Brian wrote in message
...
Hi,
I'm new to this newsgroup, just doing research to see whether I'm
going
to put a pond in. I already bought some whiskey barrel planters to start
off my yard with a water feature to see how it goes. To me, the most
intimidating thing about doing a full pond is the electrical requirements.
Based on my research, even a small pond would require me to hire an
electrician to run a line out into my yard. The whiskey barrel option is
appealing because it seems small enough not to require a pump or filter.
One thing that I would love to do, and I'm surprised that I haven't
seen
others doing it, is to power a pond solely with solar power. It seems
like
that solution is the most in touch with improving our environment. Yet I
haven't seen any of the pond supply people selling solar powered items,
with
the exception of very small fountains and the like. Why don't more people
use solar power? Is it prohibitively expensive, or simply inadequate for
the power demands of most pond systems? I would love to hear if anyone is
using solar power and how they have things set up.

Thanks,
Brian

I am by no means an electrical whiz Brian....in fact the first time I
installed and interrupt outlet(not sure of the technical name...see!) was
about 2 weeks ago. Here is what I did: Hit the hardware store and
purchased the interrupt outlet(16.00) and bought a junction box with an
attached door(10.00) and a tube of quick drying glue/sealer, took out the
old outlet that wasn't even grounded....installed the outlet (3
wires....black, white and green....wow hard! I bought the junction box
because I knew the outlet was going to be bigger than the original hole they
had cut out....attached the outlet to it, zipped it up with 4 screws over
the old hole and finished it off with the sealer. I then ran the heavy duty
outdoor extension cord down to the patio floor and from there used small
diameter PVC pipe to run it across the patio floor against the house(also
painted the pipe so it looks nice) to approx. 3 feet from my waterfall. I
then bought an outdoor (power strip?) that sits upright that you can
purchase from Wal-Mart for $20 and plugged it all up.

As long as you are slightly handy you shouldn't have any problems at all
doing it yourself. Don't set any water feature up without the interrupt
though...no matter how small.

~Wilson~