BUILDING A DISAPPEARING FOUNTAIN As promised, heres the how-to on building a disappearing water feature which, if done right, does not have an exposed pool in which pets or children can harm themselves. Tomorrow, fate willing, Ill tell you how to build a pond with waterfall. To make a disappearing water feature, you need about 10 square feet or less of HPDM liner, a valve box you can get from your larger hardware store: these are the boxes they sink in a lawn to contain your sprinkling system valves: theyre about a foot and a half long, a foot wide, have a lid, but no bottom. You may need to drill a hole in the side to admit a garden hose. You will also need a float valve [hardware] which operates to close when the water level rises: it may look humorously like the one in your toilet. It may even BE a toilet float. No, people wont see it. Youll need a sturdy submersible pump: Little Giant makes a good one that has served us for half a decade without being removed. Garden hose to run from this fountain to a spigot to provide water to the fountain, controlled by that float switch. Rocks. Pretty ones. A pile of rock or a fountain that will spill over. Ours is a fake rock that has a pipe running up through it. But a stack of rocks with a hose running up through it is perfectly good. Dig a pit where you want the fountain to spill. Dig it the size of your valve box, and 18 niches deep. Lay your HPDM sheet down over that pit, under where the fountain will sit, and for as much around that pit as you will want to cover with rock. Tuck it into the hole. Set your valve box in it, snug it down, open bottom down, and put into it the end of a connected garden hose to which you attach that float valve; plus the pump. Using a hose clamp, secure a hose of whatever diameter the pump needs, and either run it to the pipe of your water feature, or simply aim it at the sky and pile rock around it. You may want to install a ball valve on that line so that you can dial the water up or down. If you are using a simple rock stack and hose for a waterfall, stack the rock and cap it with a flat rock with a bit of space atop the hose (to let the water out). Your whole stack or water feature should tilt just a quarter or half inch toward the pit. You should cover the pit with heavy rock, and cover the hpdm with rock, as much as you have. Turn on the garden hose,fill the pit with water, and turn on the pump. Now you can adjust the behavior of your fountain-waterfall. Move rocks, increase or decrease the tilt---dress so you can get wet. Your float valve will fill the fountain at any hour the evaporation lowers the water level below the set point; you should have power on a timer for daylight hours. You can set potted plants on the liner/rock area. You can arrange more or less splash from the linered area to water surrounding plants that are planted in the area. The only water available to put your hand in is what you can reach through the rocks to feel in the pit. Youre running a fullblown fountain in which the water hits the rocks below and disappears, to recycle through the pump. Its good for areas where water is at a premium; for front yards where safety is a concern; it waters your dog or cat ---or visiting birds---- and yet your pet cant get into the water pit, which is lidded and capped with heavy rock. So your pet cant soak himself and then come romp through your living room. And your child cant fall into it: the water source is small, and capped with rocks he cant move. Our weather gets down to -10 in the winter and our fountain does fine without pulling the pump for the winter. Use your judgement.
Posted on: Sat, 29 Mar 2014 15:35:27 +0000
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