How to Install an Air-O-Lator Carnival Aerating Fountain

The Air-O-Lator Carnival Aerating Fountain is a great choice for aeration — it’s powerful, efficient, and effective. If you’ve never installed one before, it can seem complicated, but we’re going to walk you through it.

We’ll look at what you get in the kit, how it fits together, and what to do for cleaning and maintenance.

What’s in the Box

What do you get in the kit? You get:

– The Motor Assembly

– Submersible electrical cable

– Electrical quick disconnect (depending)

– Heat shrink join (if no quick disconnect)

– Control box

– Floats

– Anchor connection points

Optional:

– Transformer and lights

Depending on whether you want lights or not, you’ll have a different sort of setup. We often install systems for clients who want lights later on, so we set it up for the lights from the start. So that’s why we use the electrical disconnect, which connects to the motor assembly using the thick submersible cable. If you do have lights, you would need to have a transformer attached to the float base with a cable that runs to the motor.

Pre-Installation Checklist

Before starting, check you have everything in the box. You might also need:

– Rope or wire rated for outdoor use

– A kayak/boat to reach the installation point

– Cable ties

– Anchors

– A qualified electrician for the control box installation

Step 1: Connect the Electrical Quick Disconnect (if provided)

If you aren’t intending to use lights, you won’t have the quick disconnect. Instead, you’ll have a heat-shrink join that runs back to shore. If you do have the electrical quick disconnect, you’ll have the dielectric grease that you’ll need to place around the connector housing. Once that’s in, it’s water-tight, and the dielectric grease acts as a secondary protection to make sure no water gets in.

This makes it easy to remove the unit when it’s out on the water, since you can just disconnect the cable — you don’t have to drag it with you.

Follow these steps for the electric quick disconnect:

Fill the connector housing with dielectric grease
Push the plug fully into place
Hand-tighten to connect — you don’t need tools

Step 2: Mount the Motor to the Float

The Carnival float is very well made — it’s a strong, thick plastic-type material injected with an expanding foam. It’s not hollow, and in the unusual event it gets punctured, it’s not going to sink. Even if water gets in it will still float because of the foam.

The motor is easy to fit into the float — the assembly just drops in. You don’t need any tools to attach or remove the motor. It’s this simple:

Place the float onto a stable surface
Drop the motor unit into the moulded recess
Confirm it sits flush

Step 3: Prepare the Anchors

You can use different things for your anchors depending on what you have available. We use old water treatment containers with the tops cut off and filled with concrete. We put in a wire that acts as a wire rope so you can tie it.

You could also use Besser blocks, the concrete building blocks with the cutouts or holes in the middle. If you use Besser blocks, you should cut a short section of hose about half a meter long and thread your rope through the hose so that the rope goes straight through the hole of the Besser block. If you don’t, your rope will rub up against the concrete and wear it down — or it will break the rope over time.

Step 4: Position the Aerator in the Pond

To get the aerator into place, you paddle out in your kayak or boat to where you want it to sit and lower it into the water. Using the anchors you prepared earlier, you anchor it into place.

The float has four anchor points, but you only need to tie off two diagonal anchor points. You don’t want the anchors going vertically down; you should have a rope whose length is twice the depth of your dam going diagonally. So if you have a two-metre deep dam, you need four metres of rope for your anchors. The rope should have a bit of slack, but it needs to be tight enough that the unit doesn’t spin around, as that can damage the power cable.

Step 5: Set Up Power Safely

Whenever you’re setting up electricals, you need to speak to your electrician. They can tell you what power you need and how to get it set up. You also need to make sure it’s all done according to electrical codes. This should all be done by a qualified electrician.

Here are some tips:

– Don’t run power out to the float — it makes servicing and removals easier when you run power to the shoreline

– Trenching always needs to meet local electrical codes

Step 6: Secure the Cable

You should use a cable tie where the power cable comes over the float so tension isn’t placed directly on the wiring.

Maintenance

To get the best from your Carnival, you need to keep it well-maintained. Here’s what we recommend you do.

Clean the Water Intake

When the motor is out on the water, the motor housing is the place where water gets sucked in. It needs cleaning. If it gets stuck with algae, leaves, or debris, it chokes the amount of water that can get through, and it won’t deliver the expected performance. Simply inspect the unit where the propeller is, remove it for cleaning, and make sure there’s no debris. If you can’t pull it out easily, you can unscrew the four screws around the outside.

You should:

– Inspect and clean the water intake

– Remove debris from where the propeller sits

– Remove the cover if needed to reach trapped or difficult-to-access material

The motor needs good water flow because it runs hot, and the moving water cools the motor and prevents it from aging prematurely. So you need to make sure it’s clean.

Keep the Motor Housing Clean

Over time, algae and biofilm build up. You need to ensure the metal outer casing is cleaned regularly. Depending on your pond or dam, that could mean every month or every six months. It depends on how much gunk is in your dam and how much growth you get.

The motor itself isn’t oil-filled, so you won’t need to service the motor or change the oil. But keeping the motor housing clean is essential.

Watch for Motor Protection Tripping

If the motor repeatedly turns off, don’t just reset it. That’s a warning the water intake is blocked, that the motor is overheating, or of electrical issues. Remove the unit and inspect it, then if necessary, get someone out to have a look.

Cable and Electrical Safety

The cables used on Air-O-Lator equipment are all submersible-rated cables. You can’t just use any old electrical cable because that’s not going to be safe — it’s not designed to go in the water.

You should:

– Only use submersible-rated cables

– Always used the supplied cables

– Allow licensed electricians to handle all electrical installation and repairs

Need More Help? Get in Touch

If you’re interested in getting a Carnival Aerating Fountain or if you need some help with an installation, get in touch with us. We can help. We can assess your size, troubleshoot problems, and help design systems and solutions that work for you.