# Someone went to a lot of trouble....



## 480sparky (Feb 1, 2009)

.... to steal some copper.


Forclosed house, owner stripped it of copper before bugging out.




























Even gutted the panel:












Here's the fun part:





























Yep, they're still hot!


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## slowsol (Aug 27, 2005)

Holy crap!!


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## TxElectrician (May 21, 2008)

How in the world did they manage not to have a short

Must of had a rubber blade:blink:


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## 480sparky (Feb 1, 2009)

TxElectrician said:


> How in the world did they manage not to have a short
> 
> Must of had a rubber blade:blink:


That's the $64,000 question. I called the POCO and they came out and put the little booties on the meter.


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## Tinstaafl (Jan 6, 2008)

Wow. Where did they plug the saw in for the last cut? :laughing:

And never bothered to pull the meter... :blink:


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## Inner10 (Mar 12, 2009)

I know...he pulled the meter head, cordless sawzall...then put the meter back in the socket.


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## rselectric1 (Sep 20, 2009)

Too bad the wiring wasn't in conduit. It would have been much easier for them. So see conduit IS better than romex! :jester::laughing:


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## The Coastal Craftsman (Jun 29, 2009)

He must have felt like a proper high roller when he scraped that lot. Prob got him self a 24 pack and pack of cigs. It amazes the effort people put in for such little pay off.


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## 480sparky (Feb 1, 2009)

rselectric1 said:


> Too bad the wiring wasn't in conduit. It would have been much easier for them. So see conduit IS better than romex! :jester::laughing:


Not when they steal the steel. :whistling


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## Tinstaafl (Jan 6, 2008)

Inner10 said:


> I know...he pulled the meter head, cordless sawzall...then put the meter back in the socket.


Looks like the seal is intact. :blink:


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## pat c (Aug 18, 2008)

:laughing::laughing::laughing::laughing:


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## bloop (May 17, 2012)

Inner10 said:


> I know...he pulled the meter head, cordless sawzall...then put the meter back in the socket.


nope. look at the tag


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## txgencon (Jan 4, 2011)

Inner10 said:


> I know...he pulled the meter head, cordless sawzall...then put the meter back in the socket.


Either that or he knew how to de-energize the supply. It appears to be fed from overhead lines. If he was the only customer on the transformer, he could have tripped the secondary breaker (if a CSP transformer) or opened the fused cutout.


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## txgencon (Jan 4, 2011)

bloop said:


> nope. look at the tag


The poco came out afterwards and installed the seal. 

But it is not difficult to remove the seal and get it back on without it being detectable.


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## aptpupil (Jun 12, 2010)

effed up.


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## mrmike (Dec 9, 2008)

What amazes me is just how many pounds of copper does that end up being to go thru so much trouble.................. they gotta be on drugs !!!


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## woodchuck2 (Feb 27, 2008)

I saw this once in a home i was called to. The previous contractor lied to the HO that he knew electrical so the HO let him start working on his home. The job was to gut the finished basement, rewire, re insulate, put in new floors and drywall. This is a seasonal home mind you. HO comes up to assess the job being done to find the the contractor had traced the wiring from downstairs to upstairs by beating holes in the drywall with a hammer . The drywall upstairs looked like your lawn in the springtime after the moles had their way with it all winter. I got the call to do the rewiring and my cousin was hired to do the rest of the work. This was about 10yrs ago and i wish now i had taken pics.


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## Rich D. (Oct 14, 2011)

HOLY CRAP! the bank must be pissed!


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## AustinDB (Sep 11, 2006)

this situation is nuts. At what point is this going to be criminal...WE are the ones paying for this, in one way or another.

what is this world coming to? what's next, stop paying on your car, let the repo man take it away but just before he picks it up, take a baseball bat to the car and pour sugar in the tank? People should go to jail for this crap...proving it could be difficult


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## I Mester (Aug 21, 2011)

All I can say is.... WOW


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