Had the plumber round yesterday to check on my air heat pump system and he said that he had heard locally of some units having the gas stolen whereby the thieves could gain easy access to the units. The aircon also uses gas so just a warning if you have a unit outside that is open to all and sundry and easy to get at, might be a good idea to put a camera overlooking or fence it off as apparently the gas is pretty expensive for the artisan to buy now.
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āhe had heard ofā? Sounds like a scare story that people love to spread - or insurance companies!! Round here heat pumps are internal so would be hard to get to them, and if one did then many better things to steal.
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Hmmā¦ thereās a property across the road from usā¦ and I know it has two large āwhateversā fitted about a foot up from the ground, on the outside wall of the houseā¦ in the alley which is a public right of wayā¦ so not sure how the Owner can make it any more secure than it isā¦
The box that powers the units are outside, they have to be for ventilation and working purposes and it is those that have gas put inthem. Actually when I spoke to him last night, he said he had been talking to the manufacturer about another unit and the first thing they asked him was, had the gas gone because other fitters had mentioned no gas and no leaks.
Ours are indoors, with flue to outside.
fair enoughā¦ so this isnāt of concern to youā¦
but there seem to be these machines on the outsides of many buildings across SW Franceā¦ they are highly visible as one walks/drives by.
Iāve not heard of such thefts locally, but the bad guys do seem to always find something to stealā¦ 
so not as unlikely as one might think.
Another BS story, gas may leak out but coupling up a de gassing unit to draw out 2-2.5 kg of old gas and risk getting caught is just nonsense.
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I understand your thoughtsā¦
Iām laughing (not mocking)
Itās just that each time something is declared āsafeā āuncrackableāā¦ (that sort of thing)
the Baddies seem to enjoy finding a way to crack-the-code or steal by whatever meansā¦ and what was once thought to be impossible, might well be just the challenge they needā¦
if thereās money to be madeā¦ someone will figure out a way to profitā¦
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Would seem to be quite a lot of effort to steal a fairly small weight of compressed mixture of hydrocarbons (the refrigerants are mostly long chain fluorinated alkanes) that you would have to transfer into another compression vehicle in order to transport it. Not impossible, but not your routine opportunist āgrab and runā operation.
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Also too many different refrigerants out there from banned ones to a little bit of propane in the newer units.
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Well I just wanted to warn people to be vigilant, some people on this forum enjoy mocking others they feel are beneath their particular intelligence level and like to be the high and mighty know it alls and often only lived here for a few years too! Sorry I posted, wonāt bother infuture and no its not BS either if the manufacturer is also mentioning it!
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I am not mocking you Shiba, but your source. It is highly possible that large industrial sized units are worth tampering with, but somewhat implausible that this is a significant risk to the average householder. So i find it odd for a technician to delight in scaring people.
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Vous avez raison (I think).
Google says that 80% of heat pumps contain R410A refrigerant and that the average charge is 2-2.5kg (so exactly what @Corona suggested).
It also says that the price for 10kg of the stuff is Ā£250-350, making the amount in a typical domestic heat pump worth about seventy quid - and, presumably, if there is a black market for R410A it would go for a significantly lower price when acquired in some clandestine deal.
It is actually worth nicking?
Good advice in this crazy world 
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TBH Iād expect vandallism a much more likely cause of lost refrigerant than theft, with exposed units.
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Yep, quite possibly yet another thing to be wary/aware ofā¦ Iāll pass the word.
Thankfully, Neighbourhood Watch (French-style) is alive and well around usā¦ 
Have you a photo of those Jane, Iāve never heard of them. Are they just low output? Ours are two large units outside driving seven internal units. Our salon has two large consoles but a very high ceiling so they struggle to make the room FEEL warm, despite what the temp sensors say. If itās possible Iād actually think about replacing the (unused) wordburner with an another internal heat pump using the flu or perhaps one of these (Iāve been faffing over this for about five years so and comments on the pros or cons appreciated).
Some people steal from poundland 
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When metal prices were high, young lads would go to great lengths to steal cabling, especially copper, and run huge risks too. Some of them would have made great commandos. Sadly, natural selection got rid of the dimmer ones (who would steal HT cable from railways ā¦ you could find the ones whoād got away by following your nose).
The only reason I wouldnāt be entirely surprised at gas theft would be the specialist kit youād need.
Quite.
Hereās a fun one with a possibly ulterior motive
If it works in UK I canāt help but wonder where else.
They should have said nothing and just tit for tatted, flood āem back 