lake fountains Cancel The title field is required!

1. Ryan Sears

   

   1 posts
   
   3/7/2013 2:03 PM

   We are having terrible luck with our Air-o-Lator lake fountains. We use the high volume output setup. What brand fountains are you all using that you would recommend??

   
   
   
   
2. David Brandenburg

   

   3 posts
   
   3/8/2013 6:03 PM

   What do you mean by bad luck? Do you mean you have major expenses on motor and plate repairs each season? If so our otterbine was the same and I was happy to budget cut the fountain out of use.

   
   
   
   
3. Andy Jorgensen

   

   1 posts
   
   3/9/2013 7:03 AM

   I had a buddy that was having constant issues with burned up motors due to debris blocking the intake and causing undue stress on the pump. He built a cage out of the smaller expanded metal to box in the intake under the motor to screen out leaves and pine straw. The box was about 12" tall and 18" square and screwed directly to the base of the fountain. He added some 1.5" Styrofoam insulation board (the pink 4 x 8 sheets) to the bottom to help with buoyancy. It helped tremendously and last I heard he hadn't needed to repair the burned up motor like he did in the past. It also kept the fountain free flowing with no debris blockage.

   
   
   
   
4. Sprague Lucas H

   
   3/12/2013 8:03 AM

   Last year both of my air-o-lator pumps went out for the same reason (undue stress on the pump). Had them repaired and already this season had one sieze up again. Waste of time and money to fix. Not sure where your located but DBi (Deangelo Brothers Inc.) out of Portland, OR offers an underwater system I think is worth looking at. You loose the "fountain" look but why deal with a pump that doesnt handle a little debris.

   
   
   
   
5. Garrett Schultz

   

   0 posts
   
   3/12/2013 11:03 AM

   Our pond aeration pump is currently out of service as well. Rather than spending the $ to repair or by a new pump/fountain, I'm looking at alternatives for aeration.
   
   Our course is undergoing a complete irrigation renovation starting in a few weeks, and the pond in question will have a manual drain valve placed into it for filling purposes. I was thinking of piping from that valve out to the middle of the pond, then placing some sort of diffuser on top of the pipe to give the fountain effect? It would only run when the manual drain was opened to fill the pond. Anyone have experience with this or reasons why I shouldn't even consider it?

   
   
   
   
6. Andrew Cross

   

   5 posts
   
   3/12/2013 7:03 PM

   When water restrictions come down, how are you going to show that x number of gallons pumped stayed in the pond, and therefore was not actually applied? Also I can see this as unnecessary wear and tear on irrigation pumps thereby shortening the life span on them.

   
   
   
   
7. Hardy Andrew

   
   3/12/2013 8:03 PM

   We have had our ponds run off the irrigation for three years now. Yes our 25hp handles it easily but the catch is that the pond we have the fountain in drains back into the irrigation reservoir. I find it a decent way to achieve the aeration, but find it hard to tell if it is more/less economical.

   
   
   
   
8. Garrett Schultz

   

   0 posts
   
   3/13/2013 12:03 PM

   Andrew Cross said: When water restrictions come down, how are you going to show that x number of gallons pumped stayed in the pond, and therefore was not actually applied? Also I can see this as unnecessary wear and tear on irrigation pumps thereby shortening the life span on them.

   
   
   We already are filling our ponds off of the irrigation lines (management made the decision to keep the water features full). I won't be using any more water than I already am, and the 6 hours a week for 20 weeks split between 3 pumps a year that the pond fill is on isn't that concerning for pump wear and tear. Our water usage is tracked as what we pull from our well, that won't change. Besides evaporation loss, a lot of the water that drains out ends up back in the aquifer or in our irrigation holding pond. Either way we will continue to fill the pond off our irrigation lines...
   
   What I was asking is if anyone has made a "home-made" fountain feature fed off of an irrigation line?