Garden Water Fountain Installation
An outdoor water fountain provides a touch of elegance to your lawn and garden. Its primary purpose can be for some added ambiance or to improve the outdoor appearance around your home. If you are considering adding a water fountain, it will probably be fairly large and heavy and once in place, it will seldom be moved. Typically fountains can weight hundreds to over a thousand pounds, not something easily movable. Fountains are made from natural stone or concrete. The natural stone will be more durable but also more expensive.
Water Fountain Installation
There are some functional requirements that may make installation a little more difficult than first thought. The fountain will need to remain stable through all kinds of weather, have access to an electrical supply for the water pump and be level to make the waterfall function as designed.
An outdoors fountain is susceptible to movement due to ground moisture and changes in temperature. Like any permanent or semi-permanent structure, it is necessary to have a good foundation. This requires that the fountain be placed in a well drained area and on a firm surface. All fountains should be kept level to properly function but for some this is more important than others. Some fountains require the water to flow evenly across and over multiple sides; this means perfectly level from day one until the fountain is retired.
Prepare Lawn or Garden Area
After the location is selected, you will need to remove any loose material, including the grass sod, until you have solid ground. The area may need to be built up so the area is properly drained. You don’t want to have the fountain in the middle of a small pond after a hard rain and then sink into the mud. If on a slope, make sure any rain water flows around the fountain foundation.
Water Fountain Foundation
To build a good stable foundation after all loose material is removed, use one of two common methods. One is to build the foundation with bricks, concrete blocks or a concrete slab. If using any time of rectangular block, first put down 1 – 2 inches of sand to help level the blocks. The second method that is less expensive and for medium sized
fountains is to use ½ inch to 1 ½ inch rock on the ground instead of the blocks. Place some heavy landscape fabric or pond liner over the rock and then the sand to help level the fountain. The landscape fabric helps keep the sand on top of the rock. All this foundation work needs to be completed so that any rain water flows away from the foundation.
Electrical Supply
An electrical supply line will also need to be installed. There are three possible methods to get the wiring to your fountain; one is direct burial of the cable, two is to have the electrical cable inside PVC when buried and three is aerial which is seldom used and will not be discussed here. I recommend the buried PVC method which means you will need to run some PVC conduit from an access point on your home to the fountain, at a depth of 18 inches minimum.
This can usually be done using ¾ inch schedule 40 conduit found in the electrical department of your local home improvement store. Using ½ inch conduit will work but it will make feeding the electrical wire through more difficult. PVC conduit will come in schedule 40 and 80 with the difference being that schedule 80 has much thicker walls for better protection against accidental damage later on. The schedule 80 is best suited for above ground. The electrical wire should be of type “UF” for use where moisture can be present.
Direct burial of type “UF” cable without using the PVC is acceptable and should be buried at least 18 inches. This method is less expensive but I would recommend the PVC method especially in any garden area where digging is not unusual.
Fountain Control Timer
Since you probably will want to limit the time duration your fountain is running each day, a timer will also need to be installed. This can be located any where above ground along the electrical supply line but remember that every thing down line will also be controlled by the timer. If you are also installing some landscape lighting, find a common point where both can be controlled 
separately; this could even be inside your home, on the home exterior or on a post. Also make sure the electrical line is GFCI protected. All electrical supply lines that are around wet or damp conditions, which is anywhere outdoors, need to be GFCI protected to reduce the risk of electrical shock. If your electrical access point is already on the exterior of your home, it should GFCI protected.
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