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!

Thanks again.

MM

I had this exact problem a year or two ago and pushing the spiral
drain unblocker up the down pipe caused it to collapse back down onto
me.
I got two rocket launching tubes out of the garage, each about 1.5m
long and threaded the spiral into them, this prevented the collapse
and I got the blockage (which was in the elbow) sorted.
Much easier than going up a tall ladder (which I'm not keen on doing).
It's still OK now.
- Mike
(Who likes to employ rocket science whenever possible).