Outdoor Water Fountain Care and Maintenance
As the weather becomes warmer, so does the time you spend outdoors relaxing on your patio or garden and this is also the perfect time to thoroughly clean your outdoor water fountain in order to avoid bad smells, slimy water or limescale build up. Outdoor water fountain care and maintenance doesn’t need to be difficult, and will extend the life of the fountain pump and keep things working smoothly. While you don’t need to clean your garden fountain every week, performing maintenance regularly will reduce the time you spend doing it as the dirt and algae won’t have time to build up and become difficult to clean.
First of all, you will need to drain the water from the fountain. Large and heavy fountains will often have a drain that you can open to let the water out, but smaller ones may need to be disassembled or you may have to vacuum the water out with a wet/dry vacuum cleaner.
Water fountain pumps get dirty easily, and the best way to clean them thoroughly is using a small toothbrush and fresh water on your sink. Make sure you remove anything that may be interfering with the pump mechanism, as sometimes things can get stuck and cause noises and bad performance.
If your fountain is very dirty you may need to spend some time cleaning with a solution of water and vinegar (to remove lime build-up) or a commercial fountain cleaner. A softly abrasive pad such as those used for washing dishes can be used on stone fountains, but for copper and iron fountains that may get scratched you may prefer to use a commercial metal cleaning product. If you perform outdoor water fountain maintenance regularly, cleaning will be much easier.
Once the basin and the fountain pump are both clean it is time to reassemble the fountain and fill it again with fresh water if necessary. If you are worried about limescale build up you may want to use distilled water, or add a white scale prevention product to the water. It is also a good idea to add a water clarifier that is non-toxic but slows down the growth of algae, as that will keep your fountain looking clean and fresh for longer.
If you take good care of an outdoor water fountain, it will look good for years and become a refreshing feature on your garden or backyard. While cleaning a water fountain thoroughly can take a while if it’s very dirty, or after a long winter of not using it, it’s worth it and you will love the results.
Category: Fountain Maintenance, Outdoor Fountains
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