Posts Tagged ‘Acrylic Fountains’

Acrylic Fountain Care

Acrylic fountains add a certain elegance and visual charm to any water feature. The look of acrylic is modern and artistic. Just imagine what a nice feeling it would be to have aesthetic beauty along with the soothing sound of a waterfall or water fountain nearby?

Is it practical to buy  an   acrylic water fountain? Is there any special maintenance involved? An acrylic water fountains does have some special maintenance requirements. Let’s consider these one at a time.

First of all, you have to keep the fountain clean. No fountain is resistant against dirt, dander, debris, algae and mineral deposits. You must clean the fountain on a regular basis and also replace the water regularly. You must add new water to the fountain to account for evaporation on a near daily basis. In between cleanings, you can use water treatment to get rid of a lot of harmful chemicals.

When it comes to actually cleaning an acrylic fountain, as in cleaning the acrylic basin or piece, you must use proper cleaning solutions. Plastic polish is recommended and it is available at most hardware stores. Before you start cleaning the fountain (and this is recommended at least twice a year) you must empty out all the dirty water. When it is empty you can proceed to wipe it with a soft cloth or a chamois. Use a generous amount of plastic cleaner and wet both the material and the cloth. Please make sure that check your included manufacturers cleaning instructions before using any type of cleaner on your acrylic fountain.

Acrylic is not like stainless steel—it can scratch easily. It’s comparable to silver in this way. If you get a scratch on the fountain then you can use scratch remover polish as well as a cloth to clean. If the scratch is especially deep then polish will not do the trick. You may have to get a complete restoration kit in order to successful remove the spots.

When cleaning an acrylic water fountain avoid using harsh or abrasive products. This includes window cleaning fluids, scouring substances, gritty rags, household cleaners, lacquer thinner, benzene, ethyl gasoline, alcohol, acetone, and carbon tetra chlorine. In other words, whatever you can think of in terms of ordinary house cleaning supplies is probably too harsh for acrylic fountains. Stick with the polish recommended or with a special kit made for cleaning. If you use an abrasive cleaning tool then you may damage the finish. You must also be careful to keep acrylic water fountains away from heat sources or flames.

All those high maintenance quibbling aside, there really is nothing as beautiful as a glossy, spotless acrylic water fountain feature!

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Learn about other Special Materials used for Fountains

One of the benefits of modern technology is that it has introduced an excellent array of new materials that surpass traditional ones in many ways. Consider the availability of resin fountains, they allow someone to enjoy the good looks of something like stone without the worries that come with the damaging effects of ice or freezing temperatures.

Alternately, the many styles of acrylic fountains mean that a wider range of home or business owners can incorporate a water element or feature into their overall design scheme too. This is because the acrylic fixtures weigh a bit less than glass, stone or metal options, and can often be custom designed with artwork or other materials.

We’ll first look at the use of a resin fountain to understand how special or alternative materials can be of great benefit. As stated above, the resin material can often withstand the wild variation between summer heat and winter ice without suffering the cracks, fractures and negative effects of many other materials. This is one of the reasons that birdbath fountains and many waterfall fixtures are constructed from resin.

In addition to the fact that resin can withstand natural conditions, it can also be poured, shaped and finished in such an array of styles as to leave a shopper dizzy! The “fine art” wall fountains that look straight out of a classic Italian villa or the convincingly realistic looking stone waterfall fixtures available for incredibly modest prices are usually due to the availability of resin for their manufacture.

Apart from pump maintenance, the use of distilled water, and a somewhat regular cleaning with mild soap and water, a resin fountain is often a way to add an elegant feature without a lot of care or costs.

An acrylic fountain is also a good choice for the consumer hoping to incorporate a very unique water fixture into the home or office space as well. These can usually have some sort of painting or design painted or etched into their surface, and this can be used to give them a fine art, organic, or highly modern look. These too will come as wall or floor mounted and desktop models, but tend to be unsuitable for outdoor use due to the fact that acrylic panels are not usually tempered for the extremes of wintry weather.

Just like resin, an  acrylic fountain requires very little regular maintenance, and their cleaning and care tends to be one of the reasons that they are selected over glass panels in similar styles. When an owner inadvertently scratches a glass panel during a traditional cleaning, the scratch is permanent. When this occurs with acrylic, however, the scratch is easily repaired or removed with readily available polishes and repair kits.

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Learn about Acrylic Fountains

Almost everyone has entered a business, public, or commercial space containing a wall fountain. There are many hospitals, corporate offices, and restaurants that rely upon the soothing and relaxing sounds of falling water to make customers and employees happy. Quite often such fountains are made from metal, stone, or glass, but a modern alternative to these heavier and somewhat higher maintenance materials are the acrylic water fountains.

The reasons that acrylic might make a superior choice are many, but the strongest are its easy maintenance, lighter weight, and wide flexibility in finish and appearance. Consider that an acrylic fountain might be customized with some sort of artwork or mural over which the water gently passes. They might also be used as a mirror-like surface upon which lights are directed to give a very high-tech or modern look as well.

Additionally, many acrylic fountains feature a combination of materials to create a very appealing final result. For instance, it is not unusual to find copper fountains which have a very sculptural appearance, but which utilize painted acrylic as the backdrop over which the supply of water passes.

So, we understand that acrylic is an adequate substitute for such things as metal, glass and even stone, but we still have to consider how to maintain it properly in order to ensure its durability and good looks. This is much easier than many other materials, but still requires that all of the water is removed from the fountain in advance. This is actually a smart step in any regular fountain maintenance program because it allows the owner to replace water and ensure that the fixture is in top shape.

To clean an acrylic water fountain requires a suitable plastic cleanser, and this must not be a substance with any sort of abrasiveness or harsh chemical ingredients that can damage the surface of the material. Interestingly enough, it is the acrylic fountain alone which can recover from things like surface scratches occurring in the cleansing process. The owner simply purchases a special polish or restorative treatment and applies it while the fountain is empty and dry. An acrylic water fountain is also one far less likely to reveal such things as fingerprints or water spots as well, and this is often a reason that it is a material installed in many public locations.

Lastly, almost anyone who has held a pane of window glass and a pane of acrylic or plastic of the same size will know all about the differences in weight. Glass is much heavier, meaning more difficult to install, and acrylic is also far less likely to snap, crack or fracture during the installation process too.

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