Most don’t. A few do. Although almost every supplier will claim their range does. If you want to know whether the fountain you are looking at is a genuine aerator, ask the supplier: Is the water pumped by a propeller or an impeller? Propellers aerate water, impellers don’t.
Most fountains on the market are pumped by an impeller, meaning they don’t adequately aerate water. Genuine aerating fountains have water pumped by a propeller. The difference is that a propeller is a type of fan that propels water by pushing against it—converting rotational force into a linear motion—whereas an impeller is a type of rotor that creates a sucking force—drawing water into the engine.
The big difference is the sheer amount of water a propeller chucks out compared to an impeller. A good way to think about it is to compare a pump in a pool with an outboard motor on a dinghy. The pool pump is an impeller, the outboard motor on a boat is a propeller. You can imagine the difference in volume of water being pumped out if they were operating side by side.
If the fountain you’re looking at has a propeller, the next question to ask the supplier is: Does the design of the nozzle restrict the aeration capabilities of the fountain? This is worth knowing because some suppliers use a propeller design so they can claim the aeration benefits, but the nozzle they use (which produces a beautiful water display) suppresses the flow of the water so much that little to no aeration occurs. The general rule of thumb is the more complex or “speccy” the water display, the less aeration is going on. That’s why our number one “aerating fountain”, the Air-O-Lator Carnival Aerating Fountain (below), looks more like a thunderous geyser than an elegant fountain.
Aerating Fountains
(i) Air-O-Lator Carnival Aerating Fountain
Our favourite aerating fountain by a long mile is the Air-O-Lator Carnival Aerating Fountain. The nozzle on the Carnival Fountain is unrestrictive so the water gets thrust into the air much like an outboard motor on a boat angled upwards. This maximises aeration while providing a spectacular aesthetic display, even if it isn’t as speccy as many of the non-aerating fountains. With motor sizes ranging from ¾hp to 5hp, a single Carnival Aerating Fountain can aerate a dam up to 2.5 acres in surface area—pumping up to 5,000 litres of water per minute and transferring up to 1.6kg of oxygen into the water per hour. The Carnival is available in mains-power or solar-power and has an optional lighting kit available for mains-powered setups.
Non-Aerating Fountains
Unphased about aeration and looking for an aesthetic fountain only? We recommend Air-O-Lator’s Centrifugal Fountain for a smaller more modest water feature or the AquaMaster range for larger, more spectacular displays.
(ii) Air-O-Lator Centrifugal Fountain
For smaller waterbodies
Air-O-Lator’s Centrifugal Fountain is a great entry-level fountain for smaller dams and lakes. The Centrifugal Fountain is available in solar or mains-power and has five different nozzles to choose from (Galaxy, Diana, Northstar, Nova, Solace). You can choose which nozzle you would like with your kit and if you want additional nozzle types you can purchase these separately. The fountain also has an optional lighting kit.
One of the big advantages of the Centrifugal Fountain is that it can very easily be turned into a Carnival Fountain (aka an aerating fountain) by purchasing a “changeover” kit for the wet end. Basically, you can switch out one piece of the fountain end (exchanging the impeller with a propeller) to turn the Centrifugal Fountain into the Carnival Fountain. We also have changeover kits to go the other way—changing the Carnival Fountain into the Centrifugal Fountain. For instance, if you are a golf course that has a tournament coming up, you could change your Carnival Fountain which usually aerates your lake water into a Centrifugal Fountain just for the tournament day so it looks a bit speckier. And the next day you could switch it back so your waterbody continues to get aeration.
(iii) AquaMaster Fountain
For larger waterbodies
AquaMaster is the world’s premier manufacturer of large scale water fountains. Models range from ½hp to 25hp motors. There are more than 30 different spray patterns (nozzles) to choose from. If you want to change the spray patterns, simply switch the nozzle for a different type. Featuring some of the best lighting displays on the market, AquaMaster Fountains have a choice of LED light kits or RGBW light kits. The lights can be custom programmed in display and colour so you can create just about any water feature pattern to suit any type of event or mood, including many pre-programmed events/holiday themes.