Quiet Cat Fountains
How do you define ‘quiet’ as in a “quiet cat fountain”?
Certainly you mean no pump noise. We of ThirstyCats consider pump noise to be completely unacceptable and we test every pump before and after we install it. We use a device which measures the decibel level (dB) of a fountain. There are though some brands of cat fountains and pet fountains in which the pump is quite loud, as so many of the reviews state. Those are not ‘quiet cat fountains’. To know which brands are guilty of this, simply read the 3 and 2 star reviews of various brands on Amazon to learn which cat fountains are most likely to irritate you with their unpleasant noises.
Most makers of cat fountains, however, realize that people don’t want to hear pump noises so most brands do use quiet pumps that are not offensive. It is important to realize though, that a quiet cat fountain can become less than quiet if the pump needs cleaning.
What happens is that either cat hair or other debris gets into the pump, or, mineral deposits build up on the pump’s impeller and impeller shaft, creating friction between the moving impeller and the shaft it fits over. If this happens the pump can become somewhat noisy. Pumps can be difficult to access in some brands of cat fountains. With a ThirstyCat fountain the pump is easily accessed and easily cleaned. See this page.
There are four elements that determine how much water sounds a cat fountain makes
- How much water is falling
- How far it is falling
- What it is falling onto or into
- The quality of the stream itself – whether it is smooth, turbulent, thick or thin.
Generally, the more water and the further it is falling the greater the water sounds. A thin stream makes more of a trickling sound, a wider stream more of a pouring and an agitated or turbulent stream makes a more variable sound and is louder than a smooth stream which creates a softer, steady tone.
The fountains above are all quiet cat fountains. In fact, all but the flower fountain, with a stream, are silent fountains though all can be made to produce water sounds by raising the pump flow. As mentioned, no ThirstyCat fountain has pump noise.
In the raised bubble-up (blue interior, white exterior) the water doesn’t actually fall at all, rather it slides over the edge and into the bowl. There is no stream and it is silent. The simple bubble-up to the left on a low setting is also silent. On a higher setting you can achieve gentle brook-like sounds.
Serenity
Similarly with the Serenity (shown here on the right). We named it Serenity because it creates such a smooth, quiet stream. Turn it up and you will have pleasant water sounds. The Serenity Flow can be added to any bubble-up and can be swapped in and out for variety with the straight, also antimicrobial, copper spout which comes with every bubble-up. With the Serenity you can still have a quiet cat fountain and a stream.
Downflow
The fountain with the S shaped Cat Tap add-on (also shown here to the left) has what we call a Downflow cat tap. This creates a long-falling stream simulating a faucet which so many cats are drawn to, and it too, perhaps surprisingly, is silent. This is owing to the smoothness of th stream. We create them to fit each individual fountain. If ordered later, after the fountain has been shipped, which often happens, we look up the particular fountain in our records to find both it’s diameter and height and what center piece it has and make the Downflow to fit that particular fountain to ensure the stream falls on the center piece. If you want slight water sounds we can create the Downflow so it falls in the water but even then the sounds will be slight and there will be no splash.
Streams
ThirstyCats creates (all by hand) cat water fountains with from one to five streams. Generally, and as mentioned above, the more streams the louder the water sounds but there are caveats to this. A somewhat turbulent stream, which we sometimes do create, will be louder than a smooth stream. (Anything out of the ordinary is always mentioned in the fountain listing and if we consider it a flaw, the fountain is reduced in price.) All fountains can be adjusted by a lever or a dial (we use two kinds) on the pump which simply lets in more or less water and has no effect on electricity used.
In conclusion, if you are looking for a quiet cat water fountain you have come to the right place, and if you want to hear water sounds you have also come to the right plac. If you purchased a cat fountain from us which is too loud for you (this has happened) we will resolve the issue to your complete satisfaction. If you want a fountain that makes a lot of water sounds (this also happens) just let us know and we’ll make the perfect fountain for you. We can do this because we make each fountain by hand, from start to finish rather than mass produce them in some factory somewher in China. And we know what we’re doing. We create cat fountains, quiet cat fountains, for you.