Solar Power - any good?

Archiebear

I already have some solar powered lights in the garden which I've been really impressed with (especially as they were 2 for a £1!!)

I'm now thinking about getting a small pond (about 4ft square) or a water feature. I really can't afford to have electrics fitted outside and wondered if anyone has experience of using solar powered water features or solar fountains in a pond?

Are they any good or would I just be wasting my money?

VoucherMan

No experience but...

Personally I think you'd be wasting your money.

Assuming you are in Cheshire I expect your weather is not much different to that of mine in Lancashire - lots of cloud & not much sun (at least compared to the drought ridden south) & a small water pump needs a lot more power than an LED garden light. This one on Amazon seems to get good reviews & it has a battery backup so it will work in light cloud, but I expect you'd still need a fair bit of sunshine to keep it going. That said, if you only want it to work when the sun's shining then it's probably fine. This one also gets good reviews.

About 20 years ago I fitted an electric pump/fountain in the pond at my parent's house. They've recently had a new one installed & all the electrics updated. My father did a lot of the work himself (burying cable). He did mention the cost which I don't remember now, but I don't think it was particularly expensive, at least not compared to the price of a decent solar powered unit.

If you were to go for a mains electric option you may be able do do a lot of the work yourself & just get an electrician to fit it/sign it off. If you bought an electrical unit with more than one socket you'd then also have a convenient power source for the lawnmower/hedge-trimmer/radio without having extension leads all over. You'd only want a small pump in a 4' pond so that would be quite cheap.

rhiwfield

I've had a solar power water feature and it worked fine. You'll need about a one foot square solar panel (maybe less).

It will only work with adequate light levels (white cloud +). A decent solar panel will last for years and years with no hassle at all, the bit that will need looking after is the pump.

Archiebear

I'm not bad at DIY .... the only two things I don't mess with are electrics and plumbing which is why (plus expense!) I thought about solar power;)
Thanks for the replies; will definitely check out the links. I am in Cheshire so the weather can be a bit hit and miss although I do have a south facing garden which is great when the sun does shine!

matt987106

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Solar-Fountain-Height-Feature-Garden/dp/B003R9B6OA/ref=pd_cp_lp_0

this looks nice enough, 30 quid isnt alot of money, nice size solar panel which should be more than adequate for the pump