Garden fountains are fascinating. They give the illusion that loads of water flow from wherever they are coming from and disappear to wherever they go. But that is only a false impression. Water is actually being recycled over and over with the use of pumps. A hidden submersible pump constantly re-circulates water within a contained space. The pump pulls water from the receiving pool or reservoir, carries it “uphill” (via a tube) to the fountain head, and gravity does the rest – again and again.

Pumps are usually powered by electricity. With solar water fountain pumps, power is supplied by the sun. The solar pump in these fountains is connected to a small panel made of photovoltaic cells that collect and store energy. Because there is just too much energy needed to run a fountain pump, expectations should be contained. They are not able to store enough energy to be able to run at night. But they can be depended on to run in strong sunlight in the daytime.