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Installing a Water Feature Video

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Installing a Water Feature Video

Since Charlie Dimmock joined the Ground Force team, no garden in the UK has been complete without the soothing splish splash of a water feature. A little water will make your garden a friendly place for wildlife and birds. It'll also make it a friendlier place for you and your family. So get splashing around with our step-by-step guide to creating a water feature.

You will need:

Electrical screwdrivers
Side cutters
Waterproof cable glands
Water feature kit (should contain):
Fountain
Submersible pump
Exhaust port
Pipe to box
Electrics

Step 1: Electrical safety

Before doing any electrical work, turn your power off.
A water feature should always be hooked up to the mains through a Residual Current Device (RCD).
The RCD is a plug-in circuit breaker which will cut the current if anything should go wrong with your pump's electrics.
If you don't already have an external power supply, call in the pros to install one for you.

Step 2: Assembling the kit

Assemble the pump kit according to the instructions.
There should a be green pump box that contains a gauze mat. This mat will filter rubbish from the pond.
You can keep it clean by washing it under the hose or in the sink occasionally.

Your Comments

yourwatergarden wrote on 07 May 2007 at 10:59 AM

To a point I agree with computerwolf (previous comment) but I would like to add that a garden hose will add little or no mechanical protection to any cable. I would suggest that the mains supply cable be a steel wire armoured cable which is designed for the job, these are available in “kits” but even so I would recommend it be installed by a qualified electrician.

Also since the clip has been made a new building regulation called “part p” has come into force (I suggest any one try a search rather than me go into the details)

The presenter also does not mention that the filter should be left to run 24/7 in order to work properly, yes it is instructional rather than product operation, but the fact the filter can be switched off implies it should only be used when you want the “waterfallesque” (as the presenter put it) to run, if this is done the filter will be worse than useless.

Also the hose from the filter was not shown to be hidden, the presenter could have at least mentioned it best to hide it. (It’s an instructional video, so if not mentioned people will not do it)

Another point is the location of the filter pump was not mentioned, this should be at the opposite end from the outlet, this is so that the filter is “given” water from all the pond not just the water that has been through the filter.

Regards

Martin
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