A water feature that only works in warm weather is a fair-weather commission we try to talk clients out of unless the site genuinely never sees a hard freeze. Anywhere that does, every line, header, and basin gets designed around a full drain cycle — not just “can it be drained” but “does it drain completely, on its own, without a service visit, before the first freeze of the season.”
That requirement shapes decisions most visitors never notice: pitch on every horizontal run, no low points where standing water can pool and crack a fitting, and structural glass panels detailed to sit safely dry and unloaded through an entire winter before the spring fill.