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solar fountain
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Posted by dollladie 5 Indiana (My Page) on Thu, Jan 22, 04 at 9:13
| Has anyone tried a solar pump for outdoor fountains. My garden is barely a year old, and I'm slowly adding the touches I want to it. I'd like a small fountain, but for various reasons, we are unable to run any electrical wiring to the site at this time. I've heard there are solar pumps - do they work? What are the pros and cons? thanks! |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: solar fountain
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| There was a thread about this someplace, maybe still around. People had trouble with the round floating one that had the photoelectric cell in it because it would take on water and fail. Don't know if the company ever got that worked out. The ones with the separate photocell that sat outside the water and a separate part that floats is supposedly better, but more expensive. Have you done a search? |
RE: solar fountain
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| No search yet. Will do so. Thanks. |
RE: solar fountain
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| I bought a small one last year from Silicon Solar. Very fast delivery, very poor customer service. While the website said 'guaranteed', the packaging said 'guarantee not valid if packaging opened'. ??? I sent a number of e-mails and none were ever answered. Finally just tried the darned thing - it was $70 with shipping. Looked very flimsy. It still works fine (I put it up for winter, though). It has to be in full direct sun, however. |
RE: solar fountain
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| My local nursery guy laughed when I asked him about one yesterday. One of his customers bought one last summer, and it would only work with full, direct sun. If a cloud came past, the water would stop. As the sun moved to the front of the house, it would stop. At night, if there was a thunderstorm, lightning would trigger it on. It became the neighborhood joke! Maybe I'll try the battery type. |
RE: solar fountain
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I bought one - VERY disapointed, thinking of selling it at a loss this spring, but feel kind of bad selling someone else a lemon.
I found the same problems, anything breaking direct sun and it stops running, A rip-off to me.
If I keeep it, maybe I'll try it on the deck that gets sun all the time, but kind of ruins the reason I got it. |
RE: solar fountain
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I have one that I love.
The only drawback as mentioned above is that if it's overcast, it stops. A cloud going by - same thing. Unless it's a huge cloud, it's not too bad. I attached the panal to a pole that I attached to my fence post. I am able to turn it during the day to follow the sun. Since I get full sun in my yard pretty much all day-it can run a lot.
On a clear sunny day during the summer, it can run from 8am until 7:30pm. 
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RE: solar fountain
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- Posted by jkom51 Z9 CA/Sunset 17 (My Page) on
Wed, Feb 25, 04 at 13:01
| We have a small one that has 4 different spray heads, a small rectangular plastic base that also houses the foam filter, and a separate glass solar panel that as mentioned above, only works in direct sunlight. It's modest, but it works fine. Note that there are warnings against letting it run dry. You need to keep an eye on it if your fountain is small, as mine is. Like you we have no electrical in the back and our panel is full, necessitating several thousands in expense if we want to add a subpanel. Our entire backyard is run on solar lighting of various sorts. |
RE: solar fountain
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| Hi everyone! I'm writing a newspaper story on solar garden gadgets. Anyone have stories to share with me? Please respond to june.fletcher@wsj.com. |
RE: solar fountain
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O.K. I got that water finally! [From my other thread, Watering]
How? let me tell you......
It's a poor man's water pump and it woks like a charm!
Yes, that Fuel pump, I had it sitting around, since the Dealer installed a new one which wasn't the problem, [Clogged fuel Line] I have discovered myself, and gave the dealer heck, picked up my old one, and this year it came to action! It's a Electic, 12 V and came from a Honda Acura
It's suction, about 8 feet up into the pump without priming, or more, and still can push very high up, have tried 20 feet, and still pushed out water.
Right now, I have sprinkler hose buried into the ground, about 350 feet, and barrels on two places, where I needed most.
It fills a barrel, 45gal. in about 1 to 1 1/2 Hours.
It did better then I expected......very very pleased for very little money. The Battery gets charged by a cheap $19 Solar Panel from Canadian Tire, 1.5 W output Konrad |
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