Protect Your Feature From the Cold

You’ve had many months to enjoy your lovely garden water feature, but as autumn approaches, you may be thinking what you can be doing to protect your feature in the colder months. You may still have a little while yet before you need to carry out these procedures, but with the British weather being so unpredictable; here at UK Water Features we think it is always better to be prepared!

To avoid having to get your features repaired next spring, make sure you protect your feature during the freezing temperatures. If your feature gets left to the wild weather conditions over the winter you may be faced with expensive repairs. There are several steps you will be able to follow to avoid these damages, and to help keep your water feature healthy for years to come!

• It isn’t always necessary to shut down your water feature for the winter, but many people do choose to drain and bring the water feature inside or store in a shed or garage, to protect it fully from the harsh weather. If your feature is small and light enough and is movable, this may be an easy solution you might want to try.

• If you do decide to keep your feature outdoors during winter, one good tip is to keep the water moving. This is especially handy if you have fish living in your feature. Throughout the winter months you should keep your pump on maximum flow, this is to keep the water from freezing, and if you have fish, to give them a warmer environment to live. If you allow the water in the feature to freeze this may cause cracks, which will ruin parts of it, so of course is a good idea to avoid!

• If you don’t want to keep the feature running, you need to remove the pump completely from the feature. If you don’t it is likely to freeze and break. This will be a costly repair when the spring comes around, so better to think ahead now!

• Make sure the feature gets a good clean before the winter. Ensure any debris is removed and clear the feature of any signs of algae. This may take up some time, but is a very important part of water feature maintenance at any time of the year. If it’s possible it would be better to completely drain the feature before you start your cleaning. Check out our UK Water Features website where we stock a range of fantastic Water Features Care products.

• As soon as the cold weather arrives, take out any plant life. Leaving them in the water can cause all kinds of problems, particularly if they start to rot in the feature.

• It may be an idea to invest in a de-icer, particularly if where you live experiences freezing conditions regularly. These devices sense when they need to be on or off as they can detect the surrounding temperature. These are very convenient in protecting your feature and lengthening its life span.

• If your feature is too large to bring indoors, or if you simply do not wish to do so, a water feature cover will be a very good choice. Here at UK Water Features we sell a great range of Feature Covers in a range of sizes, so there’s sure to be something to fit yours.

We hope these points will help you in the run up to winter to prepare your water feature and help you to care for it the best you can. There will be nothing worse than next spring getting out your beloved feature to find a crack in it or a broken pump or pipework! These steps may take some time but will be well worth it in the long run when your feature last years and years!