Light Up Your Fountain, Not Your House - Electrical Safety Tips

It is not a secret that when water and electricity are combined one of 2 things can happen, it can create a uniquely beautiful masterpiece, or it will be a disaster. Because every decorative indoor fountain requires electricity to operate the pump and potentially a lighting system it is important to follow some basic steps and principles to avoid a potential disaster.

Make every effort to avoid water from touching the electrical outlet. First of all, this will require you to eliminate all splashing from the fountain.

For all fountains that are elevated higher then the electrical outlet it is important to make sure that water does not have the opportunity to run down the cord and into the outlet. Jeanne noticed that one way to keep this from occurring is to make a loop in the cord and with either a piece of tape, wire, or zip tie make sure the loop is secure and will not straighten. With this loop in place if water does flow down the cord it will run to the bottom of the loop and drip to the ground and not continue flowing down the cord into the outlet. She was proud of her ingenuity to make this small adaptation, because through her observations it worked perfectly. Knowing that she had eliminated the opportunity for water to flow into the outlet she could sleep much easier.

When installing a wall fountain it is recommended to use a GFI electric plug. It is recommended to have an electrical plug behind a wall mounted water fountain so the electrical cord is well concealed. In this case it is also advised that this electrical plug is wired to a specific switch so the feature can be conveniently turned on and off.

Barry learned that it was important to use a GFI plug because of the close proximity of the plug to the feature and therefore moisture from the fountain. A GFI plug has a mini breaker within the switch that will kill the power in case of a compromise due to moisture. Barry contacted an electrician to install his wall water feature and even though it did cost him up front with a small bill, he was assured that the job was done right and safe right from the start and he was confident that the new feature would not become a safety liability.