Outdoor Fitting Selector — Coastal Zone & Material Guide

🧭 Fitting Selector

Site (suburb or description) — for your reference only, not used in the calculation

How close is the site to the coast?

Right on the coast — within ~200m of a surf beach or exposed open sea (Zone CX) Near the coast, sheltered — sheltered bay, up to ~50m inland, or general coastal strip (Zone C4/C5) Coastal-influenced — roughly 100m to a few km inland (Zone C3) Mostly inland — up to ~1km from sheltered water (Zone C2) Well inland — 50km+ from the sea, most of Australia (Zone C1)

Will this fitting be in or near water? — pool, pond, spa or water feature

ZONE CX

Extreme coastal exposure

⚡ This is a planning and specification starting point, not a certification. Local wind, topography and vegetation shift the real-world exposure — confirm with a qualified supplier or installer, especially for sites near a zone boundary.

🎨 Need the full design done?

Beyond a material spec — full layout, fixture selection, a proper plan. I work at Solstice Lighting, design/spec/supply for Victorian projects.

Contact Solstice Lighting →

📋 Corrosivity Zones at a Glance

Zone	Distance Guide
CX	~0–200m, surf beach
C4/C5	~0–50m sheltered coast
C3	~100m–few km inland
C2	Up to ~1km from water
C1	50km+ inland

Per AS/NZS 2312 / AS 4312 atmospheric corrosivity categories.

💡 On the Material Options

Brass, bronze & copper

Don't corrode structurally in salt air — they oxidise/patina on the surface instead, which is largely cosmetic and often intentional. A legitimate premium choice for CX/C4/C5 zones, not just a stainless-or-aluminium binary. The patina look is a design choice — some clients love it, some don't, so it's worth setting expectations.

Good-quality plastics/composites

UV-stabilised polymers (not generic ABS) can outperform poor-quality aluminium in coastal zones, since there's no metal to corrode at all. Main failure mode is UV degradation over time, not salt attack — quality of the polymer matters as much as base material choice does for metal fittings.

How this tool works

Select the description that best matches your site's distance from the coast, and whether the fitting will be in or near water. For dry/atmospheric sites, you'll get a material, coating and fixing recommendation based on AS/NZS 2312 and AS 4312 corrosivity zones — see our guide on why fitting construction matters for the reasoning behind these recommendations.

For fittings going in or near water, material selection depends heavily on the water type — freshwater, chlorinated pool, or salt-chlorinated pool all behave differently. Rather than guess at a spec, this tool points you toward a proper conversation about your specific situation — see our guide on fittings that live in water for the full detail on why.

For in-ground fittings specifically, the cable join matters as much as the fitting material — see our guide on in-ground fittings and IP68 joins.