--- title: "No Sea Air in Crevillente: What Really Wears a Lock Down" description: "Crevillente is 25 km from the nearest beach, so salt is not the culprit. Use, age, dust and a worn key are, and here is how to tell which one you have." url: "https://locksmithcrevillente.es/blog/no-sea-air-what-wears-an-inland-lock/" business: "Locksmith Crevillente" --- # No sea air here: what really wears a lock down in Crevillente Crevillente is 25 km from the nearest beach, so salt is not what ruins its locks. Use, age, dust and a worn key are. How to tell which one your lock is suffering from. 7 October 2026 · 5 min read On the coast, the usual story of a seized lock is salt. Crevillente is different: it sits inland at the foot of its sierra, about 130 metres up, and the town’s own tourist guide puts the nearest beach, at Guardamar, 25 kilometres away. If your lock here has gone stiff, rough or unreliable, salt is very unlikely to be the reason. These four are far more likely. ## 1. A worn key Keys wear with every turn, slowly enough that nobody notices. Look at yours next to a newer one if you have it: rounded tips on the cuts, a shiny bent blade. A worn key catches inside a cylinder that is perfectly fine, and slowly wears the cylinder too. **What you can do:** use the best key you have, and stop using the worst one. ## 2. A worn cylinder Cylinders have pins and springs that wear like anything else. The signs are a key that has to be jiggled to find the spot, a turn that is gritty, or a key that goes in only one way up when it used to go in easily. **What you can do:** a dry lubricant made for locks, sprayed into the keyway, sometimes helps for a while. It does not reverse wear. A worn cylinder is replaced, which is a quick job on most doors. ## 3. Dust A dry inland climate, a building site at the end of the street, a yard on an industrial estate: dust gets into keyways. Thick oil makes it worse, because it holds the dust and becomes paste. **What you can do:** never use cooking oil or heavy grease. Blow the keyway out, then use a dry lubricant. ## 4. A door that has moved Very often the lock is not the problem at all. A door that has dropped on its hinges, or a frame that has shifted, makes the bolt rub against the keep. You feel it as a lock that is hard to turn only when the door is shut, and easy when it is open. **What you can check:** turn the key with the door open. If it is easy then and hard when the door is closed, the door needs adjusting, not the lock. ## When it is time to replace - The key has to be jiggled most days. - You have lost track of how many keys exist. - The cylinder sticks out of the door and can be gripped; a flush, anti-snap cylinder is a better choice anyway. - The lock has been attacked, even unsuccessfully. That is a case for [a high-security upgrade](https://locksmithcrevillente.es/burglary-repair-crevillente/). Older houses have their own versions of these problems: see the guides to [El Realengo’s settler houses](https://locksmithcrevillente.es/blog/el-realengo-settler-houses-and-their-locks/) and to [the front door of a cave house](https://locksmithcrevillente.es/blog/behind-the-front-door-of-a-cave-house/). Time for a new lock? Cylinders, mortice and multipoint locks, booked ahead and priced before the work starts. [Lock change in Crevillente, booked for a day that suits the house](https://locksmithcrevillente.es/lock-change-crevillente/) Read next - [What sits behind the front door of a cave house](https://locksmithcrevillente.es/blog/behind-the-front-door-of-a-cave-house/) · 5 min - [El Realengo’s settler houses and the locks still in them](https://locksmithcrevillente.es/blog/el-realengo-settler-houses-and-their-locks/) · 4 min - [All the guides for Crevillent](https://locksmithcrevillente.es/blog/) ## Rather ring than read on? Ring, or send a photo of the lock and your location on WhatsApp. Open 24 hours · 7 days [+34 678 583 290](tel:+34678583290) [WhatsApp](https://wa.me/34678583290?text=Hi%2C%20I%20need%20a%20locksmith%20in%20Crevillente.%20Where%20I%20am%20(street%2C%20or%20the%20settlement%3A%20El%20Realengo%2C%20San%20Felipe%20Neri%2C%20Las%20Casicas%E2%80%A6)%20and%20what%20has%20happened%3A)