Garden Lighting Maintenance Through Winter
A coastal scheme needs two short visits a year: autumn, before the dark evenings, and spring, after the salt winds. Clean lenses, check seals and connections, re-aim what has been knocked, and cut back planting that has grown into the beams. That routine is the difference between a scheme lasting five years and twenty.
The autumn check
- Clean every lens. A summer's dust and pollen film can cut output by a quarter. This alone often 'fixes' a scheme people thought was failing.
- Clear leaf litter from recessed fittings and check their drainage sumps are not blocked.
- Cut back planting that has grown across beams over the growing season — the commonest reason a scheme looks worse than last year.
- Re-aim and re-balance from the house after dark, and reset the timer for the winter schedule.
The spring check
- Wash off salt film, particularly on plots facing the sea at Hastings, St Leonards and Bexhill.
- Inspect every connection for green corrosion or moisture ingress and re-seal anything suspect.
- Check seals and O-rings and re-grease with the correct silicone grease before the fitting is opened and closed again.
- Test the transformer output and confirm all circuits are pulling what they should.
What actually fails
Almost never the LED. In practice the failures are: a connection sitting in water, a recessed fitting whose sump has silted up, a spike knocked flat and pointing at a fence, and planting that has swallowed a fitting entirely. All four are cheap to fix and all four are invisible until someone looks properly.
| Visit | Includes | Guide cost |
|---|---|---|
| Single service visit | Clean, check, re-aim, timer reset | £180–£360 |
| Twice-yearly plan | Autumn and spring visits | £320–£640 per year |
| Fault call-out | Diagnosis; repair quoted separately | Call-out fee applies |
Please note: all prices here are estimated guide ranges for illustration only, not fixed quotes. Your actual price is confirmed in writing as part of a design visit.
The aiming drifts more than you think
Between frost heave, dogs, hoes and hedge trimmers, a handful of fittings move every year. Nobody notices individually, but the scheme gradually loses its shape. Twenty minutes of re-aiming after dark restores it completely.
Keep your scheme looking like it did on day one
Ask about a maintenance visit for an existing scheme, whoever installed it — or book a design visit for a new one.
Book a Design Visit
Hastings Garden Lighting Co.
