Continuous Rain Chain Fountain

During the last weekend in July, we visited the annual Garden Walk Buffalo.  It is America's largest open garden weekend, with over 300 private homes participating.  We saw so many great things, and we were inspired by many of the projects, especially the water features.  One in particular, at the home of the Garden Walk President, was particularly inspiring.  It seemed within our skill set to be able to try and create something similar in our little backyard, here in Sarnia.  The feature we chose to recreate is a continuous flow rain chain fountain.  We found the rain chain itself on an adventure into the Western New York town of Orchard Park (the same town the Buffalo Bills call home).  Next was to plan all the necessary hardware to make the fountain pump the water continuously up and down the chain.

Step one was to locate where we wanted to place it.  We chose the NE corner of the garage.  Then we started digging.  

I wasn't sure how much room we would actually have here with the corner of the garage foundation and the sidewalk, but it was the perfect size to fit a 3..5 gallon Menard's pail into the ground.

The first obstacle was a sprinkler line that I barely missed with the shovel.  Fortunately, no damage was done, and we were able to move the line to the side after digging around it.

Once the hole was dug and the sprinkler line moved to the side, the next step was to prepare the reservoir.  I drilled some holes near the top to zip tie down some chicken wire so that we could pile rocks around the top and not have them fall into the bucket.

  

Next, we had to test the system.  After connecting the pump, attaching the line, the valve and filling the reservoir, we couldn't get the water to go all the way up the line (approx 8 feet).  I immediately thought that I did not buy a large enough pump, but then remembered that the valve was probably closed, creating an air lock.  Once the valve was opened the water flowed great.

 

Then it was time to make the big decision about drilling a 1" hole (2x) into the garage and through the siding.  Thanks to a nice sharp spade bit, the hole is neat and tidy and just the right size to fit in the corded plug and the hose.  

 

Finally, it was time to hang the chain and test the flow of our new fountain.  We quickly learned that the orientation of the pine cones on the chain was counterintuitive to proper flowing water, with the water mostly spraying off the cones and definitely not back into the reservoir, an obvious problem.

So, Kerri had an idea to disconnect the whole chain and reorient the cones in the other direction.  This worked great!

 

So, after a few hours, of planning, digging, and trial and error, we have a beautiful continuously flowing rain chain fountain and it provides a really nice sound in comparison to our other fountain on the deck.  All in all, a great little project.