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Salt air and your air conditioning.
Why coastal units corrode, how to slow it down, and how to plan replacements for buildings and homes near the water in Palm Beach County.
Two metals, salt and water.
Most outdoor coils are thin aluminium fins pressed onto copper tubes. Salt that settles on them from the sea breeze holds moisture against the metal, and where the two metals meet, corrosion speeds up. The fins go first; the tubes follow.
How fast depends on how close the unit is to the water, which way the wind comes from, whether it's sheltered, and how often it's rinsed. Units on rooftops facing the water tend to have the hardest life.
What actually helps.
- Rinsing with fresh water on a schedule, gently, power off. Never a pressure washer.
- Proper coil cleaning during maintenance, with cleaners suited to the coil.
- Coated coils when replacing — many manufacturers offer factory coatings for coastal use.
- Placement — sheltered from direct spray where the building allows.
Plan the whole roof.
A condo or office roof near the water usually has condensers at every stage of the scale. We walk the roof, note each unit's stage and age, and write it up — so boards and owners can budget replacements over several years instead of reacting to failures in August.
- Survey
- Every unit: location, stage, age where legible, obvious leaks.
- Maintenance
- Rinsing and coil cleaning on a schedule that suits the exposure.
- Replacement
- Coated coils specified where it makes sense, staged over time.
For houses near the water.
If your unit is in the first few blocks from the water, rinse it regularly and ask us to look at the coil at every visit. When it's time to replace, ask about a coated coil — and about raising the unit on a stand, which helps with both salt and flooding.
We won't promise a number of years. Nobody honest can.
Which stage is your coil at?
A coil check for buildings and homes near the water.