Weird Vacuum trouble

[Wash Grunt]

I am having problems with someone breaking in to the clean out compartments of our Doyle vacuums. We secure the doors with small padlocks to basically keep the latches shut. They are cutting off the locks with bolt cutters dumping out the debris baskets , cleaning them completely out and taking the dirt with them. On one occasion they took the basket with them. At first we thought someone may have sucked up a valuable and was trying to retrieve it. But it is happening on all of them. Only thing I can think of is they are trying to get loose change that gets sucked up. But why go to the trouble of cleaning out the basket? So far its only cost us the price of a new basket and a couple locks. Interested if anyone else has experienced this.

 

[HeyVern]

Leave them unlocked and let em have it

 

[MEP001]

Leave them unlocked and let em have it

Your choice is this, or lock them securely and risk someone doing real damage trying to get at the dirt.

 

[Randy]

Your lucky, in our case they just dump everything on the ground for the wind to blow it all over. Now we have the afternoon clean up clean out the vacuums everyday. The bad thing is the bastards will leave the doors open when they open them at night until we get there in the morning to close them up.

 

[OurTown]

I am having problems with someone breaking in to the clean out compartments of our Doyle vacuums. We secure the doors with small padlocks to basically keep the latches shut. They are cutting off the locks with bolt cutters dumping out the debris baskets , cleaning them completely out and taking the dirt with them. On one occasion they took the basket with them. At first we thought someone may have sucked up a valuable and was trying to retrieve it. But it is happening on all of them. Only thing I can think of is they are trying to get loose change that gets sucked up. But why go to the trouble of cleaning out the basket? So far its only cost us the price of a new basket and a couple locks. Interested if anyone else has experienced this.

What can you see on your video footage?

 

[OurTown]

Leave them unlocked and let em have it

It would be nice if they could be configured with a spring to close it fairly tight so they don't lose suction. Otherwise get ready for pissed off customers unless like Randy you latch them first thing in the morning.

 

[MEP001]

It would be nice if they could be configured with a spring to close it fairly tight so they don't lose suction. Otherwise get ready for pissed off customers unless like Randy you latch them first thing in the morning.

I had thought about that, but they don't even scoop the trash out of the way for the door to close itself. I had to lock the hell out of them, and they finally quit messing with them.

 

[soapy]

I bought a bunch of gate locks and attached them to the vac door so I can use a bigger lock. That stopped 99 percent of the breakins.

 

[Rfreeman]

This what I did then the disc locks have shackles to protect them has worked so far.

 

[OLFOT]

I quit wasting money on padlocks because they kept cutting mine. I made the mistake of putting the super duty locks on once, when they couldn't cut them they destroyed the latch and door to get in.
Now I just put a ty-rap instead of a lock and let them have it. Some actually close the door after they go through the dirt.
Had a young couple (obviously addicts) that came about once a month. They would rake out the dirt in a cardboard box and brought some ty-raps to replace mine! I very seldom have to clean out the vacuums at that location.
I had so many vacuum buckets stolen that I quit using them. They are expensive. I do my clean out with my big shop vac.
At one location I have cheap padlocks and the vacuum dirt doors have only been broken into a couple of times in over 20 yrs.
Yanno, If I took the locks off and put a ty-rap I might get free vacuum cleanout

 

[MEP001]

I know a couple owners who use a really cheap plastic carabiner to hold the latch closed. The people that go through the vac trash usually put them back.

 

[8th Street Car Wash]

We had to buy the security cover kits for our J.E. Adams super vacs, because the tweakers kept breaking my rear doors off or mangling them to get to the "treasures" inside. Also had to put 2 chains and 4 padlocks over our commercial dumpsters because we'd show up and have the entire dumpster strung out down my alley.

 

[OLFOT]

I always have had these dirt thieves and dumpster divers on video but never called the law on them because they were so pathetic. Most are homeless drug addicts. I think to myself of how pathetic it was for them to get themselves down to that level of survival on drugs.
Some have cars and are meth or crack heads just looking for their next high. They usually self-destruct over a period of time and you quit seeing them around. There was a neighborhood drug dealer close to one location that drew alot of homeless drug addicts to the area, when the Sheriffs Office busted him, the homeless went somewhere else to get their drugs and vacuum dirt change to pay for it.
I have also seen really strange people in them, for instance, a guy in a fairly nice truck pulls in, cuts the ty-rap off, digs through the dirt and finds enough quarters to.........................
WASH his truck with them. That's a another level of sick in the head.
Haven't had any in quite awhile, knock on wood. But when the weather gets nice at night, the roaches will come out.

 

[Wash Grunt]

So I removed all the locks, installed Lynch pins to hold the latches shut, and dump out the baskets every day. so far its working.

 

[squeak]

we had this problem out at our lee's summit, MO location. if you let your local police department use your wash for free or at a discounted rate you might have some luck saying something to them for reqular patrols. no harm, no foul. we've camped up at the wash all night before hoping to catch the culprit in the act just to ask them to clean up after themselves. dang tweakers.

 

[squeak]

after a while at that location we just started using zip ties to keep everything closed up

 

[MEP001]

we've camped up at the wash all night before hoping to catch the culprit in the act just to ask them to clean up after themselves. dang tweakers.

BTDT, they act all polite and apologetic and do the same thing the following night. The only way I've been able to stop anyone was to get them trespassed, and that's almost impossible because the police take two hours to respond unless I tell them I'm handling money and they won't leave.

after a while at that location we just started using zip ties to keep everything closed up

I went through two bags of 1000 zip ties before I locked them up securely. It was worth it.