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  for Metal Finishing since 1989
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Outside lights in salt air

I am considering buying some outside lights for my house. We live near the ocean which corrodes everything. The lights are "zinc diecasted, triple plated and power coated with lacquer" What is your collective opinion as to their longevity?

Thank you,

Fred Hord
HPE Automation - Lighthouse Point, Florida
2003

Ask for an iron clad warranty for how many years they will give it.Triple plated is an advertising gimmick that is a lie in many cases. I was not aware that you could powdercoat a lacquer. Here again, I think that they are playing games with reality. Powdercoat can be fantastic, if it is the correct one and is thick enough. It can be junk also. I am just down the road from you and my made in Taiwan budget lamps are in poor condition in 4 years.

James Watts
- Navarre, Florida
2003

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2003

I have to agree with Mr. Watts and even go further. Selection of a corrosion-resistant finish is a difficult job for the manufacturer, but a virtual impossibility for the consumer. All you can go by is the retailer's and manufacturer's reputations and guarantees. I, too, live on a waterfront home. I've bought patio furniture that didn't last 6 weeks before ugly rusting and I've bought patio furniture that winters outdoors and has lasted many years already.

In theory, you'd be better off with a light fixture cast from brass or bronze rather than aluminum, but you might never find one, or might pay 5 times as much, and you would still not be assured that it would last longer.
Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey