Thread: What affect will salt air have on ELC? system.

Inspected this Bank repo. house on the coast in Bodega bay about 1 Hr. North of San Francisco today. see the photo. Q. what affect can the salt air have on wires, and conection and the complete system.

Best

Ron

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It looks like dog has been pissing on the meter

Seriously, I occaisionally do houses at the coast (same coast, just a couple hundred miles north) and the worst rusting is to exposed metal. The salt from the constant sea mist seems to be what does it.

I don't do enough coast work to really establish a firm understanding but it sure seems that anything exposed and directly facing the prevailing wind (west to east) gets hit. The streaking on that meter even makes me suspect its facing south since the rust streaks are from left to right (west to east)... but, I could easily be 180 off.

Originally Posted by Ron Bibler

Q. what affect can the salt air have on wires, and conection and the complete system.

Ron,

On the wires, presuming they are all protected as they should be - nothing really as no salt spray should be getting to them.

Same for the connections.

Now, the metallic equipment (enclosures, conduits, lights, etc.) - yeah, they rust away and need to be replaced.

But then, you will find that same effect on the condenser units (at least we do here on the east coast) with the salt spray corroding the coils and rusting out the enclosures.

I always told my clients: Time to replace it all. I know, it is only 6 years old, and it should have been replaced last year, but now you know and understand the higher maintenance costs of living along the ocean. Remember that you will be replacing this same stuff in the next 5-6-7 years, or when you sell if not already replaced - be prepared to 'pass the money along' to your buyer.

Same thing with roof drip metal and valley metal if not copper. All you can say is 'Yep, it is rusted/rusting out. It needs to be replaced. They should have used copper here.'

Originally Posted by Jerry Peck

Ron,

On the wires, presuming they are all protected as they should be - nothing really as no salt spray should be getting to them.

Same for the connections.

Now, the metallic equipment (enclosures, conduits, lights, etc.) - yeah, they rust away and need to be replaced.

But then, you will find that same effect on the condenser units (at least we do here on the east coast) with the salt spray corroding the coils and rusting out the enclosures.

I always told my clients: Time to replace it all. I know, it is only 6 years old, and it should have been replaced last year, but now you know and understand the higher maintenance costs of living along the ocean. Remember that you will be replacing this same stuff in the next 5-6-7 years, or when you sell if not already replaced - be prepared to 'pass the money along' to your buyer.

Same thing with roof drip metal and valley metal if not copper. All you can say is 'Yep, it is rusted/rusting out. It needs to be replaced. They should have used copper here.'

I have lived (except the last 4 years) within 1/8 to a few miles from the ocean all my life. That woderful salt laiden air gets in, under and around everything outside the home. It rots anything metalic. It keeps a lot of folks in business

Took a class once at a local tech school on basic HVAC.
What stuck with me most was the instructors statement that the life span of an HVAC unit is approx. 13 to 16 years.
However, around here, close to the beach, cut the life expectancy in half.

Ron,

When I open up panels out at the coast (Bodega Bay, Jenner, Timber Cove, etc.), I generally find the interior of the panelbox corroding as well as some corrosion on the conductor terminals and a white coating of oxidation on the buss bars. Most of the panels in the high-rent district around the golf links are enclosed behind a wood enclosure door or in an exterior closet, but even those are typically corroded. I would bet that the panels would corrode even if the door on the exterior closet was weatherstripped, but would probably last longer than those that are only moderately protected.

I lived on the beach in Southern California for 8 years, my front sliding doors to the living room were 12 feet from the water and 12 feet above the water. During that time apart from the obvious usual building metals going south we replaced the following due to corrosion on the components.
Zinc door handles on sliders. 2 sets.
Televisions, dish system, stereo equipment every 2 years.
Washing machine drums used for beach fires every year.
PC's, general nicknack's, trim on the manufactured fireplace every 2 years.
Bal Ami bubble [50s] juke box lost all chrome in 1 year.
Components in an above ground spa and the heater after 3 years.
1953 MG TD chrome bumpers [3 sets in 8 years].
During El Nino the ocean came thru the house from front to back.

Insurance wanted to charge me 12 deductibles as they said a series of waves caused the damage. We maintained that it was 1 wave that hit with 2 metal beach chairs that did the damage and we won the issue.

The area in front of the house has a massive railroad tie system going down 30 feet with several 8/10 ton boulders in front of it. The ocean took away all those boulders each year. During low tide bulldozers put them back. The power of the ocean is phenomenal. Today we live 3400 feet up a mountain.