Lyndhurst Garden House

Lyndhurst Garden House
Lyndhurst Garden House

Friday, February 24, 2017

Audible pleasantness of water fountains

I'd often thought a water fountain would be nice in the back yard, for the sounds if nothing else.

Now, I actually have a water fountain, but not a big artful on in the back yard, just a small cat water fountain inside.

But so much the better, right?  Small is beautiful, right?  And, the best things are where form and function come together.  A cat fountain isn't a frill, it's an essential part of living for cat people I believe now.  I could tell the difference in my cat's behavior on the very first night.  Not so desperate to have me lift the toilet lid.

Some people complain about the noise of the little ceramic fountain I bought.  At first (it was a rainy night) I couldn't understand why.  Now, I do understand it can be a bit above the absolute silence which used to be typical.  But I can tolerate it, I might even like it, I'm not sure which.  One thing for sure, I'd like to make it better if I could.

Here's a study on the sonic characteristics of fountains that people like.

People don't like loud.  Honestly my little fountain hardly qualifies as loud in any way, particularly when hearing it from another room.  Barely audible is more like it.  SPL in another room is well below 20dBA by my estimation.  But in a quiet house, 20dBA is not nothing, the wrong sound could even be quite objectionable at that level.

People like a large random aspect (according to this study).  The little cat fountain is just a bit too steady and continuous.

I had been thinking about powering the pump with a lower DC level, which might achieve both objectives.  IMO the pump doesn't need to make the water flow as much as it does.  A very fine dripping stream would do as well as the current pencil thick continuous stream.

Update (2018):  Ultimately I found the noise of my first cat fountain (Petsafe Drinkwell Avalon) to be intolerable.  I found a similar all ceramic fountain that is virtually noise free!  It is the Youthink Cat Fountain (2.1L).

Not only is the water movement amazingly quiet (partly because of the way the water slides down the center areator) but the motor is virtually silent also, and the ceramic is beautiful and much easier to clean than the previous one.

If I do have fountain sound, it had better be outside, I have decided.

No comments:

Post a Comment