Every Firepit Company water feature is built from carved steel to last for decades. The steel itself needs very little looking after — most of the ongoing care is about keeping the pump and water running cleanly.
The steel
Water features are treated differently to our firepits. Rather than letting the steel weather naturally, every water feature sphere or rill is coated with a clear protective coating — this stops rust from developing and leaching into the water, which would otherwise turn it brown. If you’ve chosen a powder-coated finish instead, that adds a further layer of protection on top.
Because the coating is doing an important job here, avoid scrubbing or scraping the steel with anything abrasive.
Keeping the water clean
- Top up the water level regularly, especially in warmer months when evaporation is faster.
- Check the pump’s intake/filter periodically and clear away any leaves, debris or algae build-up so it keeps running efficiently.
- In hard water areas, limescale can build up around the jet and steel plate — a periodic clean will keep the display looking its best.
- If algae develops, a product safe for use in ornamental water features (rather than a pond with fish or plants) can help keep the water clear.
The pump
Our sphere and rill water features use Oase Aquarius Fountain Set pumps (2000E or 4000E, depending on model), which carry a 3-year guarantee. Beyond keeping the intake clear of debris, these are designed to run with minimal intervention.
Winter
Our water features are designed to be left running outdoors through winter — there’s no need to drain them down or disconnect the pump for the colder months. It’s worth keeping an eye on leaves and debris during autumn and winter in particular, since they tend to collect faster, but the general upkeep is the same as at any other time of year.
Electrics
All our jet and pump-driven water features run from a standard mains plug — most models need two sockets (one for the pump, one for the LED lighting). If you don’t already have a power point near the feature’s final position, UK wiring regulations mean any new outdoor supply should use a weatherproof socket enclosure rated at least IP66, protected by its own 30mA RCD, and fed by steel wire armoured (SWA) cable buried at least 500mm deep with electrical warning tape laid above it. We leave this work to a qualified, ideally NICEIC-registered, electrician — but it’s worth planning the cable route and power point location before your feature arrives, since burying a cable run is easiest to do alongside any other groundwork.
Running costs
Our sphere and rill water features use pumps rated at 18W (the 2000E, fitted to the 650mm sphere) or 42W (the 4000E, fitted to the 900mm sphere and Rill range) — modest by the standards of most garden electricals. Run continuously at the current UK average electricity price of 26.1p/kWh (Ofgem price cap, July–September 2026), the 18W pump costs roughly £41 a year to run and the 42W pump around £96 a year. Most owners run their feature for a few hours a day rather than continuously, which brings the real-world cost down further; the LED lighting adds only a small amount on top.
See our Water Feature Size & Spec Guide for dimensions and pump specs across the range, or shop all Water Features.
