"Bob F" wrote in message
...
Robert Green wrote:
Home brew. Air fitting and ball valve on one end of a 1/2" copper
pipe. On the other end, a female thread fitting. Into that I screwed
two threaded PVC street ells and a nozzle I made by heating a few
inches of copper tube and clamping it around a nail, then pulling
the nail out. The 2 street ells allow the nozzle to be pointed any
way I want, and can form a "hook" that helps guide it along the
gutter edge.

Thanks for the info! How do you keep from getting a face full of
gutter muck? That's been the issue with the water driven method I
occasionally use. Every once in a while, I get a backscatter of muck
which is much better fertilizer than it is face cream.

I was almost going to get a IRobot gutter sweeper but it looked like
more trouble than it was worth.

Is there any truly "no maintenance" gutter system out there? A long
motorized auger running the length of the gutter might work. I know
the screens don't work. Stuff catches on them and the water runs
right over them.

My cedar gutters make cleaning a lot easier. There are no supports in the
gutter, so I can just slide the air nozzle along, pushing the crud away
from me.

That's a pretty big "secret weapon" against muck kickbacks. I always get
into trouble in the area around the gutter supports. Still, it's worth a
try . . .

It is best to clean when the gutters are dry. The crud blows out easier
and
doesn't stick to everything it hits. I can clean the main floor gutters in
1/2
hour or less. That's probably about 180 feet of gutter. I have to set up a
ladder for the second floor, which is probably about 80 feet, and probably
takes
me a bit longer.

Sounds like it's worth a shot. I'll post if I decide to build my own air
pressure wand. I wonder if there's some way to build a gutter "pig" like
the ones they use in pipelines. Something that sits up there with a pull
rope on each side that I can use to drag the assembly from side to side.
It's hard to believe so little progress has been made in gutter cleaning
since gutters were first implemented.

--
Bobby G.