On 3/10/2011 8:35 PM, Robert Green wrote:
"Bob 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.



When I hit the lotto and build my dream house- No Gutters! Big
overhangs, yard sloped away from house, and something that won't form
ruts at the drip lines. In the neighborhoods around my other house down
in Lake Charles, no more than 1/3 of the houses even have gutters at
all. And it rains a lot down there. The trees also drop leaves pretty
much year around, in spurts. (Kinda like a shedding dog.) The
gutterless houses generally have a skinny gravel-filled trench at drip
line, or a row of thirsty-species bushes, sometimes in 1950s style long
skinny planter boxes.

--
aem sends...