Fountain Setup
Click any of the links below to view setup instructions:
Pumps are not included with fountains. Pumps are rated on their ability to move water in 'Gallons per hour' or 'gph'. Select your model below for installation instructions and pump specifications.
Troubleshooting
Water does not flow out the top at all.
- Make sure the plastic hose is not kinked at some point and that water can flow freely from pump to finial.
- Check to see if pump is correct size. Pumps are rated by the height they will raise a column of water. Under 24" need P-60 to P-80; 24" to 48" need P-140 to P-210; over 48" needs P-280 to P-380 or higher. Contact your pump supplier for accurate sizes. Remember, it is not the height of the fountain, but the height from the pump to the point where the water exits that must be measured.
- The ID (inside diameter) of the plastic hose also affects the height the water will rise. Any pump will push water higher in a 3/8" hose than in a 1/2" hose, but more volume flows from a 1/2" hose.
Water flow is too heavy or fountain splashes too much.
- Decrease the flow control on the pump.
- Restrict the flow through the plastic hose. Many make-shift items will work, e.g. a nail bent into a "U" shape with the hose pressed inside it, a small hose clamp tightened around the hose, etc.
Bowl leaks at plug.
- Make sure black rubber plug is pushed firmly into white plastic pipe in the bowl, so that the top of the plug is level with the top of the pipe.
- If necessary, remove the water from the bowl, remove the black rubber plug and check with your finger to ensure the walls of the white plastic pipe are clean and free of cement. Clean the pipe (your fingernail is often enough), re-Vaseline the plug with cord and insert the plug into the pipe. When plug is seated properly (top of plug even with top of white pipe and slit in plug completely closed,) apply extra Vaseline to the top of the plug and the surrounding ?" of white plastic and concrete. Ensure the pump cord is snuggly fitted and that the slit in the plug is tightly closed once seated in the pipe.
The plastic hose that came with the fountain does not fit onto the pump purchased elsewhere.
- Plastic hose is manufactured in sizes that allow one size to fit snuggly inside the next larger size.
- Measure the nipple on the top of your pump. That measurement is the ID (inside diameter) of the plastic hose you need.
- Usually 1/2" hose is supplied with the fountain. If the pump needed 5/8", all you need is a short length (4") of 5/8" hose from your building supply store. Insert that onto your pump, then place the 1/2" hose down inside the top of the 5/8" hose to complete the assembly.
- This process can also work in reverse with 3/8" hose.
The flow is uneven around the finial.
- Adjust the placement of the finial in the bowl.
- Increase the flow of the pump.