Page 1 of 7 1 2 3 ... LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 63

Thread: Copper theft

  1. Default Copper theft

    Featured Sponsor

    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?

  2. #2

    Default

    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 .

  3. #3

    Angry Just last week

    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.

  4. #4

    Default

    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.

  5. #5

    Default

    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.

  6. #6

    Cool Wrong move in a transformer

    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.

  7. #7

    Default

    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.
    Portable defibrillators were first invented to save the lives of linemen. Where's yours?

    www.bigclive.com

  8. #8

    Default Some of these thieves got skills...

    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.

  9. #9

    Unhappy Maybe?

    Quote Originally Posted by johnbellamy View Post
    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.

  10. #10

    Default Thats what we joke about at work.....

    Featured Sponsorr

    Quote Originally Posted by PA BEN View Post
    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.
    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?
    Last edited by johnbellamy; 03-09-2008 at 01:25 PM.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •