Water Fountain Glow Up

October 06, 2026

Water Fountain Glow Up

...really I just painted it but "glow up" sounds more trendy, twee etc.

A few years ago, I was at someone's home who'd recently done a backyard renovation. The backyard was beautiful and what I noticed the most was the melodic sound of running water- it was coming from a water fountain that was on the patio. It was peaceful and calming sounding and I could picture all of my stress and tension ebb and flow away and out of my body as I sat in its presence. Ok, I'm a realist- I did not envision the latter as a viable outcome of being in a water fountain's presence, but, still, I knew that I would like my own fountain one day.

When we did our backyard project, I knew it was the perfect time to get a water fountain and so we got one. It looked fine and sounded... ok. I ordered it so it was impossible to know beforehand how the water was going to sound trickling down. Well, I take that back. Most, if not all of the fountains for sale on the site (I think it was Wayfair), had a video of the particular fountain you were interested in so you could hear it. But hearing a video versus hearing it in real life in its surroundings were two different things. The sound the fountain made was subtle as the water in the fountain flowed over whatever material the fountain was made of. It didn't really drop so the sound of the water was much more subtle.

What's a girl to do who is not 100% pleased with her purchase? Take it back? Nah, what a pain since it was already wet, it was large and cumbersome, etc. And it wasn't like I hated it- I just wanted more of a water dropping sound. The solution was clearly to buy another one... and this time to pay more attention to the description, read reviews, and pay closer attention to the video of the sound of the fountain.

I also realized that I'd need to buy a solar fountain as I was out of feasible electrical options for where I decided I wanted to place the second fountain. And so, last summer, I ordered a solar fountain from Wayfair and was pleased as punch as it had solar charge already when it was delivered. *All* I had to do was set it up correctly, add water, and I'd have a new (and hopefully better sounding water fountain than my other one) addition for the backyard. Set up was super easy and upon filling it with water, selecting the "on" button on the back of the solar fountain, within seconds, I saw water cascading first from the very top of the fountain and then falling melodically as the water made its descent from the top of the fountain to the water below it. Yes, water fountain dreams do come true!! The sound was definitely better than the sound from the electric fountain.

Prior to purchasing the fountain, I read reviews about it. Several of the reviews for the fountain pointed out that the paint started to peel almost right away and the bowls of the fountain looked a bit unattractive when this happened. My fountain looked great for the first two or so months and I thought that my water fountain was super special and that the paint would not peel and look unsightly. Oh, my (sometimes) optimism cracks me up. Did I really think the paint on my fountain was different than that of the paint of the fountain of the reviewers who mentioned that theirs peeled? Of course not!!

Earlier this season, before the paint started to peel, an actual problem arose with the solar fountain. The problem was that water stopped running/cascading down. There was no fountaining going on- the water was just stagnant in the bowls. THIS was a problem! The solar panel had plenty of charge so that was not the issue.

I wasn't sure what to do so I googled the issue. I could not find information pertaining to my specific brand but I found an answer to what typically causes fountains to not function (assuming the're set up correctly, have an electrical or solar charge, etc.). Basically, there are two parts that you don't really pay attention to when you're setting up the fountain. You don't need to pay attention to them unless you have a problem which I did. You have to take apart one of the pieces to reveal another part. And then you sort of toggle the part. At least that's what I remember the instructions as telling me. I'll include pictures at the end that will make more sense. Thankfully, I was able to fix the fountain by following instructions in a YouTube video.

Anyway, the fountain has stopped working a couple of times and I have had to go through the process of taking the pieces apart that need to be taken apart and then messing with the thingamabob (the thing you have to toggle. It has a name but I don't remember it so I think of it as the thingamabob).

A couple of weeks ago, the fountain, with full charge, stopped working so I knew I needed to drain the water to get to the part that I needed to get to in order to toggle the thingamabob. That's when I noticed how bad the paint peeling inside the bowls of the fountain looked. I figured it would be as good a time as any to paint the fountain to try to make it look better. I wasn't exactly sure what kind of paint to use. For one thing, I wasn't even 100% certain what material the fountain was made of. I knew it wasn't stone because it's not that heavy. I did a search on what kind of paint to use for a water fountain and finally found one that I figured would work. A guy at the Ace hardware store helped me as well (the customer service is wonderful at our local Ace Hardware store).

Here are a few pictures:

The fountain drained and not looking so good:

The paint that I used:

Next it was time for me to cosplay someone who can fix things! I actually CAN fix my fountain!

The black, dirty looking thing is the pump. It's submerged in water when the fountain is functioning as a fountain. I cleaned the debris off of the outside of the pump and then opened it up. This is the part that I never knew opened; when assembling, you don't do anything to the pump except attach it to the tubing.

Here it is detached from the tubing

This is the cover off of the pump

Then you take the cover off of this part... to reveal the thingamabob

This white part is what I refer to as the thingamabob. I cleaned off the debris and then moved the white parts around a couple of times.

After that, I put the pump back together and placed it inside the fountain's cavity.

And then I painted the bowls of the fountain that were discolored. It turned out great!

Again, here is the before:

After the paint dried, I added the cover to the pump and filled it with water... I turned the fountain on and soon we were back in the fountain flow- the fountain worked and looked much better than it had before.