Weathertightness of rural letterboxes

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neb

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#253131 27-Jul-2019 19:20

Does anyone here have one of the large plastic rural letterboxes:

and have any comments on how weathertight they are, particularly if used in a coastal environment? Every standard residential letterbox I know of sucks at keeping rain out in a coastal area where a lot of it will be wind-driven, these ones look a lot more functional than the (s)wanky residential ones which emphasise looks over functionality.

My only reservation with the rural model is that it's a huge bin of a box, I can fit my entire current (awful) letterbox inside the rural one.

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#2284667 27-Jul-2019 20:10

Yea no good with mist, Fog and sea spray get in. I drilled holes in the bottom to let it drain and ventilate.

neb

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#2284672 27-Jul-2019 20:28

shrub: Yea no good with mist, Fog and sea spray get in. I drilled holes in the bottom to let it drain and ventilate.

Ugh, that's what I was worried about. Not fog/mist so much but just non-vertical rain. My current letterbox has a bunch of ad-hoc mods to try and deal with water - among other things in its unmodded form you get a lake of water that builds up in the bottom so any letters turn to mush - and I was hoping to find something where that didn't happen.

This is probably how you end up with a Kickstarter for "Letterbox that doesn't suck"...

timmmay

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#2284679 27-Jul-2019 20:53

I spent a lot of time looking for a good letterbox years ago. I ended up with a Eurobox, a brand that doesn't exist any more. It basically has a sprung flap that has an overhang, mounted to a residential fence, water doesn't get in. It looks a bit like this, but with more overhang.

Something like this might do you if you expect to get regular amounts of mail. It looks strong and fairly weather protected. You could probably add a thin rubber seal to make it even more weatherproof.

The need for letterboxes is decreasing.

richms

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#2284682 27-Jul-2019 20:55

I stopped mail buildup in mine by not reattaching the door last time it got broken into. Never a problem with wet mail. Still get the odd free newspaper or something that jams in there well enough to not blow out, but the junkmail that gets put in there quickly leaves.

Richard rich.ms

rhy7s

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#2284691 27-Jul-2019 21:32

neb: My current letterbox has a bunch of ad-hoc mods to try and deal with water - among other things in its unmodded form you get a lake of water that builds up in the bottom so any letters turn to mush - and I was hoping to find something where that didn't happen.

A wire or mesh tray in the bottom?

Yoban

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#2284698 27-Jul-2019 21:57

What about this as an option https://www.securityletterbox.co.nz/

neb

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#2284700 27-Jul-2019 22:06

timmmay:
I spent a lot of time looking for a good letterbox years ago. I ended up with a Eurobox, a brand that doesn't exist any more. It basically has a sprung flap that has an overhang, mounted to a residential fence, water doesn't get in. It looks a bit like this, but with more overhang.

Yeah, someone else recommended a similar one, problem is they're wall mount and I don't have a wall available. I considered slapping one on a post, but it'd look a bit odd.

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neb

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#2284703 27-Jul-2019 22:13

rhy7s: A wire or mesh tray in the bottom?

That's one of the aforementioned ad hoc mods.

The letterbox is this totally stupid design, where the postie can either stick it in the big top slot where rain goes straight in and soaks everything, or in the tiny bottom slot where the rain also goes in but the modded drainage holes and raised tray keep at least some of the water away.

neb

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#2284704 27-Jul-2019 22:20

Yoban: What about this as an option https://www.securityletterbox.co.nz/

Hmm, the "CITY Security Letterbox" looks good, but doesn't seem to exist anywhere apart from that site, which has no ordering info or anything similar. Some of them are also pretty pricey, we saw the "Stealth Security Letterbox" at Mitre 10, it was (a) somewhat impractical and (b) something like $229. Apart from that the City one look like the least awful one so far...

traderstu

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#2284730 28-Jul-2019 07:59

Keep in mind your mailbox needs to meet certain requirements if you want your mail delivered.

jonherries

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#2284748 28-Jul-2019 09:46

Does anyone have a sensor in the mailbox to let them know their mail has been delivered?

I started this post as a joke, then got distracted and spent 20mins looking at things like this...

http://www.whatimade.today/esp-8266-mailbox-notifier-using-deepsleep-and-blynk/

Jon

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#2284755 28-Jul-2019 09:59

richms:
I stopped mail buildup in mine by not reattaching the door last time it got broken into. Never a problem with wet mail. Still get the odd free newspaper or something that jams in there well enough to not blow out, but the junkmail that gets put in there quickly leaves ....

.... and blows around the street? Nice one.

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nakedmolerat

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#2284766 28-Jul-2019 10:29

we have that exact same letterbox. it rain heaps here.

no issue for us. never get wet.

richms

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#2284767 28-Jul-2019 10:33

eracode:
richms:

I stopped mail buildup in mine by not reattaching the door last time it got broken into. Never a problem with wet mail. Still get the odd free newspaper or something that jams in there well enough to not blow out, but the junkmail that gets put in there quickly leaves ....

.... and blows around the street? Nice one.

Im not the one leaving crap in an open metal can at the side of the road that clearly says not to leave it there. I'd remove it totally but its somehow been nailed onto the neighbours fence from the inside of it so risks fence damage ripping it off. Perhaps I could take a cutoff wheel in the angle grinder out and just chop the box back to the flat plate or something.

Richard rich.ms

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#2284810 28-Jul-2019 13:43

I have a metal red box. Never have any issues with weather destroying it. Its called a PO Box, available from your local post shop.

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