So you just paid off an air conditioning service in Garland, TX to install an AC in your home. You may be looking for a replacement sooner than you think if you don’t make it thief-repellant and fast!

Why would anyone bother stealing an air conditioning unit? To understand that, we need to look at the components that make up this cooling system. Air conditioners comprise of a condenser and an air handler. Both of these have to work together to suck out heat and humidity from a room.

Condensers have a very important purpose in the unit. Heated refrigerant enters it in the form of vapor under extreme pressure. The condenser cools it down with fins and the vapor turns back to liquid refrigerant which goes through your home to collect more heat.

This cooling down process cannot be possible without the presence of copper components in the condenser. Unfortunately, the material is coveted by thieves because of its high resale price. Any condenser can contain up to 20 pounds of copper.

No need to worry or call your air conditioning service in Garland, TX in a panic. Here are some ways you can remove that target from your AC unit:

Lock it Down

The best way to prevent thieves from taking off with your AC is by locking it down. If they cannot get to the disconnect box, they cannot take the unit. Doing so can lead to a nasty shock. Typically they would want to take the unit with the power turned off so they can remove it without getting injured. That is what air conditioning service in Garland, TX do before they make repairs or do maintenance work.

Make sure that you know where the key to the box is or get locks that can be locked with a code. You don’t want your air conditioning service in Garland, TX to get a nasty shock when they try and access the condenser for repair work do you?

Let There Be Light!

Unless you are away from home a lot, would-be thieves will try and steal a unit in the dead of night. They don’t want to be seen, after all. The more visible they are, the more inaccessible the unit is for them. Prevent them from hiding by getting lights installed around the area. You can use low voltage ones so your energy bill doesn’t skyrocket even if they are turned on all night long.

Add Security Cameras

Even a dummy camera may put off potential thieves from taking off with your AC unit. However, since they have gotten smarter, it may be wiser to invest in a real one. Like the lights, thieves will think twice before they make a heist if they know they are being watched.

If they do get away, the footage will help the police identify and track them down. You can also keep an eye on the hired air conditioning service in Garland, TX as they work on the unit while you lounge inside.

Install an Alarm

If you don’t want to go for an ugly cage to keep your air conditioning unit safe from thieves, you can always go for an alarm. This will be inconspicuous and won’t make your unit stand out like a cage will. Most alarms are pressure sensitive but the technology behind them can differ according to the brand.

You can choose a basic model or if you want to save money, just attach a fake alarm sticker on the unit to deter thieves. A lot of budget-conscious homeowners opt for this as a cheap alternative for a full-fledged alarm. If you do go for the real deal, hire an air conditioning service in Garland, TX to install it for you. You may trigger it accidentally, but they won’t.

Make Accessibility Difficult

If you don’t want to use the abovementioned tips for any reason whatsoever, you can still make the theft difficult. You can’t ask the air conditioning service in Garland, TX to do this for you. Just add some bushes around the outer condenser or fence it in to make access difficult.

If you live in a busy part of town, you may not need to take these measures at all. Your neighbors and passersby may be enough to deter thieves who even think about making off with the unit. You can ask your neighbors to keep an eye out and save money in the bargain.

However, if you live in a remote area of town, you should take every precaution necessary to prevent theft. Call an air conditioning service in Garland, TX to install all of the aforementioned safety measures if you have to. Or you can hide the outdoor unit in an unlikely or hard to reach place to make it a pain to get to.

If the air conditioning unit is installed at the back of your house by the air conditioning service in Garland, TX, just install a fence around it and make it as high as possible. Of course, make sure that you do not violate any zoning regulations. Otherwise, you may still lose your AC unit, just to the authorities.

An air conditioning unit does not come cheap. Do you really want someone to run off with it? The aforementioned tips can help you prevent that and keep the unit in top shape as well.

Whether you are looking for a new air conditioning unit, need repairs on an old one or need an air conditioning service in Garland, TX to fix your HVAC system, get in touch with K&S Heating and Air today. The service has technicians who have over 100 years of experience between them so you can trust them completely. Rather than doing it yourself and making a mess out of your expensive AC unit, call in professionals who won’t botch it up.