Pool Water Features
Water features can add a cool water park feel to your pool. Water features can include deck jets, bubblers, waterfalls, laminar jets, and sheer descents. Some water features come with integrated LED lighting. Each major pool equipment manufacture has their versions of water features to add to your pool.
Consider if water features are a "need" or a "want" in your pool. While they look good in pictures and in designs they add cost and complexity to a pool build as well as needing on-going maintenance. Many pool owners find that as time goes on their water features get less and less use. They discover the downsides of water features include the noise they create and the aeration from the water feature causes pH to rise requiring more frequent dosing of acid to lower the pH.
Design Considerations
Check the installation manuals for all equipment to find out the flow requirements.
- The sheers require about 12 gpm per linear foot assuming a 3 foot elevation above the water and a 15" projection.
- Deck jets don't require very much flow.
- Bubblers depend on the specifics.
Water features often need a dedicated pump and suction intake to provide the required flow rate for proper operation. The main filter pump often does not have sufficient flow rates to power water features.
Water features should get filtered water. If you have a separate dedicated pump for the water features it should have its own filter. Water features have small passages for the water and without a filter dirt can clog a water feature and be difficult to clean out.
You need to know the flow rate intended for each pipe feeding a water feature. For suction, you want to keep the water velocity below 6 ft/sec. For returns, you want to keep the water velocity below 8 ft/sec.
| Size | 6 ft/sec | 8 ft/sec |
| 2" | 63 | 84 gpm |
| 2.5 | 90 | 119 gpm |
| 3.0" | 138 | 184 gpm |
Each water feature should be plumbed separately on its own line and have a valve so that you can balance the flow equally.
