On Fri, 06 Apr 2018 22:41:02 +0100, MM wrote:

I think a gutter downpipe on my house is blocked. When only a small
amount of water is fed into the gutter (garden hose on a ~very~ long
pole), water spews out of the elbow just beneath the gutter and hardly
any comes down the pipe at the bottom.

So I reckon moss or maybe a dead bird has lodged in the downpipe,
probably in the elbow itself, or just below.

I don't have a long ladder. So I wonder whether I could push a spiral
drain unblocker, the sort with the handle to turn, UP the downpipe from
below. The distance from the ground to the underside of the gutter is
4m.

Or would the spiral wire just collapse back on itself due to gravity and
weight?

The two spiral unblockers I have my eye on are the Screwfix one for
£22.99 or the much cheaper Silverline for around £8.

By the way, my downpipes are round white plastic 68mm in diameter.

Any other suggestions most welcome!

Depending on what is causing the blockage, just clearing the top of the
pipe may be a very short term fix.

One of the more unpleasant jobs I have to do every few years is unblock
the downpipe from the guttering at the front of the house.

By the time the elbow is blocked, the complete run of guttering is full of
mainly moss (those green slug shaped things) off the roof. The moss
effectively creates its own fine soi so there is a combination of moss and
fine soil.

Eventually enough accumulates to spill over into the downpipe enough to
block it.

At that point just clearing the down pipe is a very short term fix. It
very quickly blocks again because all of the guttering is silted up.

You have posted that you are considering spending £20(ish) and see £60(ish)
for an add on to your Karcher as very expensive. I think you need to
review your budget.

I know this is a DIY forum but if you don't want to do ladders then one
alternative is to hire a handyman who has his own ladder to clear out your
guttering. £60-£100 could well cover that. Some window cleaners also clean
gutters (they tend to have ladders and stuff) so worth an ask.

http://guttercleanandrepair.co.uk/gu...enance-repair/
This gives a nice picture of what your gutter may look like!

If you really want to DIY it the next option is to hire a scaffolding
tower which is suitable for people who are not happy on ladders.

https://www.hss.com/hire/c/access/ac...-and-platforms

for an example.

I have used towers in the past and they are easy to put up and I feel much
safer inside one than I do on a ladder.

So - hire a man or a scaffolding tower.

Or buy the wonder blaster from Karcher is you only want a short term fix.

Cheers


Dave R







--
AMD FX-6300 in GA-990X-Gaming SLI-CF running Windows 7 Pro x64

---
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus