ROBBINSDALE, Minn. (WCCO) — Thieves struck a popular Robbinsdale restaurant, leaving the spot without air conditioning in the thick of summer. Someone cracked open Travail Kitchen and Amusements AC unit on their roof and stole the copper earlier this month. The same thing happened to another nearby business. “We noticed that the restaurant was a little bit warm, was about 80, 82 degrees,” co-owner Mike Brown said. Brown said they were puzzled in early August when it was hotter inside than out. They found the problem on the roof. “Someone had basically ripped the chest plate off all of our units,” Brown said. The AC units were stripped of their copper coils. Payday America discovered the same thing and reported the theft to police. “These people knew what they were doing, knew what they were looking for,” Robbinsdale Police Officer Andrea Faue said. Faue said this trend tapered off as the economy improved, but clearly thieves are still hard at work.

“What they do is they cut out the copper coils probably with something as simple as a sawzall and they trade in the copper at a plant and get some money for it,” Faue said.package air conditioning unit wiring diagram The thieves likely made a few hundred bucks. compare ac split unitPayday reported an $8,000 loss. how to repair central air conditioning unitTheirs is covered by insurance. The restaurant did find a way to stay open and keep it cool. Fans worked for a few days, then they hauled in a huge AC unit until theirs could be replaced. “That was the quickest thinking we could do is call the people we know that have 25-ton units, retrofit a door and just pump 25 tons of AC into the restaurant,” Brown said.

Brown would like to see the person who set them back caught. “That’s not cool, that’s not cool I mean nobody wants to suffer in the summer,” Brown said. Police ask anyone with information to come forward. Travail plans to add cameras to their property that will monitor the roof.Required permits: Infrequent sellers (twice or less a year) need to register with the sheriff's office to get a 48-hour permit (In Anderson County the registration can be over the phone by calling 864-260-444) Regular sellers (more than twice a year) need to register at the records department Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and present photo identification and vehicle registration information for a permit that lasts one year. Purchasers of scrap metal need to register with their county's sheriff's office and buy a $200 permit that is effective for two years. The new law does not apply to licensed retail businesses, authorized wholesalers, climate-control businesses or licensed utility contractors.

It covers nonferrous metals, principally copper and the metals used in catalytic converters but not iron or steel. State law enforcement officers hope that a new law will help curb thieves who target air-conditioning units, cell-phone towers and other property in search of copper they can sell for scrap. The state's 46 county sheriffs have already begun issuing permits for the law, which takes effect Wednesday. The law requires anyone selling copper, whether to a dealer or an individual broker, to get a permit from the seller's local sheriff's office and requires the buyer to make and keep a copy of the permit. Anderson County Sheriff John Skipper said he wanted to emphasize that the permits are free for sellers. There are three types of permits in the new law: one for those who sell metal no more than twice a year, another one requiring additional documentation with the sheriff's office for more regular sellers of metal and a third type of permit for buyers. The law also makes it illegal for sellers to transport 10 pounds or more of metals without a permit, unless for other business purposes.

The rules apply only to nonferrous metals ? principally copper and the platinum or palladium typically used in catalytic converters ? but not to steel- or iron-based materials. Scrap dealers, whose statewide efforts at blocking the law were defeated by law enforcement officials who pushed for it, say that the changes would not affect how legitimate scrap dealers did business and the businesses that knowingly bought stolen metals may not follow the new rules anyway. Identification is already required by state law for sellers of copper, said Jessica Jordan, manager of MSM Scrap Metal in Piedmont. "It's obviously going to hurt, because it's an inconvenience for them to have to get it," she said. "I don't know if it will actually cut the number of thefts." Jordan said people coming with stolen metal are easy for reputable buyers to spot. "It's usually common sense; if you see someone walking in off the street with brand-new copper, it's probably stolen," she said. But stealing copper is big business for thieves, and the law is an attempt at curbing the thieves by establishing a paper trail.

Several cell-phone towers in Anderson County have been stripped of copper in the past year or so, each time requiring repairs of around $5,000. McCurley's Auto Sales, on Whitehall Road in Anderson, reported about a year ago that someone had cut catalytic converters off the exhaust systems in the back of the business. Damages were estimated at $500. New converters can easily top $1,000. Deputies surprised a man who was cutting wires with tools and a large knife on the roof of Mount Vernon Mills in La France last year. The damage was estimated at $4,500. Less costly, but happening far more often, are thefts from small air-conditioning units. There is about 25 feet of copper tubing in the average unit. The national sale price for scrap copper is about $4 a pound, although that is the wholesale rate and small-scale sellers typically get far less.Freon (a brand name of refrigerant) is the blood of your air conditioner. Without enough refrigerant, your AC can’t cool your home properly, leaving you sweaty and uncomfortable.

Not only that, but a low level of refrigerant can severely damage your air conditioner, just like a low blood count damages your body. We’ll explain why in more detail. Here are the signs your AC is low on refrigerant...and what you need to do to get things back to normal. Freon (a brand name of refrigerant) is the blood of your air conditioner. If your AC is taking longer than normal to cool the home, you may be low on refrigerant. Because refrigerant is what absorbs the heat in your air. So without enough of it, your AC can’t absorb enough heat to cool the air well. In other words, think of refrigerant like a heat sponge: the smaller the sponge, the less it can absorb. If you’re really low on Freon, you’ll notice that your supply vents are blowing lukewarm/warm air. Now it makes sense why your home is taking forever to cool off! Due to lack of refrigerant, your AC runs much longer than needed to cool the home, increasing your energy bills as a result.

Go to your outside AC unit (the one with the spinning fan). If you see ice building up on the copper refrigerant line, then you may be low on refrigerant. When low on refrigerant, the inside AC unit’s evaporator coil (the part that cold refrigerant flows through) gets too cold, causing cold liquid refrigerant to flow back the refrigerant line. This causes the surrounding moisture on the refrigerant line to freeze up. Eventually the liquid refrigerant will make its way to the outside unit’s compressor (the “heart” of your AC). This flowback of refrigerant will damage the outside unit’s compressor. You see, liquids can’t be compressed, so when the refrigerant flows into the compressor, it’s quickly converted into thousands of pounds of hydraulic pressure, and something (valves, rods, plates) will break. Compressors are extremely expensive to replace and, if yours doesn't have a valid warranty, you’ll probably end up replacing the entire outside AC unit since it’d be more cost efficient.

The only reason you’d be low on refrigerant is due to a refrigerant leak (refrigerant isn’t used up like gas in a car, so escape through a leak is the only conclusion). And if you have a bad refrigerant leak, the refrigerant makes a hissing or bubbling noise as it escapes. If you suspect you have low refrigerant (and thus a refrigerant leak) call a professional AC technician for a diagnostic check. If they find a leak, they should repair it (if possible) before adding more refrigerant. Adding refrigerant without fixing the leak will cause the refrigerant to escape again, and you’ll have this problem all over again. And older R-22 refrigerant is super expensive now. If you have any other questions about the refrigerant in your air conditioner, ask one of our experts for help. If you think your system needs refrigerant and you want a refrigerant leak check, schedule an appointment time online with Cool Today. Cool Today provides award-winning air conditioning service to Sarasota, Florida and the surrounding cities and counties.