, its too hard trying to cut some on.

Nate
03-18-2008, 08:54 PM
:D
Went back to pull a pole after the cable guys removed there wires. The transformer ground on the new pole was cut as high as you could reach. I took a walk and found the next 6 poles with transformers on and one 3 phase Primary riser ground cut the same was. We have found some transmission switches and distribution switch ground wire cut also. Drugs are the big reason this is happening. :(

We have this happen all the time hell there even cutting off the locks on our pad mount xfmrs and cutting the st light feeds and taking thousands of feet of #4 out of the st lites. As for pole grounds we have to check every thing that has equipment on it. I have my grunt put as many staples as he can 8 up from the ground looks like hell but it seems to be working.

Squizzy
03-22-2008, 08:09 PM
I agree with PA a big factor is drug users coupled with high copper prices. The utility here is looking at using steel down earths which is difficult to cut for those who don't have the equipment to do so and its virtually worthless at the scrap dealers.

neil macgregor
04-13-2008, 02:47 PM
over here in the uk the bloody gypsy,s steal every thing they throw chains over the lines then cut them down
we once set up a drum trailer with 3 drum of 50mm copper on them
it was well up the mountain side out of view next day gone rolled down the mountain local gypsy,s were drunk for a week

wtdoor67
04-13-2008, 03:27 PM
They were doing some work in a sub station once near where I worked. The inspector told us that they had lost a reel of Cu. that weighed 450 lbs.

They were standing around jawing about the theft the next day. A local was standing nearby and listening. He said. How much wire was stolen, about 450 lbs? The inspector looked at him and said. It was exactly 450 lbs. The local replied. I guess I better keep my mouth shut.

Squizzy
04-14-2008, 09:40 AM
Anyone seen the e-mail with the African who stood on an earthed transformer with rubber garden gloves to hack saw through the High side? Its rather untidy if anyone wants it PM me an address.

Linewrk06
04-14-2008, 08:07 PM
So one nite we have a substation lock out, few mins later the city police call reporting a man on fire inside the station. Its a saturday nite none of our people were in the station... Serviceman rolls up and finds a dude that was tryn to steal copper on fire laying on the ground... The screwed up thing is he lives, but with burns to 65% of his body. So it goes to show, they start off steal'n pole grounds and move up to tryn to steal the grounds off the station transformer!!! Every time I fixed a pole ground I think of this dumb ass and put a few extra staples in for him to pry out!!!

Squizzy
04-18-2008, 11:41 PM
I spent most of this week replacing or straight jointing stolen cables what a pain in the a$$. Some of them were even cut off with an axe. Then at one job this guy comes over from the neighbouring construction site and says that he moved a cable. Moved was not quite correct we burry our cables at the base of riser poles before we make them off and install. The cable they "moved" was a lump in the ground and the grader operator decided to smooth it out and it stripped and kinked the $h!t out of it I said to him to pull it up and leave it as someone would steal it and save me having to remove the majority of it.

IN THE SHADOWS
04-19-2008, 01:38 PM
Took a call-out to a car hit pole one night that had 2 feeders locked out. My pole partner and I cleared the wire down at the accident site and went to the sub to get the feeders back on. Closed in the first breaker...nothing. Tried closing the 2nd breaker...nothing. Went out in the sub yard to see what was going on and saw the hole cut in the sub's chain link fence. Started inspecting the sub and found where every ground in the sub had been cut and stolen about 8 foot up on the steel girders. The apparent last one they cut had a huge black splotch on the steel. There was no body laying there but I bet they didnt do it again. This was in 1985.

CenterPointEX
04-19-2008, 02:14 PM
Here in HOuston we have been replacing the bonds with copper coated steel... worth only thirty cents a pound at the scrap yard... Recently some theives cut the truck ground off... but obviously did not not look up because there were two rolls of copper in the basket just above the ground... I made the news when we rolled up on dead guy who was cutting copper out of the trough on an abandoned building... I had to give the camera man the elbow as he tried to steady his camera on my back as I was opening up the disconnects on the xfmrs...

Squizzy
04-20-2008, 01:11 AM
The apparent last one they cut had a huge black splotch on the steel. There was no body laying there but I bet they didnt do it again. This was in 1985.


Sounds like they tried to steal the earth off a VT which can cause a floating voltage someone was stealing the earths at Fremantle Sub. which were all flat copper bar work and a real pain in the a$$ to replace but they didn't steal the it off the VT's. 3 time they stole all the bar work which took two weeks a time replacing it all up side is I was real good at flat bar work while I was doing substations.

IN THE SHADOWS
04-20-2008, 08:04 AM
Squizzy...The more intelligent thieves would just break into the truck yard at night and steal the roles of copper off the material trailers we towed behind the bucket trucks. We were doing a 4kv to 12 kv conversion in Portland at the time and all through the city it was double circuit open wire copper secondary which we were replacing with parlay. We had about 6 crews working the conversion and every night each crew's trailer usually had 25-30 200 lb roles of cut down copper secondary on em. It was usually a race between the warehouse salvage guys and the thieves to see who could get em unloaded first.

Trbl639
04-20-2008, 12:19 PM
I had 1 feeder that ran thru an old Papermil yard, that was being torn down........we had killed that feeder out and had it grounded, so they wouldn't get into it during the tear down...............I had maybe 15 or so customers on it, and I had them backfed off another feeder........I get a call about midnight, that I got a feeder out.......I do some riding/looking, and decide, I bet i got a phase of the 4/0cu down in the bottoms. feeding these 15 customers, I do some switching, and gwet all but those 15 on.......ok, they are thru tearing the mill down, so i'll get that feeder back to normal.....bad idea........the thieves had stole about 3000 feet of the 3phase 4/0 cu!!!! cut the poles down with a chainsaw and the rest dominoed, from 1 vertical corner to another........it was inside the mill yard, and was off in the woods, so they did it where they couldn't be seen........

Luckily they got caught!!! seems as though they left a pair of 18" bolt cutters and a flashlight..with their names on it....and fingerprints!!!!!!

I think they got jail time and had to pay about $20k restitution......and bet we'll never see a penny of it!!!

BigClive
04-20-2008, 12:35 PM
I just noticed a substation in the centre of Glasgow which appears to be "maintained" by Siemens has just had an electric fence put round it.

For more effect they could just feed the fence off the primary. ;)

IN THE SHADOWS
04-20-2008, 03:51 PM
I just noticed a substation in the centre of Glasgow which appears to be "maintained" by Siemens has just had an electric fence put round it.

For more effect they could just feed the fence off the primary. ;)

Clyde ...ya gotta quit washing down that haggus with cutty sark...try some Islay single malt instead.....It 'll make ya less ornery :D

LINETRASH
05-21-2008, 09:45 PM
I was advised that an enviormental contractor used his card to enter a FPL yard, as usual.

Problem is, he proceded to put on his PPE, grab a forklift, load several reels of copper,(maybe over time) with other quantities of rolled copper into his inviro truck.

I guess he was in the habit to do this, nut missing material finally caught up with him.

Dumb move to get your felony recorded on yard cameras for all to see.......

grizzlybuck
05-22-2008, 07:22 PM
Month or so ago here in Columbus, we had thieves cut down a 50/2 with a bank of 167's on it. The bank was deenergized (vacant building) on a deadend pole, the theives had been systematically removing stuff from the building and apparently figured since the electric was out the line was out. OOPs, they cut the pole down with a sawzall, used a chisel and hammer to keep the blade from binding, I know this because I assume when the pole came down and the ball of fire locked out the circuit, these bozos left the hammer, chisel, sawzall battery and skeedadled without getting the leg wire :D One hell of a mess cleaning up three 167's worth of oil though.

wormy
05-23-2008, 08:58 PM
Here in WV, guy cut through substation fence down in coal country. When he got in he tried to cut some copper. Showed him burning on TV. There were 2 guys other guy called this kids dad. Dad showed up and tried to get kid off, 2 burning bodies

LinemanRocker
06-02-2008, 10:45 PM
Here in Gary, Indiana, the thieves started out stealing the little bit of copper wire out of weatherheads on abandoned houses. After that started getting scarce they moved on to the weatherheads that were still energized, started small with 3awg then moved up to the businesses with 500mcm. We found one weatherhead to an apartment building down on an outage with the electic saw welded to the pipe. Then they started breaking into URD transformers in abandoned areas. As of lately, they've been cutting open wire secondary down in spots so as not to cause any outtages, though in some attempts, jerking of the lines blew some tap fuses and damaged one OH tub. We haven't really had any substation problems. The worst, or best depending on how you look at it, couple copper theft problems were where they cut our tub poles down. The 1st one was a deadend circuit bank pole (100KV tubs) they cut down with a chainsaw. Must've scared them away because all of the mess was still there for us to clean up. The most recent one though, they chopped down with a hatchet (must've took some time). It blew the single phase tap, but this time they got away with all the guts of a 75kv tub.

LinemanRocker
06-02-2008, 10:48 PM
Oh, and we just had a superviser fired for having some apprentices load up copper reels and haul them to the scrap yard. What an idiot!

Squizzy
07-04-2008, 09:45 PM
Our fault group a couple of years ago go called to a Water Corporation pumping station with a no power and a leaking transformer. The T-off line had been cut down with a chainsaw after the Drop Out Fuses had been pulled and everything was gone including the poles,cables nuts and bolts only thing left was a leaking transformer on the ground....

RadonHuffer
07-05-2008, 09:15 PM
Loud mouth know it all, I am happy I am out of there!:D

http://www.mlive.com/saginawnews/news/index.ssf/2008/07/former_city_employee_faces_cha.html



Former city employee faces charges he stole copper wire
by Dean Bohn | The Saginaw News
Thursday July 03, 2008, 7:46 AM
Saginaw officials fired an employee who was a month shy of logging 30 years of service with the city, due to retire shortly after turning 50 in October, on suspicion he committed a crime while on duty.
City officials also are pondering if Jerry A. Gomez, who was a traffic electrician, will receive any of his benefits after his June 20 firing.

Saginaw County District Court records show Judge Terry L. Clark last month arraigned Gomez of Saginaw Township on a charge of malicious destruction of utilities and receiving and concealing stolen property, copper wire, worth less than $20,000 -- on June 8.

Gomez has a preliminary hearing at 3:45 p.m. Monday, July 21, before Clark.
A conviction could lead to a sentence of up to five years in prison and $10,000 in fines.

"A sub-contracting crew for Consumers (Energy) was clearing bad wire from trees and broken branches after the (June 6-7) storm that went through Saginaw, throwing the bad wire on the ground," a city official said. "They noticed a city employee in a city truck following them around all day, picking up the copper wire. They grew suspicious and reported it."

The city called Gomez in that Saturday to work overtime.

"It was discovered that he never turned in any wire to the city or to Rifkin (Scrap Metal & Iron Co., 1445 N. Niagara) on behalf of the city, and when investigators went out to his home, they found several rolls of copper at his residence," the city official said. "It is believed he was turning the wire in for personal profit."

Gomez began working for the city on Aug. 2, 1978.

BigClive
07-06-2008, 08:09 AM
I worked alongside a prick like that too. When you were on one of his jobs all he did was go round stripping out copper for personal profit while you did all the work.

Dorchester
07-29-2008, 10:51 AM
Like most utilities, we are losing an awful lot of down grounds. We typically run #4 stranded covered copper, stapled every 12" and the bottom 8' are covered with a plastic u-guard. People have suggested coupling the copper clad ground rod and bringing it up the pole out of the public's reach. The thought being that the copper clad steel is relatively worthless. My problem with that is I think the that the people that are going through the trouble to get this number 4 are going to see this 5/8" rod that appears to be copper and it's actually going to be more desirable. We need to address this and I am curious as to what others are doing. These junkies are creating an unsafe atmosphere for us.

Trbl639
07-30-2008, 02:32 PM
Like most utilities, we are losing an awful lot of down grounds. We typically run #4 stranded covered copper, stapled every 12" and the bottom 8' are covered with a plastic u-guard. People have suggested coupling the copper clad ground rod and bringing it up the pole out of the public's reach. The thought being that the copper clad steel is relatively worthless. My problem with that is I think the that the people that are going through the trouble to get this number 4 are going to see this 5/8" rod that appears to be copper and it's actually going to be more desirable. We need to address this and I am curious as to what others are doing. These junkies are creating an unsafe atmosphere for us.

Years ago, there was a copper shortage, so when we grounded poles, we used #4 ACSR, for pole ground.........right down to ground level, and then we squeezed onto a piece of #6 copper for the butt wrap...............we might be starting that again!!!!!

We had a trblmn got out to a sub, that fed a mill of some sort (4160) anyway, when he pulled up, the station house was smoking.........this sub didn't have SCADA.....some goober had cut the grounds and stole the copper to everything in the station.........lucky the trblmn didn't open the gate!!!!!

It's bad when ya gotta wear your HV gloves to unlock a substa!!!!!!!!

RWD
07-30-2008, 03:23 PM
We went to a # 4 galvanized hard drawn steel. Three wires twisted together. Similar to the old amaductor from the ww2 days. Galvanized steel from the groundrod to the neutral. The guys used to cut the copper with a machete and make wrist bands out of it or sell it. I'm sure we caused a lot of machete's to be resharpend.

On another project we had a contractor pulling wire in the daytime then stealing it back at night. We wrote a contract that the contractor was responsible for the conductor until it was energized and turned over to the company. He about crapped when we told him he had to replace the conductor out of his pocket. Then he showed up with old conductor we told him that since it had already been sagged once we could not accept it. He never took another one of our contracts and was later caught stealing again.

RWD

grizzlybuck
07-31-2008, 09:36 PM
Here in central Ohio, there has been a discussion about using copper clad for the last 10' or so, but the point was made that the idiots stealing the copper couldn't tell the difference and would just steal it too. Eventually this is going to cause a problem as we rely on pole grounds to make our system neutrals an outstanding ground, it will be interesting to see what some of the solutions to this problem are.

Doggboi
08-09-2008, 03:57 PM
We have had to move our #4 & 6 into the trucks bins, and we also had the truck grounds stolen , so those are now removable and we have also moved the grounding jumpers off the truck into bins on the trucks.

Meanwhile we have a tall used pole pile with copper all over the poles, and a full scrap bin which they dont touch. They prefer to cut into our yard and raid the trucks. I will give them this , instead of opening up the same old hole , they move around the perimeter.. but it sucks just the same.

Dorchester
08-14-2008, 10:19 AM
We are having open discussions about how to combat theft. A couple of the more promising alternatives are going from #4 cu to #2 dead soft annealed copperweld. It is a copper-clad steel that provides a low impedance to ground, fatigue and corrosion resistance, easy to form because of the annealing process, and it is a theft deterant because it is difficult to cut and literally worthless at the scrapyard.
Another idea is to bring the groundrod up the pole. We could couple it to the existing groundrod and bring it up to an area out of the public reach. Difficult to cut to say the least, and again not worth much at the scrapyards.

My question is, has anyone worked with copperweld? If so, any feedback, positive or negative? What about bringing the groundrod up?

woodwalker78
08-15-2008, 06:33 PM
Had an out of service ticket yesterday for a sewer lift station. When I arrived I noticed one of the doors on the 3 phase padmount tx was opened slightly. I grabbed my ppe and voltmeter to check voltage on the sec side before I went into the lift station. As I opened the door to the secondary side of the tx I noticed there was no service! Below the multi-taps were the 4 ends of the service where it had been cut off! As I was staring at the empty conduit I kept thinking, NO WAY!!! I proceeded into the station taking note the lock and chain had been cut. When I pulled off the cover off the meter can, sure enough someone had actually cut the 3 phase service right above the lugs on the line side and had pulled out the copper service!!! Who ever did it had to have some knowledge of electricity, having access to a penta socket to open the tx after cutting the lock , and assuming they thought about cutting the service first in the tx so it would be dead when they cut in the meter can and pulled the cables out! I must be out of touch with reality, since its been 25yrs or so since the last time I sold rabbit to a scrap yard!! Has copper gone up THAT much lately???? The service was small, only 1/0 copper, and since the tx was just outside the station fence it was only about a 25 to 30ft run! Could it have been THAT much money??? The padmount was a dead front, but any small mistake and it could of gotten ugly real quick!!!!! I know the economy is bad, but there are many other ways to make a buck or two without taking a chance like that!!!!!

wtdoor67
08-15-2008, 07:20 PM
Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.

woodwalker78
08-15-2008, 07:46 PM
weatherhead scrap. That the muni I worked for at the time allowed us to take. Never cared much for cuttin it down hot. Leave that for the REAL men.

Squizzy
09-20-2008, 05:55 AM
The Utility here has launced a investigation here as on the top of 66kV disconector they found a burnt footprint complete will melted rubber and boot laces and a trail of burnt denam in a yard. The top of the post insulator had a couple of water sheds blown off it and some other burn marks. There was an outage reported from 3 weeks earlier but the line re-set and no one thought any more of it until it was noticed by a maintenance crew. Looks like some one has been hit with a big one and taken off or been carried off going to interesting to see where it goes.
Another tosser on the news is suing the utility for $1 million for the loss of both legs, this after he climbed an 8 foot barbed wire fence with "danger high voltage" signs all over them. Then he proceded to climb up the pole and onto the transformer (which is earthed) and tried to cut some wires he didn't think was on. Give me a break what a d!ck head.
To top it off the Utility got a call about its noisy contractors at night that damaged a customers letter box when they pulled in at night so when they investigated the contractors who had laid the cable during the day had come back at night to steal it!!! talk about triple dipping unbelievable some people get paid to lay it , steal it back and sell it then get paid to lay it again:confused:

Trbl639
09-20-2008, 12:47 PM
We had an outage the other morning...tman found a long aluminum ladder...tennis shoes and a pair of vice grips...was stealing neutral, got it flopping and it got into the primary...7620...he made it to a nearby house for help...was alirlifted to Little rock...but is still alive!!!!

Squizzy
09-21-2008, 11:37 AM
Call me pr!ck but thats as far as I am concerned poetic justice bet he won't do it again! But now he will get a payout big enough to not have to...

SoCalLineman
10-26-2008, 11:51 PM
Ok, this is my first post, I work in So Cal and we have had multiple copper thefts from subs and in the field.
I got a call of a kick out on one of our 12KV circuits, we had a ground target and isolated it down to a small area. Finally in an vacant medical center we found some one had removed the bottom coupling from a three phase primary riser and started to cut thru the cable. We found the nippers he was using and you could see where his knees had been in the flash marks. We called the local PD and after about three weeks a recycling center owner called the cops due to a customer with 3rd degree burns on his face, neck and arms. He was sorry to go to jail but happy they were sending him to the ER first.
Also we lost a 16KV circuit again with a ground target. We got a trans former fire call in a vacant car sales lot. We had a meth head with just his feet sticking out of the top of the oil chamber on a Commercial Pad Mount Trans.
We have cut all of the bushes back around our subs and painted our ground wire red and have caught a few thieves but still a lot get away.
I

CPOPE
10-28-2008, 05:34 PM
Read the report from the US Department of Energy

http://www.oe.netl.doe.gov/docs/copper042707.pdf

Fueled by economic growth, worldwide demand for copper has risen over the past several years.
Supply has been unable to keep pace, pushing prices dramatically upward, particularly from
2003 through 2006 when the price per pound of copper rose from around $0.70 to as high as
$4.00 by mid-2006. The price then steadily declined until stabilizing at about $2.60 per pound in
early 2007. Copper appears to be on the way up again in March 2007, exceeding $3.00 per
pound by the middle of the month. Prices continued to climb in April 2007, averaging $3.50 per
pound. Tight supplies have lead to an increase in copper recycling, which, in turn, has created a
market for used copper and made the material a more attractive target for theft. In fact, thefts of
copper wire have been on the rise across the United States, with no apparent geographic pattern
and all sectors that use the material, including electric utilities, are being targeted.
Thefts of copper wire from utilities occur primarily at substation transformers, from utility poles,
or from the back of service trucks. The thefts have several adverse consequences, including the
obvious economic impact, service disruptions, and possibly personal injury or death for persons
involved in the theft or subsequent recovery efforts. Utilities across the Nation are paying
increasing attention to this growing problem and have begun to investigate and implement
measures for deterring thefts, protecting facilities, and quickly recovering from any
consequences.
There are a wide variety of countermeasures that can be taken by electric utilities, working
closely with scrap metal dealers and law enforcement officials. Countermeasures include
communication and coordination with law enforcement and between utilities; fencing, signs,
warnings, lighting, patrolling, and intrusion detection for deterrence; wire and equipment
protection to make thefts more difficult; alternate equipment and wire devaluation to make the
material less attractive; and rewards, watch programs, and resale waiting periods to make the sale
of potentially stolen copper easier to detect. In addition, scrap metal dealers have instituted a
Scrap Theft Alert System and state legislators are actively drafting legislation addressing copper
wire theft. During the first three months of 2007, 21 states have proposed bills raising the fines
and penalties for stealing or dealing stolen copper as well as tightening the record-keeping and
licensing requirements for scrap metal dealers. Reducing and ultimately eliminating copper wire
theft requires a collaborative effort by electric utilities, scrap metal dealers, law enforcement
officials, and state regulators and legislators.

Pootnaigle
10-28-2008, 07:25 PM
lottsa scrap dealers dont pay the top dollar for scrap ....right now its goin fer round 2 bux a lb and the dealers wanna pay 1.15. They in tern sell it for the full price and make a nice profit. At todays prices it would be easier to become gainfully employed.

CPOPE
10-30-2008, 07:22 PM
October 25, 2008

MIAMI -- Police said Saturday a man was electrocuted when he tried to steal wires in Miami.

It happened Saturday morning at Northwest Seventh Avenue and Eighth Street. Investigators said he tried to cut the wires from a light pole when he was shocked. When fire rescue arrived, they could not get to the man until Florida Power and Light cut the power.

The man died at the scene. His identity has not been released.

http://www.local10.com/news/17803602/detail.html

Squizzy
11-03-2008, 07:04 AM
The scrap dealers all over here have stopped buying non-ferrous metals so the copper theft should slow down for a while, unless some industrial sould wish to build up a stock pile and wait for China to start buying it again.

Shapesman
11-13-2008, 01:57 PM
Copper is not the only thing ‘walking’ in the north of England.

Some clown is scaling live 400kV, 120 ft towers and cutting the fall arrest wire rope off the legs. The wire rope is stainless steel.

Makes you wonder what is going through their minds when they are risking their life for a few dollars of scrap steel.

CPOPE
02-08-2009, 07:44 PM
Windsor copper thief dies after electrocution
February 08, 2009
THE CANADIAN PRESS

WINDSOR, Ont. — A man who police believe was stealing copper wire is dead after he was electrocuted in Windsor.

Hydro One is working with city police to piece together the death after the company received an alarm Saturday night.

Windsor police were called to the scene about midnight.

Hydro One spokeswoman Laura Cook says it appears the unidentified man was attempting to remove the metal from a city power station when the electricity shot through his body, killing him.

Power lines contain copper wire used to conduct electricity, and contact with an energized power line can end in serious injury or death.

Theft of recyclable scrap metals like copper and aluminum have become somewhat common as the price for the material has soared.

CPOPE
02-10-2009, 05:28 AM
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Police have identifed the man who was electrocuted while allegedly trying to steal copper from a Hydro One transformer station.

Police said Monday that Michael Mawhinney, 38, died Saturday night after trying to steal copper from the hydro station at Walker and Grand Marais roads.

Mawhinney was shocked after climbing the barbed wire fence of the transformer station, police said. He died in hospital following the jolt, which happened at 9:14 p.m. and caused a four-minute power outage in the area. A Hydro One worker investigating the outage called 911 after finding Mawhinney underneath the transformer.

Ed McNorton said police are increasingly seeing people take big risks to get copper and other metals as they become more valuable, whether it's stealing from someone's garbage, climbing into a transformer station or taking the wire off towering power lines.

"You never really know what's live and not live," he said. "When you start dealing with electricity, you're just asking for trouble."

Hydro One spokeswoman Laura Cooke said copper theft costs her company $1 million a year.

McNorton said that as far as he knows, this was first time someone in Windsor died trying to get copper wire. In Southeast Michigan, seven people died in 2007 trying to steal wire from DTE Energy power lines. Despite the dangers, DTE sees several hundred thefts each year.

"We have people climbing our poles, taking live power lines," said DTE spokesman Scott Simons. "It's just incredibly dangerous."

He said the metals are most often sold to scrap dealers. Other times, people will do a straight trade for drugs.

A woman who identified herself as a relative of Mawhinney said she believes he was desperate enough to try stealing copper.

She said Mawhinney had a job at Ford, but it dried up a few years ago.

She said he leaves behind a seven-year-old son named Reily.

Mawhinney moved here from Hamilton about 15 years ago with his brother Mark. The transformer station where he died is right next to the tracks where Mark was hit by a train in 2004 near the intersection of Walker and Grand Marais. Mark barely survived with internal injuries, a broken neck, arm, leg, ribs and pelvis.

The relative said Mark went back to Hamilton after the accident and Michael returned for a while to care for him.

whorton
07-05-2016, 03:09 AM
Another tosser on the news is suing the utility for $1 million for the loss of both legs, this after he climbed an 8 foot barbed wire fence with "danger high voltage" signs all over them. Then he proceded to climb up the pole and onto the transformer (which is earthed) and tried to cut some wires he didn't think was on. Give me a break what a d!ck head.


I would not worry about this guy and his lawsuit. . .

He dosen't have a leg to stand on!

foodmas
09-05-2016, 08:05 PM
I would not worry about this guy and his lawsuit. . .

He dosen't have a leg to stand on!


The thieves should be punished severely.