|
| |
Summary Article: Fountain Pump and Pond Pumps Reviewed
In the same way that every mother’s son is the apple of her eye, every
designer who has created a submersible pond pump is sure he has created
something that everyone will fall in love with and think that is the most
wonderful creation since Adam set eyes on Eve.
As you struggle for the seeming billionth time, after extracting your
submersible pump from the wretched cold muck and mire and you are trying to
prize off the clogged up jet to clear it of yet more detritus, it might cross
your mind who might have spawned this travesty of uselessness.
The truth is it may be something to do with the task you have set it to do.
It does seem possible that occasionally someone has been asked to design
something that would be cheap to produce, but in general the designers in the
pond pump industry (for there is one) are more than keen to fulfill all the
expectations we have of submersible pond pumps.
The result is that pond pumps have been redesigned with 'a look' that suggests
purpose and efficiency.
The fact that most small pumps come with a fountain jet and fittings for
variable flow seems to attest that at least the pump is suitable for producing a
fountain if nothing else.
We asked a number of leading manufacturers what they had in the way of 'fountain
pumps' for testing against other makes.
We were not after the very tiddly ones, but something that would create a decent
splash in a largish pool or run a reasonable sized ornament.
I said that about 1000 litres to be pumped to a height of roughly a metre.
Well that is what I said to the editor and by the process of Chinese whispers I
ended up with a collection of pumps that looked as varied as if I had asked for
a complete mixture of every sort of pumps under the sun.
The truth was that here were the companies Oase (they sent two!), Hozelock,
Tetra, Heissner, Laguna and Blagdon, and these were their choice of pump for
this particular job in hand.
Expense to a certain extent is secondary consideration in this comparison, also
funnily enough performance figures.
As long as the pump produced more or less the figures on the side of the box in
lab-style conditions, I wanted to see how they performed in the 'wild'!
Also I wanted to see how idiot-proof they were.
Although I've creating water gardens for 23 years now and I feel I can spot a
charlatan piece of kit at twenty paces, when it comes to putting together one of
these completely alien pieces equipment, I feel like some ham fisted toddler
with an Airfix kit completely beyond my age range.
Once upon a time you got the basic pump and then you cobbled together you own
mishmash of plumber's fittings, jubilee clips and tubing at some vast extra
expense.
Now it all seems to be there in the box, all that you need to turn your
submersible pump from a fountain to a waterfall pump or to even have both.
But how easy is it to put together and then take apart when necessary?
And also how often is it necessary to take it apart?
All important questions in the general running of things.
In general when it came to fittings there was more there than you could imagine
ever using in any circumstances, and in one case I tested, the tools to
dismantle the machine were included as well.
There is no doubt the manufacturers are catering for all tastes, for instance,
for those who like to have technology and control at their finger tips as top
priorities, Oase do a TV style remote control as an add-on for their fountain
pumps.
So is it possible that we punters are being blinded from the important bit by
all these 'buttons and bells'?
We will see in this tale of the 'magnificent seven pumps' and how they coped in
my hands, an ordinary person fitting them into an ordinary pond.
The mission Pumping a fountain for as long as possible in a fountain pump pond
from hell.
A thick scum of duckweed hides a mire of leaf maulm and silt churned up by a
large waterfall.
These conditions would in a matter hours simulate the same stress a pump might
be put under in over a week in a normal pool.
The design, of the squashed robot armadillo style pump cage, with its large
surface area grill to sieve the water, gave it a look of the modern filter-pumps
that handle murky water without problem, but the literature warned that it was
only 'designed for clean water'.
You could have a large fountain jet or a dome fountain ('bell jet) on a
telescopic pipe above a flow control that doubled to divert water to another
outlet that could be a remote fountain.
The three fountain jet patterns or dome fountain attachment were supported on a
telescopic tube, which has an integrated spotlight holder if you wanted to
illuminate the fountain with Oase underwater spotlights.
Remember when considering expense of this pump, balance that with a minute
running cost arising from it 15watt power consumption and then there was a
whopping 5 year guarantee.
Oase Aquarius 1200: A more modest 3 year guarantee came with this slightly
meatier cousin, providing a mean maximum through-put of 1200 litres, 720lph to 1
metre, no flapping wings but still the miniscule power consumption of 15watts.
This was easy to get off but difficult to clean out and then the angle of the
tube (or 'riser' in the parlance) did not seem to keen to be set in an upright
position.
The Nautilus was next to go in this fairly quick succession.
The Heissner, the Aquarius and the Tetra were the three best performers at this
stage The Blagdon Hydratech suffered a few blocked jet holes but the power was
still there and it continued fairly unabated, albeit untidily.
Over time the pumps with the sponge filters, the Heissner and to a lesser extent
the Tetra, began to flag slightly.
With the caged style pumps, any debris that had got through was pushed through
before it came entangled with the impellor and so had had got lodged in the
fountain jets.
pump fountain jet fittings flow design pond water
cage apart detritus mire "wretched cold muck" "submersible pump" "seeming
billionth time" click to read the full article
| |
|
