Introduction

Atlantic Fountains offers complete equipment packages to finish your water feature.

In addition to our own products, years of projects have built close relationships with the major fountain component manufacturers in the US, Canada, and Europe. No company makes everything, nor do they make the best of everything, but it is available to make a sound selection of quality components that will meet price and performance expectations.

The mission of Atlantic Fountains is to supply inherently "correct" designs and equipment. There are hundreds of fountain and water garden components to choose from, with variations in capacity, quality, cost, and warranty.  Let us guide you to the configuration that is right for you.

Pools

The pool forms the foundation for the water feature and must be practical as well as aesthetic. We offer dozens of unique geometric and freeform shapes.

Pools out of fiberglass have excellent properties, especially in winter.  Our fiberglass pool catalog in pdf format is available for download.

Pumps

Few pumps are manufactured with fountain applications in mind. It is therefore important to match flow and pressure to the task at hand to get the job done with a minimum of horsepower.

Pumps may be made of a variety of materials for their main body, impeller, and seals, and further divide themselves into submersible and dry designs. The "best" pump for a project will meet the design requirements with a minimum of long-term maintenance and energy consumption costs.

A manifold connects the pump to the spray effect portion of the water feature. This can be as simple as a straight pipe run to the top of a waterfall, or distribution out to hundreds of nozzles. The manifold will usually have manual or automatic valves to  regulate the flow of water to each section.

The spray rings shown use 80 adjustable brass jets to produce their spray pattern.   The additional 24 jets on the center cluster jet  produce a center spray column.  The column looks three inches wide while using a fraction of the flow requirements of a larger nozzle.  Larger manifold combinations including automatic valves were used in the picture of the musical fountain below.

Nozzles and Spray Effects

Nozzles and spray rings give a fountain its desired appearance. These components determine pump selection and manifold design on the way to achieving the desired result.

Especially with indoor fountains where splash is always a concern, water height from the nozzle should not exceed a given pool size. In outdoor configurations, overspray is increased by the effects of wind, but can be moderated through the use of wind controls.

Lighting brings forth a special beauty to water features. Typically, submerged fixtures are used, but wet/dry listed fixtures can also be employed in some designs. Fixtures are limited to 120 Volts (line voltage) or 12 Volts (low voltage). Each has its place in design, depending on the effect required. As with submersible pumps, line voltage fixtures must be GFCI protected.

Issues with fixtures include materials, lamp life, lamp cost, ease of replacement, beam pattern, and lens color. Consult with Atlantic Fountains for the effect you desire, including color blending and animation capabilities.

Controls

A specialty of Atlantic Fountains is the design and construction of water feature control systems. Control systems tie together the components of the water feature into a "well behaved" system. Controls range from a simple pump timer and mechanical fill, through more intricate devices such as wind controls, extending to computer controls for water and light choreography.

Our most advanced control systems run our animation control software ACCESS.   ACCESS can control hundreds of lights and nozzles, choreographing each action to the split second to music, and scheduling playback of a variety of audio sources.  Download our Musical Fountains document for additional information.