Putting Together Your Fountain
Your fountain kit contains a reservoir (plastic container for holding water), a riser (a rigid plastic platform that will hold your fountain design), an adjustable water pump with flexible tubing, and mortar. In addition to these items, you will need decorative pieces with which to design your fountain. These pieces can be whatever you want them to be -- rough rock, polished rock, figurines, shells, wood, etc. After deciding what you want to use in the design of your fountain, think of how these different elements will fit together. Do a few dry settings (set all the pieces together without mortaring them in place). This will help you work out any flaws in the design of your fountain. When you have a design you like, you are ready to go. . . .
- Dry set the base elements of your fountain in the design you have chosen. Make any adjustments necessary. Remember to leave design space for your flexible tubing. The tubing is what will bring water from the reservoir to the top of your fountain. Make sure your water pump is easily accessible -- later on this will be important.
- Then, mortar your design together and wait for it to set or cure. Curing takes about 24 hours. Mortar is a permanent fixative. If you want to use something with more flexibility, you can substitute clear silicone. With silicone you can pull your design apart even after it has cured.
- After your fountain has set, fill your reservoir with water, put the pump where you want it to go, and attach the flexible tubing. Then, place the plastic riser on top of your pump and thread the hose through the center hole provided. The riser has a notch for the pump's power cord.
- Set your fountain design on top of the plastic riser. Make sure to place the flexible tubing within your fountain. Trim the tubing, if necessary.
- Plug your pump in... and your fountain is up and running!* At this point you may need to adjust the flow of your pump. This may entail taking your fountain apart, but access to the pump should be relatively easy. Once you have the pump out, locate the impeller housing cover (the slotted half of the water pump). Pull this cover off and you will find a wheel with four triangle shaped openings. Underneath this wheel will be a second wheel with four more triangle shaped openings. Turning the top wheel so that the eight openings line up will yield the maximum amount of water flow. Lining up the openings on the top wheel with the solid portions of the bottom wheel will yield the minimum amount of water flow. Adjust flow as needed.
*NOTE: If there is no water being pumped through your fountain, there may be an air bubble caught in the pump. Just jiggle the pump a little and the air bubble should be dislodged.
Leave a comment
Recent articles
View all
We're Moving!
Concretions & Ojito Wilderness
