1 Stop Indoor Fountains

Archive for the ‘Fountain Care’ Category

When making the decision on which fountain you should purchase, the first thing you need to determine is that reason for which you want the fountain.

People purchase fountains for several reasons including:

* Meditation and stress relief
* Sound mitigation
* Addition to either indoor or outdoor décor
* Pet drinking source
* Natural humidification

The reason for which you are planning to purchase a fountain could be any one, or a combination, of the reasons listed above.

Meditation and Stress Relief
When you find the perfect water fountain, you will have taken the first step to renewed relaxation and awareness. You goal, in purchasing a fountain, is to achieve a higher sense of peace, calm and serenity.

Through the soft peaceful sound of flowing water, the ideal fountain can bestow these sensations.

If you are selecting a water fountain for meditation and stress relief, you should look for one that has a soft sound that is not overbearing.

Hard splatters of water will only distract from your relaxed state of mind. Choose a fountain that has a nice steady flow of water that has the shortest distance to fall.

Fountains containing adjustable pumps will allow you to adjust the water flow as well as the water sounds.

Indoor Décor
Because of its beauty and elegance, a fountain can make an excellent addition to either your home or office. A fountain can serve as a functional art piece, invoking the senses of both sight and sound.

Fountains can be used in many decorative settings including:

A foyer as a way to welcome and invite guests into your home
A living area to fill empty space and balance the room
An office to attract customers

Fountains can be especially created to enhance the image of your company.

Noise Mitigation
You can use a fountain to create “white noise” in a space. Bothersome noises can be masked or covered by the pleasant sound of splashing, flowing or moving water.

People seated next to a fountain in a waiting room will hear the tranquil sounds of flowing water rather than distracting noises from other offices. You can silence the sounds of a busy street by adding a fountain to your home or office.

Although noise mitigation is the practical purpose for purchasing a fountain, the desired result is to create a more pleasant surroundings. That being the case, an aesthetic purpose is served as well.

Natural Humidifier
By adding moisture to a dry room, fountains can be natural humidifiers. Instead of the noise from the fan in a regular humidifier, you will have the soothing sound of the running water.

Unlike ordinary humidifiers have the potential to do, fountains do not contribute to mold and mildew. Humidity in the air is often lost due to heat and air units. Fountains can help revitalize your indoor plants by putting some of the humidity back into the air.

A small amount of moisture in the air, especially during the winter, will alleviate dry kin and reduce the allergies caused by dry air.

Pet Drinking Source
Pets can enjoy flowing water, so why not consider giving them a recirculating fountain from which to drink. You want to give your pets all the comfort they deserve. Your fountain purchase can become a multipurpose purchase. Your fountain can serve as a drinking fountain for your pets who need a reliable water source. As long as you are not adding chemicals to the water in your fountain, there is no harm in allowing your four legged family members to enjoy the fountain with the rest of the family

Many plants will grow well in your fountain. Even plants which are traditionally considered to be plants that require dirt will grow in the fountain.

In order for those plants to grow in water, you must be sure that no dirt adheres to the roots when the plant is placed in water.

If the fungi that live in dirt accompany the plant into the water, the plant will get root rot.

Some plants will not like living in water, but try various plants because you may be surprised at how well some of them will respond. You can also drop cutting directly into the water.

Spider plants can live in water for years and grow and thrive and put out shoots and blooming. Spider plants also have a marsh grass look and it is very difficult to find actual marsh grasses small enough to be put into a tabletop fountain.

There are precautions to take if you grow plants in your fountain.You need to be sure that the roots do not grow into the pump. If you’re growing plants in the fountain, you will not be able to use Fountec because the will kill the plants.

You must make sure that branches and leaves do not hang in such a way that water runs along them and out of the fountain onto the table or floor. Too much water dripping could empty the fountain.

The dripping water could ruin whatever it gets wet, so be sure to be careful where and how you place the plants.

After cleaning your fountain, and before reassembling it, it is a good idea to sterilize it.

If things have been growing on the fountain, some of those things may survive the cleaning. If these organisms are not dealt with, they will begin to grow again as soon as you put the fountain back together, unless you are using a chemical such as Fountec.

To prevent the organisms from beginning to grow again, give all the parts of the fountain, including the pump, a dip in a mild bleach solution before reassembling the fountain.

A cleaning in a bleach solution will slow the process of the growth of organisms, although the organisms will soon arrive and begin to colonize your fountain again.

Many materials are involved in the creation of a fountain. Some of the more common materials that may be involved are rocks – other than slate – ceramic, copper and resin.

The drilled rock fountainheads are designed to tolerate scrubbing with hot, soapy water and rinsing with a mild chlorine bleach solution. You can use a soft bristle brush, made with plastic or natural fiber bristles, to brush the rock, but do not use with steel or brass. If your fountain is made from another kind of rock, you will need to determine what kind of rock it is, and how you can best clean it, but almost all rock that is durable enough for use in fountains can be cleaned by using the brush method.

You can clean a ceramic fountainhead just like you clean a ceramic bowl. You can use a ScotchBrite pad on these fountains. You need to be careful to avoid thermal shock. Do not put a cold fountainhead in extremely hot water or a hot fountainhead, which you just had in the hot water, into cold water. Doing so may cause the ceramic to crack or the glaze to craze and crack. If you have an elaborate sculpted fountainhead, you may find that a toothbrush may be useful to help you to clean it.

Copper fountainheads are usually constructed of cascading leaves or similar shapes. These design elements can be easily bent so you must be careful when cleaning them. If you do bend them, they will bend back easily too though. Often, copper fountains will build up natural Verdi Gris, or green, coatings. These coatings develop around the edges and above the water lines. If you like that look, and some people do, then you probably won’t want to do anything to your copper fountainhead except for a gentle dusting of the dry parts from time to time. When you dust your copper fountain, you may find that a sheepskin dusting wand will work well. Molded fountainheads are often cast from a polyester resin mixed with fillers, such as powdered marble, other stone or some other kind of filler. Although these materials tend to be very strong, they do scratch easily.

Some of these molded fountainheads must also be painted over the resin beneath. Using warm soapy water and a soft sponge is the best way to clean these fountains. Strong acids may affect the color by dissolving filler materials near the surface, but they will not penetrate beyond that.

If you plan to use tile cleaners or other acids on a cast resin fountainhead, be sure to put a few drops of the cleaner on the bottom of the fountainhead and scrub with a toothbrush to determine how the cleaner will effect the fountain before beginning the cleaning process in a visible area.

Once a bamboo fountainhead has been used, it should not be allowed to dry out again. Drying can cause bamboo fountainheads to crack.

When bamboo is used in creating a fountainhead, it is often used in a horizontal or sloping “spout” arrangement. If the bamboo cracks on top it likely will not hurt anything, and it might even add some character to your fountain. However, if the bamboo cracks on the bottom, which it likely will, then you will need to replace the bamboo. If you do not coat bamboo, it will darken with age and may even blacken, depending on what is in your water. Many people opt to accept this natural darkening of the wood and do not seal the bamboo. If you try to seal it, it may not turn out the way you had hoped and the results will be unattractive. Experts advise against dipping bamboo in epoxy, even the finest quality penetrating boat repair epoxy, because the coating will fail within just a few weeks.

Fountainheads are even made of wood. As is the case with bamboo, it is unlikely that a sealed woo fountainhead will remain sealed for long. If the wood should become wet under the coating, the fountainhead will look terrible. As with bamboo, it is better not to seal the wood. One option you may try is using boiled linseed oil to coat the wood from time to time. That may help the fountain to look OK, but you will need to realize that any wooden fountainhead will get wet, and it will darken and get slimy. That is just the wood will react to the water.

Since that is the case, it is best if wood is used in a fountain to make it look wet and weathered. Often the best way to deal with wood in a fountain is to just leave it alone. Just be sure to change the water, clean the pump and the bowl and enjoy the rustic beauty.

Black ABS center supports are durable and impervious to chemical cleaners. Whatever you do to the fountainhead, you can do to the center support. Even if they get scratched or damaged, that will not matter because they are black objects. They reside in the shadows beneath your fountainhead and nobody will see them. Repairing smaller fountainheads usually involves gluing, or re-gluing parts that have broken off. You can usually use silicone adhesive caulking for the glue in most cases.

It is available in either clear or white. Some other colors may be available as well, but the clear and white are the most common. You would be best served to use the clear glue. You need to be sure the surfaces you will be gluing are both clean and dry. Gluing to dry surfaces is very important. Before attempting to use silicone on slate or porous ceramic, you should let these materials dry for at least a day.

For a very good repair job, find some Sikaflex 291. This product is available in black or white. Sikaflex is very sticky material. It will stick very well to slate, ceramic and most things. However, it does not adhere well to marble or other alkaline surfaces. What it does stick to, it sticks to very well. That can include you if you are not careful. If you get Sikafles on something you do not want it to be on, you cannot wash it off. Try to either wipe or rub it off with a paper towel.

Sikalfex is pretty sturdy when it cures, yet it is strong and pliable. It is an effective way to repair spacers on slate fountains, but you can also use silicones to repair slate. To make or replace spacers such as these, just squeeze out a dab of Sikaflex onto the slate or whatever material you are working with. The dab should resemble a tall chocolate chip. You can then dip your fingers into the other spacers.

The fountains almost always have three spacers; more spacers can result in an unstable fountain.

You can always trim the spacers with scissors after they cure, so leave them a bit high.

To protect the pump from pebbles or other debris that may get into it and damaging it, most pumps are equipped with some kind of filter, inlet strainers or screens.

Eventually the water flow will slow down because the screens will become clogged. Be observant and be aware of when the water flow in your fountain starts to slow down so that, when you notice the slow down, you can clean your fountain.

You do not want the pump to clog completely. If that happens, the pump may overheat and burn out, then you will have to replace it. Although some do not, most fountains come with an instruction book. Be sure to read the instructions to learn how to disassemble and reassemble the fountain.

Most fountain pumps are easy to access and are easy to clean. Usually disassembling and reassembling fountains, and cleaning the pump, does not require any tools. The sides come off, impellors are attached to motor armatures and just pull right out as a single piece, outlets pull out or pop off. Fountains are designed to be taken apart and cleaned.

The demo fountains in stores are taken apart and cleaned many times, but they still work quite well. It is likely that your pump is adjustable. Before you remove the pump for cleaning, be sure to make a note of the adjustment position. In the process of cleaning, you may accidentally change the setting. You will want to be able to set it correctly before you reassemble the fountain.

Checking the setting in advance will save you some guess work when reassembling the fountain. Warm soapy water and an old toothbrush are the best tools for cleaning the pump. You should dip the parts in a mild bleach solution and then reassemble the fountain. To reassemble most pumps, put the armature back onto the motor shaft, it should just slide on with little effort and no tools, and place the cover back on the front or side of the pump. The entire cleaning process shouldn’t take more than a few minutes.

Hard water deposits ca build up on the motor shaft or other parts of the pump and place an extra load on the motor. That extra load may cause the pump to fail permanently. Be sure to use distilled water in your fountain to prevent this problem from occurring.

Since fountain bowls can be made of many different materials you will need to find the right cleaning products for your specific fountain.

Many bowls are made from ceramic, porcelain or stoneware, and are glazed inside. These bowls can be kept clean very easily. To aid in the process of keeping the bowls clean, you should use distilled water in your fountain so that you do not stain them with minerals. Even so, some soft minerals can leach out of the slate and cause spots. If this should happen, you can use white vinegar to scrub off the spots. To remove algae or slime, just wash the fountain with warm water and a tablespoon of bleach. If you are not using a product like Fountec, you should consider sterilizing all of the components of the fountain with a mild bleach solution before reassembling them so as to delay the onset of more algae.

Many fountain bowls are made of low fired ceramics. You can clean a low fired bowl in the same way that you would clean porcelain or stoneware bowls. These materials are porous. You must be certain that the glaze is impervious and it does not get damaged if the bowl is glazed on the inside. It has been found through trial and error that washing low fired bowls in extremely hot water can crack the glaze. If the bowl becomes cracked, water will seep slowly though the bowl and then build up beneath the fountain. Some low fired bowls may have glazes that have pinholes. You may also have a bowl that is not glazed at all. These problems can be corrected by resealing the bowl.

Another material used to create the fountain bowl is a plastic resin. Bowls that are cast from plastic resin are often filled with marble dust, limestone dust or other minerals to give them a rich appearance. The problem is that these bowls are easily scratched. The other problem is that often the inside of the bowl has been painted to match the outside and the paint can be easily stripped away if you use an abrasive cleaner. Be sure to use warm soapy water and a cotton rag to clean resin bowls.

Another material used for fountain bowls is copper. Copper is poisonous to living organisms because it is a biocide. Although algae can grow in the water of a copper fountain basin, it cannot attach to the bowl itself. Fountains in copper basins can often go a long time without needing to be cleaned. Use only a soft cotton rage when you clean copper because it is soft. Some copper fountains have epoxy coatings on them, however, most do not. You can use water that is quite hot to clean your copper bowl if it does not have an epoxy coating.

If you have a low fired bowl that is leaking, you have a variety of options available to seal the leaks. Many of these options are “home remedies,” and you may get varied levels of success with these remedies. If you choose the wrong home remedy, or if you use one incorrectly, it may prevent some of the more effective repairs from being successful. If you have a planting rod with drain holes, you would do well to use epoxy to seal it. This repair is a two step process.

The first step is to make a past or putty by mixing a small amount of epoxy and add very fine sawdust or talcum powder to it until it is thick. Plug the holes with this mixture.

When the putty begins to gel, or get firm and sticky, mix some more epoxy and paint the inside of the pot. Paint over the half cured putty as well.

If you choose to buy pigments to tint epoxy, be sure that they are really for epoxy or your coating may not cure correctly. If that happens, you will be left with a big mess.

Always use latex or vinyl disposable gloves whenever you work with epoxy. You can spread the epoxy with a china bristle “chip brush.” These brushes are good for spreading epoxy because they are inexpensive, and you can dispose of them after one use.

You can thin epoxy by using acetone, but acetone is a nasty substance. It is better to be careful and take your time so that you do not get the epoxy anywhere you do not want it to be.

You need to be sure to use the correct kind of epoxy. Do not use the one to one ratio, fast curing epoxies, like five minute epoxy, that you might find at a hardware store.

These epoxies do not spread well and will not soak in to the bowl. Use the two to one ratio epoxies that are designed for boat building.

They soak into porous materials well.