Theft protection

[ruff]

I've always had a CDS and worked out of a locked van.
Now I have a sprinter + a slide in (Apex) + tons of valuable equipment just waiting to be borrowed (permanently!) while I am cleaning.

Did anybody find a solution?
I was thinking of finding something like a metal drape that can be locked on both back and side doors. Not sure exactly how to attach.

Short of moving to 'honest' America (and from other posts even there people are experiencing theft) and hiring a helper to sit and watch.....

What is your solution?

Your hard earned advise is highly appreciated.

 

[XTREME1]

Dog

 

[ruff]

Thanks Greg, I realized that I left a loophole for you..........
But any solutions, aham..... not from the animal kingdom, the after world or the fourth or fifth dimension......will be helpful.

Any real life good ideas will be appreciated.

 

[XTREME1]

my machines are in the door so there is no getting around it on the side, back & fronts get locked

 

[Brian R]

 

[Brian R]

Or just get one of these to put a TM in.

 

[Johnny]

Never a problem, and I work in some sketchy areas. The stench from my waste tank is a formidable deterrent.

Chain/cable some equipment in place?

_______________________


STOP GLOBAL COOLING!

 

[Goomer]

I once saw a guy in my area that had a small hatch mounted into the side door of his van. It resembled a small doggie door, but was too small to actually be one. He would lock all the doors and run the hoses through this small hatch. It looked like one of those flapping swimming pool filter inlets. Not sure what the actual application was, or what industry they are from, but they looked like a great idea.

 

[sweendogg]

I take you are leaving your door open for ventilation. Why not keep the doors closed and install a ventilation hatch on top of the van and maybe even one on the sides with exhaust fans. I'm guessing that your hose reel is in the back of the van,

 

[Nate The Great]

I think it was Jim Bethel or one of the "Douwn Under" blokes that installed louvered vents on the side door of there van. It looked sweet and served the purpose nicely....

I'll see if I can search the post.

 

[ruff]

I take you are leaving your door open for ventilation. Why not keep the doors closed and install a ventilation hatch on top of the van and maybe even one on the sides with exhaust fans. I'm guessing that your hose reel is in the back of the van,

Yes, the hose reel is in the back.
I was under the impression that the slide in engine needs plenty of ventilation (both side and back door need to be left open) to keep the engine well cooled. And that a small top fan and or side fan will not be enough in hot weather.

I actually installed a side fan right by the engine (recommended by ProChem) to draw the hot air out (their engineer said that drawing the hot air away from the engine will be more beneficial than the fan blowing towards/across the engine.)

 

[dealtimeman]

all doors closed and locked while cleaning.

 

[Brian H]

Not for your vehicle, but maybe for your home or shop:

HOW TO INSTALL A HOME SECURITY SYSTEM


1. Go to a secondhand store and buy a pair of men's used size 14-16 work boots.

2. Place them on your front porch, along with a copy of Guns & Ammo magazine.

3. Put a few giant dog dishes next to the boots and magazines.

4. Leave a note on your door that reads:

"Bubba", Bertha, Duke, Slim, & I went for more ammo ...and beer. Be back in an hour. Don't mess with the pit bulls; they attacked the mailman this morning, messed him up bad. I don't think Killer took part, but it was hard to tell from all the blood. Anyway, I locked all four of 'em in the house. Better wait outside. Be right back. ~Cooter"

 

[Jay D]

SF or the Hill Country? Just put a small cable lock on the rx20 or stuff like that. Something to slow them down. Texas summers are to HOT to lock up the van.

 

[ruff]

Jay,
Actually for the California Sierra Foothills.
Hot in the summer but not Texas hot (probably in the 90's in the summer.)

No RX-20, can you believe it?! Never liked the beast. Maybe 360i if they keep hyping it up
But lots of other expensive stuff.

I guess my urban instincts just don't like the idea that it all sits there for the taking.

 

[Fred Homan]

Just work faster in those high risk areas.....

 

[ruff]

Just work faster in those high risk areas.....

Doesn't work Fred.
We have more talented thieves.

 

[steve g]

Dog

Ruger LCP in my cargo pants

 

[The Magician]

Doesn't Butler sell a side door slot for hoses and slotultion lines? Lock back doors and roof vent.

 

[sweendogg]

works if you don't run 2.5 inch hose. The hose through port that is. But you could do a custom hose port. Get a very large roof vent. Or dual roof vents. If you haven't already you could exhaust the machine down through the floor as well.


I was going to suggest hooking an electric fence wiring to your sheet metal, but found out the government frowns on that kind of device.

 

[floorguy]

Never had a problem...considering most thief's dont even know what most the stuff is..

Thats one nice thing about running with a helper....you can usually always have an eye on your truck or the door coming into a place

 

[Mark Saiger]

If the cargo ports will work from you that Butler uses, I acutally have 2 of them installed on my side sliding doors. I do run the 2.5 hose and the second port works great. I have also seen were someone ran a port down through the side door footwell of a van to run out their hoses. Only saw it on line.

For us, the side door ports are a must since we are cleaning in below zero weather. Just cleaned in 20 below again a couple of weeks ago. Also with the new butler vans, you can't run the heater at the same time as the unit so having the doors closed to keep the heat in is important. I just acutally open up the Butler lid and the heat exchanger helps keep the van warm while cleaning. For security, I have 2 set of keys so I lock my door with the van running and use the second set to get in. I also have a set of keys hidden under the van in a magnet box just in case. Now on my newest Butler I have a viper remote starter that I have it programmed for a longer run cycle so I don't even need the keys in it if I don't want.

The Venting issue I am not sure if the ports alone would give you enough air flow, but would you be able to crack the windows enough to help, or maybe just the ceiling vent is your best option. My new trailer does have some pretty cool side vents that can open, this might also be an option. I can take pics of all and post if you need.

Mark Saiger
www.saigers.com

 

[ruff]

works if you don't run 2.5 inch hose. The hose through port that is. But you could do a custom hose port. Get a very large roof vent. Or dual roof vents. If you haven't already you could exhaust the machine down through the floor as well.


I was going to suggest hooking an electric fence wiring to your sheet metal, but found out the government frowns on that kind of device.

David,
Not sure what that means. Unless................. am I not getting the joke? thathurts
The hose port is not difficult to do.
The issue is:
1) Will a large ceiling fan/fans be enough of an airflow if the van's doors are all locked?
2) Also will these after market ceiling fan durable and sturdy enough to be exposed to driving at 70 mph and do these fans leak?

The slide in is exhausted out from under the floor (has a separate exhaust system.)

 

[ruff]

Mark,
yes pictures will be helpful.
Thanks
The issue is enough airflow for the slide in to be able to work with the vans locked.

 

[Jim Bethel]

I think it was Jim Bethel or one of the "Douwn Under" blokes that installed louvered vents on the side door of there van. It looked sweet and served the purpose nicely....

I'll see if I can search the post.

I'll save ya the search Nate !gotcha!

This is ALOT more to it that the auto roof vent and louvre on the side - but it can be done with a slide in. And yes, it gets very hot here in Australia and that has a ZXT Genesis running a 68hp motor running in there locked up.

 

[Ron Werner]

I have one 16 fan with vent beside the TM at the back and this one at the top in the front, back fan draws air in and blows across the TM, the top front fan exhausts.
I can close the back door on the solution line and the vac hookup runs under the truck. It does get hot in the truck in summer but its not hot enough here to worry about. If I exhausted my LG to the outside it would be even cooler in the box.
I have the fans boxed in on the inside so I can attach a cover with magnets, this keeps the cold out in the winter.

 

[Mark Saiger]

Don't know if this is enough venting, but I have 2 of these in my new trailer. They are very easy to use and would be easy to install.

Mark Saiger
http://www.saigers.com

 

[Mark Saiger]

You can also vent them in either direction. If you look at the inside pic, you can see that they open and swivel either direction.

Mark Saiger
www.saigers.com

 

[Ron Werner]

I would think you'd need a couple of those for adequate ventilation with a closed box. Hard to put a fan in front of those however.

 

[sweendogg]

Ofer, halfway joke.

I saw this from South Africa

e]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDrzMGdYWZce]


I was thinking if you could hook up a solenoid up to your van frame, so anybody that touched it would get a good shock!

But when i searched it, I found that a guy got prosecuted for trying to set one up.