The centerpiece of Fountain Hills is a beautiful fountain which is one of the world's tallest man-made fountains. It serves as a focal point for the community and attracts thousands of visitors each year.
A new wind speed gauge has been installed to aid in the operation of Fountain Hills’ fountain. The gauge will help monitor wind speed in Fountain Park and aid the fountain in lowering its plume height from two pumps to one in windier conditions. In the past, if wind conditions were too high during a fountain showing, the pumps would simply turn off.
After working with an electrical contractor, town staff has now set the controls so that two pumps will turn on as long as the wind speed is below 8mph. If the wind speed reaches 8mph and stays there for 3 seconds the controller will shut down to one pump. The fountain will then operate with one pump running until the wind speed reaches 15mph for 3 seconds. Once this happens both pumps will shut off and will not turn back on until the next scheduled run time at the top of the next hour. Town staff will be keeping a close eye on the wind speeds and drift of the fountain and making changes as necessary to make sure that the fountain is running as much as possible while staying within the confines of our use permit.
The town believes that these changes will enable the fountain to function more frequently than in the past year and closer to what people have come to expect in the past. This should satisfy our residents and visitors to Fountain Hills while still enabling the town to be in compliance with our permit from ADEQ.
For everyday viewing the fountain reaches a height of up to 330 feet and on special occasions, the fountain is extended to its full height of 560 feet. The iconic fountain runs every hour on the hour for 15 minutes from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day of the week.