Why Is It Important For Me to Use Distilled Water In My Indoor Fountain?

This is question is often in the minds of those people new to indoor fountains.  All manufactures promote this practice and in the instruction manuals it does not necessarily explain why.  There is no debate that distilled water is more costly than tap water, so why would I spend the money for distilled water when I can get it virtually for free.

Even just by using water from the tap a couple of times you could cause some maintenance and cleaning issues that could last for a long time.
Tap water will have mineral content within it.  Regardless of where you live, this is a reality.  I have experience with 2 rather extreme examples of this.  My in-laws have a great home on a small acreage with a private well and have a high content of salt in their water for example.  I previously owned a home in a small rural town that has water with a high content of iron.  Your situation may not be as extreme as these mentioned, however, no matter how great your water mineral content may be it will still exist. 

As most people know, water within a fountain does evaporate and it needs to be refilled on a regular basis.  Here is where the minerals come to play.  As the water evaporates mineral deposits are left on the fountain.  These deposits make a fountain look unattractive, dirty and very messy and are very tough to clean.  Cleaning these stains off is usually very difficult and awkward, but the surface of the fountain will determine how well it may even be able to be cleaned.

For most people these deposits are typically calcium and lime, however they can also be salt, iron or other mineral, again this will be determined by the mineral within the water you are using.   

I’ve seen some of these fountains who have been filled by non distilled water and even in retail stores and it looks awful. 

My mother has a table top fountain she got at a garage sale with this issue and because of the rough imitation rock cast material she has not been able to clean it properly. 

Simply put, just don’t do it.  No matter how tempting it may be to save some money and time with the convenience of using tap water within your fountain it will decrease the live and beauty of your fountain and become a real thorn in your side.  If you have ever dealt with cleaning this film or deposits from a sink or bathtub, you can only imagine the difficultly and frustration of dealing with this on your favorite serenity fountain. 

Your fountain is meant to help decrease the stress and anxiety in your life, not add more!