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If you’ve lived in Fort Myers for any amount of time, you already know — our weather can be brutal on just about everything. The same air that makes palm trees sway and keeps your skin feeling sticky all year long also eats away at metal, wiring, and just about anything electrical.
Most folks don’t realize it until something stops working — a flickering light, a tripped breaker, or a rusty outlet cover. But down here, humidity and salt air are constant enemies of your home’s electrical system.
We’ve worked on homes from McGregor to Cape Coral to Fort Myers Beach, and no matter how new or old the house is, moisture always finds its way in. Once it does, it starts corroding the metal parts that make electricity flow safely.
Let’s go over what that looks like, how it starts, and what you can do to stop it before it turns into a bigger problem.
Salt in the air doesn’t just settle on your car or your grill. It sneaks into your outlets, switches, and panel. Once it’s inside, that salt and moisture start reacting with the metal — and corrosion begins.
At first, you might just notice a rusty screw or a white powdery film on the outlets. But what’s really happening behind the cover is worse — those connections are getting weaker, which builds up heat.
Over time, that heat can melt insulation, cause arcing, or even start a small electrical fire.
What to watch for:
Outlets that feel warm or smell faintly burnt
Rust spots inside your breaker panel
Light flicker when the air conditioner kicks on
If you see any of that, don’t wait. It’s not going to “dry out.” It’ll only get worse.
Salt-air corrosion starts invisibly—often inside walls. Download our free Home Safety Checklist to spot early signs before they become hazards.A lot of homes around Fort Myers still have older wiring — aluminum or cloth insulation from the ‘60s or ‘70s. That stuff didn’t age well, especially in our humidity.
Over time, the insulation softens, cracks, or soaks up moisture. Once that happens, the copper or aluminum inside gets exposed. That’s where shocks and shorts happen.
If your home hasn’t been rewired in decades, it’s not just an upgrade — it’s a safety fix. Modern copper wiring with better insulation holds up much longer in this climate.
Every summer, those afternoon storms roll in fast, dump buckets of rain, and move on. When that water finds its way into outdoor outlets, junction boxes, or conduits, it can cause instant trouble.
Moisture creates a path for electricity to go places it shouldn’t. That’s when you get short circuits or breakers that keep tripping “for no reason.”
If it happens more when it’s humid or right after a storm, that’s your clue — moisture is sneaking in somewhere.
Anything outside — pool equipment, dock power, landscape lighting — has it rough here. Between the salt air, humidity, and rain, it’s basically under attack year-round.
We replace a lot of corroded wiring on docks and boat lifts, especially along the river and near the beach. The fix? Marine-grade wiring and fittings that can handle salt and moisture without corroding in a year or two.
If your dock lights flicker or your pool pump keeps tripping the breaker, that’s a good reason to have us check it out.
Beachfront wiring fails silently. Check for flickering lights or warm outlets—full list in our Signs of Failing Wiring post.Your breaker panel is probably in your garage, laundry room, or outside wall — all places that see a lot of humidity. Once moisture gets inside that panel, the metal parts start to rust from the inside out.
It starts small: a rusty screw, a dull metal bus bar, a breaker that hums when the AC turns on. But that corrosion makes the breakers loose and unreliable. Eventually, they stop tripping when they should — and that’s when things get dangerous.
If your panel looks rusty, sounds weird, or smells burnt, it’s time for a professional look. Sometimes we can clean it up and tighten things down; other times it’s safer to replace it with a new, sealed, coastal-rated panel.
Don’t wait for a breaker failure. Get answers on panel inspections and replacements in our Residential Services FAQ.Humidity doesn’t just mess with wiring — it also shortens the life of your appliances.
Air conditioners, water heaters, refrigerators — they all have electrical components inside that corrode faster in salt air. Once that starts, those appliances draw more current, and that extra load runs through your wiring and breakers.
If your breaker keeps tripping when the AC turns on, the problem might not be the panel — it might be the unit itself pulling too much power.
You can’t stop the humidity, but you can outsmart it a little:
✅ Use weatherproof covers on every outdoor outlet.
✅ Make sure bathrooms, kitchens, and garages have GFCI protection.
✅ Schedule a full home electrical inspection every few years — sooner if you’re near the coast.
✅ Replace outdoor wiring with marine-grade materials.
✅ Keep air moving in humid areas like garages or laundry rooms.
✅ Install whole-home surge protection for lightning and storm surges.
A little maintenance goes a long way. It’s cheaper than replacing a whole panel after corrosion sets in.
We’ve been wiring homes and fixing electrical problems across Fort Myers for years, and we’ve seen it all — from panels full of rust to outdoor boxes that were practically falling apart from salt damage.
Built before 1965? Don’t wait for a short. Explore the full rewire process in Replacing Cloth-Covered Wiring in Fort Myers Homes.At Coharbor Electric, we don’t just patch problems; we make your system stronger against the Florida elements.
If you’ve got corroded outlets, tripping breakers, or just haven’t had your system checked in a while, give us a call. We’ll inspect everything, explain what’s happening in plain English, and give you real options that fit your home and your budget.
📞 Contact Coharbor Electric today — let’s make sure your wiring is safe, solid, and ready for another Florida summer.
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