Consumer units and equipment outdoors

gkenyon: 
We're similar distance inland, but I think it depends on the wind in the area as here it brings in both sand and spray. A lot of our property, including garden, is quite exposed, luckily all rendered.

The area we are in is quite flat, back about 15-20 miles inland before the Pennines, and some of the effects are found that far back. It's quite obvious which of the inland areas are affected by the wind off the sea, because many of the trees and hedgerows find it very difficult to grow in any direction except pointing East (and even then, they are not really very tall).

We don't get sand 'cos the beach is pebbles. There is some shelter from the Isle of Wight, but the prevailing wind is SW, which can sneak between the Isle and the New Forest. The coastal plain is flat as a pancake for about 5 miles. Everything grows well!

Step-daughter lives on the other side of Morecambe Bay on the eastern side of the Furness Peninsula, even closer to the sea than us and indeed they have sea views, but they don't seem to have much of a problem.

I suppose that the real issue is latitude, prevailing winds and shelter. Either way, I have spent nearly all my life on the coast and I like it. ?

Chris Pearson: 
 

I suppose that the real issue is latitude, prevailing winds and shelter. Either way, I have spent nearly all my life on the coast and I like it. ?

Definitely.

There`s nowt wrong with a nice run out to Fairhaven Lake at St Annes or to Morecambe Bay via the Witches Trail

Chris Pearson: 
 

Step-daughter lives on the other side of Morecambe Bay on the eastern side of the Furness Peninsula, even closer to the sea than us and indeed they have sea views, but they don't seem to have much of a problem.

I suppose that the real issue is latitude, prevailing winds and shelter. Either way, I have spent nearly all my life on the coast and I like it. ?

I had a further think about this … and I guess where we are sort of on the South side of the Bay, means we are often at the cusp of three weather fronts. Has the advantage of warmer temperatures than other parts of the West Coast, but of course, you get nothing for free !

I had a further think about this … and I guess where we are sort of on the South side of the Bay, means we are often at the cusp of three weather fronts. Has the advantage of warmer temperatures than other parts of the West Coast, but of course, you get nothing for free !

A couple of other effects of living so near the coast are sea breezes where you get localised humid air encroaching on the land due to pressure differences between the land and sea air masses, which can be against the prevailing wind direction. Also, in the evenings the air temperature can drop below the dew point and water condenses out onto surfaces. Camping by the coast recently, we often saw this effect causing everything in the tent to get damp so we zip up the tent which seems to help a bit.

edit; just thought of a third, where you have hills or mountains and air rises over them causing a drop in temperature which could fall below the dew point and form orographic clouds. if the wind is from the sea and it is nearby, this effect would be very common. On the other side of the hills you get drier air, less water as it has already condensed out, giving the Foehn effect.

I forgot to mention that I had a close look at an MK IP56 light switch, which has been at the bottom of a length of galvanised conduit for about 40 years. A drain hole (marked “drain” even) has been drilled out at the bottom i.a.w. the instructions above.

There was only a very small amount debris in the enclosure and no sign of the effects of damp. The latter point, of course, only goes to show that the hole works. ?

High tech corrosion……….