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I've been working at a company next door to a scrapyard this week - this morning there was debris in the road outside which clearly included connectors from overhead domestic telephone wires. Metal theft of all kinds is endemic around here at the moment, with drain grids and even road signs going missing.
Last edited by: Dave_TDCi on Wed 28 Sep 11 at 17:14
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Best watch out for my iron railings they will be along with a Stihl saw. :-(
Seen plenty of street grates gone & of course the problems with signalling is a major headache.
The Telephone pole has a copper cable behind the metal shield they nicked 2 metres of cable and knocked out 15 houses in the street.
But at least on a good point they do send BTP down in trains during the night around Pontifract area in West Yorkshire were the main trouble is and they have made some arrests and the tamper drivers have whacked a few of these 4x4's they use to pull the cables out.
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I was told a story of rural power lines having a system that cut off power if a fault was detected. As many faults were caused by tree branches contacting the power lines causing the cut-out to operate, the cut-out was designed to re-connect the power after a short period of time to reduce the number of call-outs by staff.
Now if, say, a chain was thrown over the power line, the power would be disconnected. If the person who threw the chain then thought it would be safe to connect that chain to a vehicle to tear down the power line, they could be in for a surprise. Some were!
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>> Now if, say, a chain was thrown over the power line, the power would be
>> disconnected. If the person who threw the chain then thought it would be safe to
>> connect that chain to a vehicle to tear down the power line, they could be
>> in for a surprise. Some were!
Would it be overly harsh to chuckle and call that justice? As that's what I've just done ;-)
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>> Shocking attitude DP.
>>
Cobblers, deserve all they get, (except any profit).
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I think (or at least hope) Martin's response was in jest, ON. The clue is in the adjective. :-)
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indeed - I assume he was being ironic, and for once I agree with him.
These monkeys know they are dealing with a lot of volts. Given they know that, I really don't care (read hope they do) if they end up as a smoking smear of ash.
Cable theft has consequences for the users and consumers, far in excess of the gain from the theft. Frankly I hope they burn.
Last edited by: Zero on Wed 28 Sep 11 at 21:01
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I used to do a bit of 'totting' as a kid, my mates dad had a horse and cart and we would go around SE London,
We also used to filch a bit of bluey (lead) or copper from old factories that were being demolished, but what goes on today is more-than criminal and must be clamped down on with the most severe punishments IMO,
I do wonder what on earth this country is coming to sometimes!
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I went to a dealership to pick up a 4x4 for delivery to a large company the other day (I think we pick up an deliver about 2000 of these things per year). I arrived a bit early and the guy said told me the 4x4 was ready but they just had to put the cat back on. "Why", said I "was there something wrong with it?" His reply was that they had to take them off on delivery to their compound and replace them as we picked them up otherwise they got nicked. Apparently, it doesn't matter what security they have - high fences, CCTV, patrols, lighting etc, the thieves seem to be able to get in and nick a few to the extent that they cannot get insurance anymore. He said that the previous night a dealer down the road had lost 9 cats from brand new unregistered cars the night before. Big 4x4s seem to be a favourite target - easy to get under.
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A property developer I know doesn't fit boilers into his refurbed flats until just before the tenant/owner moves in.
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The law needs to be changed to make it a lot harder to sell scrap metal to scrap yards. It is the only way to reduce the problem.
I think very tough prison sentences are needed too. Delay a main line train costing many £1000's you should get ten years for that. If sentences are tough like for drug dealers then so many of these crooks would think twice.
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Actually Rattle, delaying a train could get you life in prison. The offence is 'Interfering with Her Majesty's Railway' or some such. Merseyside police threatened to use it when there was a spate of car stereo thefts from trains leaving Halweood laden with Escorts.
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Messing about with the transport system or power/water utilities should be classes as a form of terrorism and have suitable custodial punishments in every case, no matter how small.
It's not new, I remember when I was on the beat in central Manchester in the mid-sixties, there was a spate of Victorian plaques being taken off our old banks and cotton warehouses.
Nicking of grids is particularly serious...I wouldn't like my bike's front wheel down one at any speed !
The recent theft of plaques from some war memorials locally sickens me.......these scum should get extra years added.
How can any scrapyard owner accept such stuff ? Unless it's melted down first.
Ted
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A lot of scrap yards seem to be owned by crooks. There was one in North Manchester which was owned by quite a well known crook in the 70's and of course it was a front for handling stolen cars.
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>>How can any scrapyard owner accept such stuff ? Unless it's melted down first<<
From my experience, in S.E. London, most if not all scrap yard owners were crooks,
Remember the Richardsons Teddy?
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I wasn't going to mention this, but I had to replace a wheel and tyre on the car last weekend after bending one on a drain with a missing cover on my way home from work on Friday night. Even at second-hand prices that was the day's wages straight, well, down the drain. I'm not laughing :/
Another reason why I'm glad it's on steels not alloys I suppose. Every cloud.
Last edited by: Dave_TDCi on Thu 29 Sep 11 at 17:01
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>> ..... after bending one on a drain with a missing cover
>> on my way home from work on Friday night.
>>
I have been told that some scroats in my region were caught on a drain cover collection expedition.
A modified Transit was used, it having a hole cut out of the floor, could then be positioned with one set of whhels on the road and one set of wheels on the pavement so sheilding the scroast at their task and ensuring they kept dry.
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...after bending one on a drain with a missing cover on my way home from work on Friday night...
For a few years Durham County Council has been using composite plastic drain covers which are strong enough, but have no scrap value.
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>> For a few years Durham County Council has been using composite plastic drain covers which
>> are strong enough, but have no scrap value.
Road signs in Northants are also composite and have a sticker to say so.
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>> A property developer I know doesn't fit boilers into his refurbed flats until just before the tenant/owner moves in.
>>
I thought this had become fairly standard hence the sort of shelf under the boiler to which the pipes are fitted to and then the boiler will just need poping on the wall and all the pipes are there in the correct spacing.
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...I thought this had become fairly standard...
Quite possibly, but the reason my mate does it is because he's had so many boilers nicked.
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Nicking the metal piece by piece is just playing at it.
Anyone fancy chipping in to buy BT for all its copper?
www.theregister.co.uk/2011/09/22/bt_copper_cable_theft/
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>> hence the sort of shelf under the boiler to which the pipes are fitted to
It makes for ease of fitting, the manifold would be there whether the boiler is fitted at the same time as the pipes or 2 months later. Different boiler manufacturers put the pipes in a different order anyway - makes for a few repeat sales 10 years down the line I suppose :)
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>> A property developer I know doesn't fit boilers into his refurbed flats until just before
>> the tenant/owner moves in.
The new house near me had all the kitchen appliances and boiler put in the day before the new owners were due to move in. All stolen that night. The thieves were very fortunate, very observant or were tipped off by someone.
Last edited by: Tigger on Thu 29 Sep 11 at 08:01
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Similar thing happened to me 18 years ago. Had the entire fitted kitchen including units and appliances stolen from my new house just before we moved in. They did leave the boiler though. Thieves did it overnight, parking their van in an adjacent playing field and removing a fence panel to access my garden and levering out a patio door to enter the house.
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And we wonder why ins premiums are so high.
And yes, I was jesting above.
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I suggest all those who agree with the survey move to where the grass is greener, thereby improving the quality of life for those of us who are staying.
Last edited by: Iffy on Thu 29 Sep 11 at 09:57
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>>I suggest all those who agree with the survey move to where the grass is greener, thereby improving the quality of life for those of us who are staying<<
Yawn.
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a friend of mine has a largeish farm localy and over the years anything that was made of metal ie car, trucks and old farm machinery was dumped down a large 30ft deep bomb crater on his land.
when it became full he dumped topsoil over it and left it like that for the last ten years.
last week when i went to visit he had me helping him remove topsoil and we managed to get out out 3cars before dark. with the price of scrap pretty high he reckons he has at least 5k of metal buried and somewhere in there is a mk11 shadow and a Jensen interceptor ff so should be able to strip the engines out for some parts as well
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bathtub tom.
Yes the circuit breaker cuts out and then comes back in after approx 5 seconds and it trips out again to a maximum of 3x times then they send out the engineer to the line.
Theiving scum bags got a wire out and was carring it to there van when he must have positioned it upwards and if damp the arc can jump 9ft well the scumbag got 25kv in him and then zapped again and again and was well and trully crispy im told when they got to him.!! Ha ha severs them right & i mean that.!!!
This morning on the last 1 hr of my night shift 3x trains couldn't leave the depot due to cable theft through the night and had to be cancelled for the 7.00 service so many would not have made it to work on time.
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Happens over here now too. The TGV network is disrupted at least weekly, due to cable thefts.
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Steel safety fences are nicked around here.
I believe services are disrupted because lower speed limits are imposed.
Bigtee will know if that's correct.
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The theft is of the signalling equipment and when cut either goes automatic to red or no power to the signals so all movements stop.
It's almost every day the cables are kept in concrete section trunking with a lid you just lift off by hand and are about 1 foot down, which is why there so easy to get at.
To fit this lot under ground is the key but to what cost, theives will find a way around that.
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Friend has a field in which she keeps her horse. Found out on Monday the her trailer had been knicked from said field. Also the neighbouring sub station had been stripped. Police suspect that her trailer was used for transporting the ill gotten gains
Sounds like its happening a lot more now
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Whre I am the local council conducts clean ups every year so you can put out all sorts of things for collection. Usually there are quite a lot of broken electrical goods put out together with furniture, bundled up garden refuse and so on. What inevitably happens is that someone comes along, cuts off all the power leads and takes them, leaving the appliances behind. Scrap copper must be worth a bit of money....
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When my boiler was replaced recently the apprentice on the team had the job of stripping all the non ferrous metal from the old boiler before it was put in the van.
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We have gas central heating and a maintenance agreement with British Gas.
When I was working away, there was a small leak and the Mrs called BG out.
They sent out a subcontractor who fitted a new hot water tank made from steel.
There was nothing wrong with the old one. The leak was in the bathroom, not the airing cupboard.
I suspect the subcontractor got paid for the job and got a nice little earner for a top quality piece of copper.
We are now left with a poorer (in my opinion) steel cylinder that will rust.
I told BG but they were not interested. Goodness knows how many times this has happened!
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>> We have gas central heating and a maintenance agreement with British Gas.
>> When I was working away, there was a small leak and the Mrs called BG out.
>> They sent out a subcontractor who fitted a new hot water tank made from steel.
>> We are now left with a poorer (in my opinion) steel cylinder that will rust.
I'm sorry zippy, but that can't be right.
The only reason a copper cylinder would be changed for a steel one is if a complete hot water system is being changed from a vented (low pressure HW) system to an unvented (high pressure HW) one. This would entail fitting a lot of extra pipework to permit the unvented cylinder to work in the intended way.
All unvented HW cylinders are made from stainless steel anyway, precisely so they can't rust. That's why all the pipes are copper.
Stainless steel cylinders are far more expensive than copper cylinders too. Moreover, the cylinder in the airing cupboard is nothing to do with the central heating system in the first place.
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Thanks Dave, I stand corrected!
A magnet can be attached to the new one and the old one was copper so what is going on!? Mrs said they were there for about 4 hours so what could they have done.
Btw, my ability with plumbing is: If the water does not come on when the tap is turned then its broken!
Last edited by: zippy on Wed 5 Oct 11 at 22:30
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>> A magnet can be attached to the new one
That's because stainless steel is magnetic.
www.bssa.org.uk/faq.php?id=24
www.physlink.com/education/askexperts/ae546.cfm
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>>
>> That's because stainless steel is magnetic.
>>
>> www.bssa.org.uk/faq.php?id=24
>> www.physlink.com/education/askexperts/ae546.cfm
>>
Interesting explanation. I had always assumed (old wives' tale?) that that was a way of telling good quality stainless steel from poor - the better kind was non-magnetic?
I've sometimes tried testing samples of SS with a magnet. Generally cheap cutlery and sinks are magnetic, good cutlery and marine fittings non-magnetic.
Is that too simplistic?
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Aren't some steel cylinders simply enamelled mild steel rather than SS?
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Another question.
Would the inside of a steel cylinder rust in use?
There can't be a lot of air in there, assuming the inlet valve refills the cylinder as hot water is drawn from it.
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>> I had always assumed (old wives' tale?) that that was a way of telling good quality stainless steel from poor - the better kind was non-magnetic?
Absolutely correct (largely). Only the cheaper SS (with fewer alloying metals) has a ferrite atomic structure (which is magnetic). With the addition of more alloying elements the steel changes its structure - as it has to incorporate atoms of other elements which are a different size, thus becoming austenitic which is not magnetic.
If the steel is cold worked (i.e its shape is changed once solid) then it can change its property again and become martensite which is also magnetic. If you test your kitchen sink the draining board is probably not magnetic, but the corners in the bowl quite probably are as they will have been heavily worked.
Last edited by: Mapmaker on Thu 6 Oct 11 at 11:48
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Metal thefts, - Dave_
