Due to the fact that many air conditioning (AC) units have up to $30 worth of copper inside of them, they have become a target for thieves in recent years. This has led to the odd solution of many homeowners installing security alarms on their AC units to prevent theft. Because high end AC units can cost thousands of dollars to replace, it's an investment that makes some sense.

Without a security alarm, it is very easy for thieves to rip copper right out of the AC unit, which will disable it and leave homeowners suffering in the summer heat. For some people, this type of theft has happened more than once. No sooner do they buy a replacement unit and the thieves strike again. For organizations which operate large facilities, their AC units can cost up to $60,000 to replace. Thieves that hit these large targets may be able to retrieve up to $100 of copper from one of them.