Coastal HVAC Corrosion by Distance from the Sea

How salt attacks coils near the sea

Breaking waves throw salt aerosol into the air. The droplets settle on fins and absorb moisture from humid air, so the coil surface stays wet long after rain or dew has dried elsewhere.

That wet salt film is an electrolyte. On a copper-tube, aluminium-fin coil it drives galvanic corrosion at every fin collar, and on all-aluminium microchannel coils it pits the thin tube walls.

What moves a site up or down a category

Distance is the first filter, not the only one. Prevailing onshore wind, unit height and open exposure to the sea push a site up. Buildings or hills between the unit and the shore, and dry climates with little condensation, pull it down. Nearby industry adds acid gases that make salt attack faster.