Is your water feature giving you a headache when you’re trying to enjoy a quiet morning on your porch or patio? Not to worry, there are ways of fixing the noise and make your surroundings more peaceful.
Adjusting the speed of your water pump, cleaning the tubing, fixing the pump’s location, as well as adding aquatic plants are some proven ways to diminish the volume of your water feature. The water in your feature might be loud because it’s falling too far or not moving smoothly through tubing.
There’s no need to get rid of your noisy water feature, as it can be an easy fix to make it sound more quiet and relaxing. By testing each of these methods, you can find which one works best to help quiet loud noises from your water feature.
1. Adjust The Speed of The Water Pump
More often than not, the noise coming from your water feature is the water moving too quickly and making splashing noises because of the quick speed and plummet, which is a quick and simple fix.
There is either a switch or button that comes with every pump that adjusts the settings/speed of the water going through the tubing of your feature. The slower the water moves, the less splashing that ensues from the water being forced through the tubing and over rocks. Trickling water is much more peaceful than erratic splashing noises.
2. Check Water Levels
If the water is lower in the basin of your pond, then the water is traveling farther to land and will make a louder sound.
This is easily caused by water evaporation, so it’s important to check on your fountain regularly so as to make sure there is enough water to flow through the water pump. Not to mention, your pump works harder to push water through the tubing, which burns up the pump more quickly.
This is another easy fix by simply adding more water to your feature so that it flows more smoothly through the pump and the water has a softer landing when it goes through the waterfall and less space between the waterfall and where the water lands.
3. Clean The Pump’s Tubes
After having tried the two previous methods, and they don’t happen to work, it might be time to clean the tubing of your pumps system. Bacteria and algae can build up and the pump may be forcing water through barricades, which can make things louder.
You’ll first want to make sure to take precautions by turning off your pump so as not to electrocute yourself.
Start by taking apart the pump and segregating each piece of tubing. The two main parts that need to be cleaned are the pump itself and the fountainhead. You can either run water through it consistently, or you can soak them overnight with vinegar to clean out any bacteria or algae that has built up over time.
Try not to use any harsh chemicals such as bleach because it is more corrosive and will not promote the healthy growth of algae in your pond, which can help keep the water looking clean. If you used vinegar overnight, make sure to rinse off your tubing parts, reassemble, and your water feature should be as good as new!
4. Move The Pump’s Location
If a pump is placed too close to the basin of the water feature, it can lead to continuous vibrations, which can become extremely annoying. You can either move it farther away from the edge of the outside of the pond, or closer to the center of the water feature. It is entirely dependent on what is best for your feature and what kind of maintenance is required.
By moving your pump away from the edge of the water feature it will help to prolong the pumps life. If the pump is continuously vibrating against the edge of the pond it will become more brittle and wear out more quickly.
5. Add A Sponge
This may sound like a ridiculous notion to add a sponge to your pump, but you will be surprised by how effective it is in helping to prevent noise. If it doesn’t appear that you can move your pump into a different location, a sponge may just become your best friend.
You can use any sponge, so long as it fits between your pump and the wall of the water feature. The root of the sound may be the pump causing strenuous vibrations on the side, so it is important to get this dilemma fixed immediately, as it is more detrimental to the longevity of your water feature’s pump.
6. Add Aquatic Plants
If the splashing of water is what is bothering you, consider adding plants to the top of your water. Plants can absorb the splashing of water and muffle the overall noise a waterfall may be causing.
Water lilies, lotus, water lettuce, floating heart, are all great aquatic flowers. Adding these types of flowers is easy because they don’t need to be fed because of the water they already reside in. The sound of water is greatly reduced when it is landing on something as soft as a petal or leaf.
You can also add plants to the bottom of the water feature in order to fill up the bottom so the water level increases and help to keep the water clean of excess algae and bacteria.
7. Buy A New Pump
If none of these are working when it comes to diminishing the noise of water, it might be time to buy a new water pump for your feature. If your water feature was working too hard to pump water through hard pressure or build-up, that will wear the pump out quickly.
It is important to maintain the health of your pump in order to make it last longer. When putting in your new pump, make sure that there is enough space between it and the wall of the water feature, fill up your water feature so there’s enough water to flow smoothly through the pump so it doesn’t have to work harder to pull and push water, and clean all of the tubing.
Want to have a pump free water feature? Then check out our guide on how to have a water feature without a pump.
