The Sorry State of Things

[SlimTim]

I was called to a job yesterday, a 2 story office building, doctors, dentists and beauty salons, they had no water.

Turns out someone had stolen the 2" r.p.device at the street.

Someone had called the local utility company about a flood and they had turned the water off.

[PLUMBER RICK]

i had a water heater to replace the other day. the old heater had a watts 210 gas shut off valve instead of the pressure/ temperature relief valve.

city of l.a. doesn't allow the watts 210 anymore:eek:

so i had to run 30' of 3/4'' copper outside to the exterior wall and down.

in my proposal, i recommended to paint it that day so it would not disappear. plus it would look better on the exterior of the building.

since i only stock type l copper. i decided to use type m to save a couple of bucks. i was blown away at the price of 3/4'' m copper. $2.25 a foot:eek:

i know i only bought 30' but it's been a long time since i've had to buy copper as i've stocked type l for years inside of sealed plastic pipe.


anyone interested in a case of watts 210 valves. good price and i'll ship them.

rick.

[Drain Medic]

I have a couple McDonalds that i do regulary. I got a call from the manager at one of the McDonalds that someone stole the handle off the urinal in the mens room :loser:


Went to check it out, and sure enough it was gone lol.

People crack me up.

[SlimTim]

I guess that handle must of had special memories for the thief!

[aero1]

we just did a job were some low lifes broke into a empty space at a strip mall and you guessed it tore out all the copper, owner gets call that water is pouring out under back door, seem they went in thru the roof, kinda gives new meaning to the words strip mall, anyway repiped it in pex, we charge a premium for copper and when we walk away its on the owner. as noted on the receipt.:smile:

[plumberscrack]

$2.50 for #1 copper at Super Salvage Scrap Yard

$2.35 for #2

Cashed in 71lbs. of #1 last week :D

It is a sorry state of things

[MPMGinAL]

copper theft is very prominent in my town as im sure it is everywhere. What about the guy that notices his house getting warm and goes out to check his air conditioner and find an empty shell, compressor and a fan. Then, he finds out that we can't just put in a new unit he has to put in a new system. EPA now madates 13 SEER. 30 bucks at scrap yard just cost him 5 grand.

[westcoastplumber]

$2.50 for #1 copper at Super Salvage Scrap Yard

$2.35 for #2

Cashed in 71lbs. of #1 last week :D

It is a sorry state of things


I have started scapping my scrap also...never used too, had $300 worth, I was amazed as all heck, it is going to be a common accurance now.:happydance::happydance:

[mtnman1100]

I used to live in the Inland Empire in CA and RP's and backflow prevention devices would get stolen all the time. Usually the thieves would only cut one side then hook a chain or rope to their car and yank the rest. I was just driving by one of my customers here CO and their back flow was just recently stolen. OUCH.
When I have replaced them I always offer to build a cage around the new one. Those aren't cheap either.

[ToUtahNow]

I changed out 3-4" PRVs and strainers on a high rise where each PRV had a 4" bronze gate valve on either side. All of it was companion flange so the stuff was real heavy. I didn't finish the job until late at night so when I got back to the shop I just unloaded them by the shop roll-up door and rolled my hoist into the shop. Of course the next morning it was all gone.:smack-head:

Mark

[woodenstickers]

catalytic converter theft.

http://abclocal.go.com/wjrt/story?section=news/local&id=5378700

[biscuit]

I have started scapping my scrap also...never used too, had $300 worth, I was amazed as all heck, it is going to be a common accurance now.:happydance::happydance:

We used to let our guys keep all of the scap from their projects but decided it's not really fair to the outside crews and rough-in guys. Amazingly they all agreed:eek: and have been bringing it back to the shop and putting in containers.

In three weeks time, we cashed in a little over $8,300.00 from the scrap yard for them. All of money goes in a pool and is divided equally between the plumbing employees at the end of the month.

[libbyloulou]

The low life over here have been strippng churches of lead, been rife all over britain, even the cast iron grids (drains) are going.
Could understand if it was for food, but afraid it's down to the usual junkies:(

[haycad]

we've been in the process of buying a 5 acre property that was in forclosure, just when are financing went through some tweekers broke in and stole the electrical panel,the water heater, the kitchen sink, and some misc. wire. bids from my buddies is around $6000 to fix they probably got $75 bucks for the scrap.

[HVAC HAWK]

i say it should come down to the scrap yards to stop taking things that look new and to all of them put up a sign that says YOUR BEING VIDEO TAPED :eek:
then this will stop people from taking it because then things can be traced back to them .
i have seen new copper fittings at a scrap yard and they said there is nothing they can do about it . although some work with some company's to catch employees that take things from the company.

[DuckButter]

I can't remember the last time I wasn't asked for an I.D. when I turned in scrap.

[HVAC HAWK]

I can't remember the last time I wasn't asked for an I.D. when I turned in scrap.

but it may come down to it some day

[SlimTim]

The low life over here have been strippng churches of lead, been rife all over britain, even the cast iron grids (drains) are going.
Could understand if it was for food, but afraid it's down to the usual junkies:(

Are lead and cast iron worth the trouble of stealing?

[SlimTim]

Tn. just passed a scrap metal law which requires i.d, signatures, blah blah.
I would hate to get the government involved in anything but this is getting to be more than just an inconvenience.
What do you think about the out lawing of the purchase of scrap metal from individuals. Have the city pick it up like other recyclables. The city would make the profit (maybe my property taxes won't go up AGAIN.)

[gear junkie]

Salvage yards here require any persons turning large amount of copper(over 5 lbs) have either a contractor liscense or a letter from their employer giving permission to scrap the copper. We used to have a huge problem in copper theft here and that was a driving force in the introduction of pex in new homes.

[libbyloulou]

Are lead and cast iron worth the trouble of stealing?

To be honest, can't recall the price of lead here,(but at least a twenty year high), thanks to china? Theres actually a shortage.

Cast iron ?, 10- 15 grids (average,say, 50 lb each,) do twice that in 5mins in our back streets, £125 per ton.

About $450 per trip?

YES! very good money, don't forget, unless your a homer simpson, you'll only get caught(if you do) for one load.

$6-7 hundred fine?

[NHMaster3015]

They're hacking catalytic converters from cars with battery sawzalls. Worth a couple hundred bucks each for the platinum. I blame it on the EPA

[haycad]

here your required to have photo i.d. there was a guy last week, a local security guard at a port the news said he responded to the sound of someone cutting metal and he was shot and killed they never caught the guy that shot him. they said the tweeker would have got about $50 worth of metal. i think there should be tougher punishments on these guys. its sad

[SlimTim]

A customer showed me an invoice today. He called R*t* R**ter out to repair the 3-handle delta t&s fct.
Invoice read "Adjusted the diverter stem"
$490.00!!!
It worked for 1 week. When he called them back they said it would cost another $400.00.

[westcoastplumber]

A customer showed me an invoice today. He called R*t* R**ter out to repair the 3-handle delta t&s fct.
Invoice read "Adjusted the diverter stem"
$490.00!!!
It worked for 1 week. When he called them back they said it would cost another $400.00.


Thanks to them, they are making my company bigger and bigger and bigger:D:D:D

[Big Dog]

WCP
bigger is not always better! I work for one of the largest communications company and last year we did a battery replacement in a C.O. That included replaced the stranded copper cables. The guys had to cut it in 4' lengths to handle it easily and each piece weighed about 15 lbs. We have a standing contract with a guy who pays us .20 c to get all scrap and there was probably 500 lbs of this stuff. I tried and tried to get them to sell this, but the head man said we had to stick with the contract.:shakehead: Can you imagine that contractor when he saw 500 lbs of stranded copper in the scrap bin?????