6 Fountain Maintenance and Care Topics Debunked

There are a lot of assumptions made, when it comes to water fountain maintenance and care. A big part of this could be because there are a lot of myths about them that people have been lead to believe. Read on to learn the truth behind some of these common myths.

■     Cleaning the fountain has to be done monthly. Unless you have heavy smokers or a dozen dogs living in the house it is highly unlikely you will need to clean your water feature this often. If it was an outside fountain exposed to debris, bugs, and the sun's UV rays, it would be a different story. Most people find that cleaning every other month or even every quarter is more than enough.

■     You have to turn the water feature on and off when you leave and sleep, so you don't run up the energy bill. This is definitely not correct. First, one fountain pump does not use nearly the energy you might think. Second, they are designed to run 24/7. If you turn them off, the water goes stagnant.

■     Fountains make the air soggy. Water features do evaporate at a slow rate. It is just enough to help combat dry air from running the furnace or air conditioning, but nowhere near enough moisture to make the air feel humid.

■     Only distilled water can be used. If you are planning to buy a 10-foot fountain, you may have second thoughts once you picture filling your entire vehicle with containers of distilled water from the store. Although distilled water is preferred there are water treatment products that can be used with regular tap water.

■     Cleaning takes a full day. If your fountain takes a full day to clean, hopefully you are taking a lot of breaks for snacking, dancing, napping, and walking the dog. Even a very large fountain wouldn't be a day project. You will find that after you clean it a couple times you will develop your own system and zip through the process surprisingly fast. Plus, if you clean it regularly and don't give the water time to get filthy, then the cleaning process will be much simpler.

■     Water features splash all over. It is highly unlikely that a quality fountain would splash on nearby furniture or the floor. If your piece does splash, you may need to just position the pebbles or rocks a little differently in the splash guard.