Stainless steel was invented early in the 20th century when it was discovered that a certain amount of the metal chromium (usually a minimum of 11%) added to ordinary steel gave it a bright shiny gloss and made it highly resistant to tarnishing and rust.

This rust-resisting property which we call “corrosion resistance” is what sets stainless steel apart from most other forms of steel and alloys. The chromium content of the steel allows the formation of a rough, adherent, invisible, corrosion-resisting chromium oxide film on the steel surface.

If damaged mechanically or chemically, this film is rapidly self-healed through a process called “Self-Passivation”, making Stainless Steel nearly impossible to corrode or rust.

Fig. 1

In any normal oxidising environment, a protective coating of passive chromium rich oxide film is automatically formed on stainless steel.

Fig. 2

When scratched, damaged or machined this protective film is denuded exposing the steel to the atmosphere.

Fig. 3

The protective coating is quickly restored through the rapid self-repairing quality of the chromium rich film.

A major performance killer of cast fountain nozzles is the bumpy inner surface which is responsible for the so-called Coarse Flow Phenomenon. Imagine water as myriads of little water particles coming into a nozzle, moving in one direction. The ones near the nozzle’s inner wall encounter tremendous friction and bounce on the small bumps. As a result, these particles are diverted and start hitting one another, diverting more and more water particles, leading to even more collisions and inevitably affect the overall flow performance of the nozzle. Fontana nozzles are made of pure stainless steel and are precisely manufactured to offer a frictionless, bump-less inner surface for water to flow and consequently Fontana nozzles provide significantly better flow performance compared to other cast nozzles. In other words, stainless steel nozzles require less powerful pumps to achieve the same water effect compared to inefficient cast bronze, brass or tombac ones.

Actual photo of the inner surface of a cast Cascade nozzle.

You can notice the bumpy surface that is held responsible for the water height loss and the overall inefficiency of cast nozzles.

Actual photo of the inner surface of a Fontana Cascade nozzle.

You can notice the smoother, cleaner surface. Water molecules flowing through this nozzle, face significantly less friction on their way compared to the bumpy surface of cast nozzles.

Stainless Steel’s superior mechanical properties and advantages definitely make it the “Value Option” as frequently mentioned by engineers and specialists, but its benefits go far beyond the obvious. The key-role for Stainless Steel being the most “green” material takes place long before the end-product. It all starts in the furnaces where Stainless Steel is melted and alloyed. These furnaces (or at least, the ones Fontana cooperates with) use state-of-the-art technology providing the best results with minimum power consumption, minimum air pollution and minimum waste. It is an important fact that Stainless Steel is 100% Recyclable. This means nothing goes unexploited. Every ounce of scrap, used or unused consumer products (of Stainless Steel) can and are recycled, resulting to resource minimization, since new resources are not needed as often to replace corroded or failed products. The recycled Stainless Steel is of the exact same quality as the original and is not “downgraded” as is the case with some other so-called recycled materials. Moreover, it is essential to appreciate that Stainless Steel fountain products do not affect by any means the water environment surrounding them like other materials and coatings, as they do not corrode nor stain. These facts certainly are of prime consideration when seeking respect to the environment.