I was recently handed a flyer that had posted at the top of the page “Stop A/C theft 100%“. It also read “GPS it, Don’t Cage it.” The article implied that cages for air conditioners are ugly and for the most part ineffective. It goes on to say how for $200 up front, the A/C unit would be equipped with a “State of the Art” GPS tracking system specifically designed for this. Wait, it gets better. The sellers also claim to have a 15 second response time and “if the cops don’t get there fast enough to catch the thief, we will track the GPS to where the stolen Air Conditioner is and retrieve it for you for an additional recovery fee of $100“. Lets not forget the small $40.00 a month monitoring fee. Are you Serious? Let me give some expert advice to anyone considering this route.
First, This Does not stop your air conditioner from being stolen. Despite the claim of cages being ugly and ineffective, www.propertyarmor.net has several security enclosures that often enhance the aesthetics of the air conditioner.
Second, whether a GPS sends a tampered signal to the police or not, do you honestly think they are going to put out an All Points Bulletin for your air conditioner crying for help? Give me a break.
Third, the valuable copper, which is what is ultimately stolen, will be long gone by the time the GPS and the rest of the air conditioner carcass is found.
Finally, even if the best case scenario unfolds, you pay your monthly bill, your unit is stolen and found, and the thief goes to jail, do you think the fuzzy feeling of knowing a knuckle head crook is behind bars because of you is going to install your old air conditioner? Not at all. After you pay your $100 recovery bill, you will have to call an A/C repair company to come out, repair the damage done, and re-install your condenser. By the way, how long have you been without air conditioning or heat since this happened?
In summary, Cages are the best solution for air conditioner theft. When a thief is looking to steal an air conditioner, you want to be ruled out from the beginning. Are you in it to keep your air conditioner or catch a crook? My guess is, to keep your investment. If there are three bicycles outside a department store and one has a chain, one has an alarm, and the third has nothing, which one would you guess would be first to get stolen? The one with nothing, right? Which one would be next? You guessed it, the one with the alarm or GPS. The one with the chain is not going anywhere without a lot of work and that is why you should invest in a cage from a company like Property Armor to keep your cool.
Good Article. This would apply to the alarms for air conditioners also. These are Re-active approaches, a cage is a Pro-active approach
I think a cage around the condenser not only looks like you live or work in a high grime area they are a problem servicing the Air Conditioning unit. I work for a service company and I can not tell you how many times we have to cut off the lock because the owner lost the key. Even with the cage open trying to replace parts with in the unit is difficult. Is their a different way to protect the air conditioner?
Robert
As someone who has been in the field also, I can relate to having to work around a cage. No matter the access, getting to some of the components is challenging. This will always be the case with protection. You have service ability verses security. Whats easy for a technician is usually easy for a thief also. We use security fasteners that allow you to remove the entire cage when service or replacement is necessary. Removing the cage completely is not near the hassle of trying to work around it. Consumers will lose their keys occasionally so we recommend the service technician communicate the importance of keeping the key in a safe place to avoid extra cost or delay. Since detterance plays a major role in the function of an air conditioner cage, having the protection visible is worth the risk of having a location look like a high crime area. We sell cages for for a number of other reasons also. Keeping leaves and debris out of the unit, storm damage, and recently, protecting from ice for units in Wisconsin. I suppose it depends on what style of A/C cage you choose also. Thanks for the reply.