Swan and Dolphin lighting/water schemes?

[wdwmagic]

Hi!

Does anyone know any specifics of the Swan/Dolphin lighting and water schedules? I am having hard time working out what factors determine if the exterior lights will be on, along with the exterior water features.

It seems that the lights go out on the Swan during Fantasmic, and the lights go out on the Dolphin during RoE. There may also be other times when the lights are out that I havnt noticed.
The water feature schedule seems to be a total mystery. Some periods of the day its all off, other times its partially on. I am unsure if its water conservation, or other factors.

Hopefully someone can shed some light on this. thanks!

 

[DigitalDisney]

I would assume that wind and/or temperature would be a factor for the water, but I have seen some days where it was cold and windy and the clamshell waterfall was still running.

I suppose the ultimate question is, are the waterfalls and lights controlled manually, or automatically? I would hope that they are all automatic (based entirely on sensors or triggers), but you never know. If the waterfall and lights are manually disabled, then that would explain the inconsitancy.

 

[swedishengineer]

Typically with nicer fountains, there is a wind compensation and a freeze protection system. The wind comp will lower a waterfeature's height as wind speed increases, or turn it off entirely. The idea is to keep the water in the basin and off of the sidewalks. Sometimes waterfalls don't use wind comp, depending on the height and design of the fountain.

Freeze protection devices trigger some event below a set temperature. Typically, any pumps which circulate water without spraying in the air (ie filter pumps, possibly ballast lines, etc) and all lighting will be turned on. The lighting is usually at least 300 or 500 watts, so the heat along with the circulation helps prevent the fountain from freezing over. If its not just a temporary frost (ie winter in North Dakota), the fountain should be drained.

I have never seen the mentioned fountains in person though, so what I said might not be true. Hope it helps, though!

 

[wdwmagic]

Thanks for that insight. That is very well what could be happening. These fountains are very large, and located in very exposed locations, so it could well be wind/temp related. That would also explain the relatively random nature of the changes. Thanks again.