Sheet Descent Water Wall Unit Water Distribution Effect

Pictured above, this unit distributes water from trough over spout or lip and down surface of wall into a catchment reservoir or pond (can also be used as a ‘free-fall’ unit). This unit brings subtle noise and movement into garden. Wonderfully tactile, it invites onlooker to touch wall and feel cool water running through hand. The shimmering effect of water can be captured at night with inclusion of subtle lighting.

Installation

This unit should not be installed any higher than 2.0m above surface of water in catchment reservoir. If used as a ‘free-fall’ unit this height reduces to 0.8m. Flow Requirement This unit requires approximately 4500 litres per hour per metre width. This should produce a film of water approximately 3mm thick. Some adjustment in flow is achievable with use of an inline value. See examples 1 & 2 for further explanation.

Catchment Reservoir

Waterfall catchment troughs are designed to be positioned at base of a sheet descent water wall where wall surface is fairly even ie. tiles, render, smooth stone, metal, glass etc. They are large enough to suit most submersible pumps. Where a surface is irregular and likely to cause splash such as with pebbles, rock etc a larger catchment reservoir should be used to stop water from splashing out of feature. Not only is this a waste of water in times of drought but it is truly amazing how quickly a water feature can empty when splash becomes a problem. Rectangular Statue ponds are recommended in these circumstances.

Pump

The pump required is governed by flow requirement and head height (ie. height at which waterfall is installed above surface of water in catchment reservoir). Example 1:- Installing a 1.0m Sheet Descent at a head height of 2.0m

This unit has a flow requirement of 4500 litres per hour (4500 (litres) x 1 (metre)) therefore requires a pump that will supply 4500 lph at 2.0m high. Check pump performance charts to find a pump that will supply this flow at required height. In this example a Blagdon Amphibious 8000 will push 4980 lph at 2.0m high and is therefore suitable. Example 2:- Installing a 0.8m Sheet Descent at a head height of 1.5m

Often people install pool pumps to run their water feature because of initial cost savings of purchasing such a pump. This is ill-advised for a variety of reasons; most importantly, use of a pool pump can lead to massive increases in your electricity bill.

Also, many unscrupulous landscapers and some retailers provide quotations that include supply of a pool pump rather than a pond pump in order to reduce final cost of quotation in an effort to win work. They do not inform recipient of quotation of running costs of a pool pump.

Simple arithmetic proves that initial cost savings of purchasing a pool pump to run your water feature can cause a blow out of staggering proportions in your annual budget. This is especially true when keeping fish or plants, which requires that your pump is running 24 hours a day to oxygenate water.

Running Costs

To calculate your operating costs per year multiply watts your pump uses per hour, by number of hours you run it per year (if you run it 24/7 then use 8,760 hours per year), then divide by 1,000 to convert it to kilowatts, then multiply by your cost per kWh (kilowatt-hour) ($0.1447 in QLD – see www.energexinstitute.com).

watts x 8,760 / 1,000 x $kWh = $ operating costs per year

Example 1:

A Blagdon Amphibious P8000 Fountain Pump (169 watt)

169 (watt) x 8760 (hours per year) / 1000 x $0.1447 = $214.22 per year

Example 2:

An Average 1.0 HP Pool Pump (750 watt)

750 (watt) x 8760 (hours per year) / 1000 x $0.1447 = $950.68 per year

Total Cost Savings = $736.46 per year ($184.12 every quarter!)