Help! Copper stolen from HVAC unit

[Nick Brubaker]

So, I don't know that I have a direct question here, but I would like to draw on other's experience if you have advice on the matter:

Just discovered that someone broke the hinge (locked) off the crawl space door at one of my houses and wrenched out the copper pipe between the internal unit and outside condenser.  My HVAC guy was with me when we discovered it and he is going to go ahead and install new cable today.  I guess I question I do have is what do you all do to secure these things?  The neighborhood isn't great.  I have a cemented cage around the condenser itself - which probably spared me from losing that as well.  Anyway, my plan is just to add two hinges and locks that are thicker.  

[George Pauley]

Yeah, this is common.  I have steal cages around all of my units because of this.

I noticed some time ago that having a tenant in the property dramatically reduces theft and vandalism.  Above and beyond the other reasons why it is better to have a renter at a potentially lower rate, than no renter while holding out for the maximum rent, is the fact that the $25-$50 per month you may be giving up may well be the cheapest security guards you've ever hired.  (OMG, I think that is actually a grammatically correct sentence! :) )