Does anyone have experience with Rain Flow Total Gutter Protection --
a fiber filter that keeps stuff out of your gutters? Tnx.

cheers,
jerry

"jerry" wrote

Does anyone have experience with Rain Flow Total Gutter Protection --
a fiber filter that keeps stuff out of your gutters? Tnx.

Not that specific brand Jerrry but we've tried several things all to no
avail. Leaves just clog up on top of it all.

What works for us is a simple tool we got at Home Depot. It's an extendable
metal tube that has a crook-neck and a hose attachment. It's about 12ft
long fully extended. Has a little 'claw' you can 'scoup with'. With this,
Don doesnt need a ladder except at the very end of the run. He can just
walk along and clean that way. Easy and fast.

"jerry" wrote in message
...
Does anyone have experience with Rain Flow Total Gutter Protection --
a fiber filter that keeps stuff out of your gutters? Tnx.

cheers,
jerry

They had something similar at Costco and I decided against it. I asked about
it here and we/I came to the conclusion they would just clog up eventually.
I ended up with these:

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1...atalogId=10053

Sort of a pain to install but the price is right. I got a few extra so I
could experiment with corners. I'm sure they won't work on all gutters but
you can just take them back if they don't work. I had to use some
needle-nose pliers to reshape the edge that they clip into on some of the
gutters. After lots of cussing I got them in and they seem to work just
fine.

On 2010-04-02, JimT wrote:

"jerry" wrote in message
...
Does anyone have experience with Rain Flow Total Gutter Protection --
a fiber filter that keeps stuff out of your gutters? Tnx.

cheers,
jerry

They had something similar at Costco and I decided against it. I asked about
it here and we/I came to the conclusion they would just clog up eventually.
I ended up with these:

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1...atalogId=10053

I bought some of those in brown, and they warped all to hell in less
than a week.

Fortunately, HD accepted the return.

We had a home with a 10/12 pitched roof in NC. Since NC is
heavily forested with long leaf pines, we had many of them in our
lot and close enough to the house that our gutters were almost
continually plugged after every rainfall. A fellow in NC, as I
recall, decided that he could solve the problem using the same
principle where water flows down the side of a glass, rather than
pouring off the lip: surface tension. He invented the Gutter
Helmet http://www.gutterhelmet.com/how_it_works.cfm and we had
it installed on our house. 6 years after it was installed, I
needed to repair some fascia and lifted the Gutter Helmet up in
the area to remove the gutter. The gutter was as clean as the day
the Gutter Helmet installer cleaned it out. The stuff works great
and I heartily recommend it.

--
Nonny
Suppose you were an idiot.
And suppose you were a member
of Congress.... But then I repeat myself.'

-Mark Twain
..

cshenk wrote the following:
"jerry" wrote

Does anyone have experience with Rain Flow Total Gutter Protection --
a fiber filter that keeps stuff out of your gutters? Tnx.

Not that specific brand Jerrry but we've tried several things all to
no avail. Leaves just clog up on top of it all.

What works for us is a simple tool we got at Home Depot. It's an
extendable metal tube that has a crook-neck and a hose attachment.
It's about 12ft long fully extended. Has a little 'claw' you can
'scoup with'. With this, Don doesnt need a ladder except at the very
end of the run. He can just walk along and clean that way. Easy and
fast.
....and wear a raincoat. I have one of those.
Start from the downspout and work backwards so the debris is clear in
front of the next batch to push to the downspout.

--

Bill
In Hamptonburgh, NY
In the original Orange County. Est. 1683
To email, remove the double zeroes after @

"ShadowTek" wrote in message
n...
On 2010-04-02, JimT wrote:

"jerry" wrote in message
...
Does anyone have experience with Rain Flow Total Gutter Protection --
a fiber filter that keeps stuff out of your gutters? Tnx.

cheers,
jerry

They had something similar at Costco and I decided against it. I asked
about
it here and we/I came to the conclusion they would just clog up
eventually.
I ended up with these:

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1...atalogId=10053

I bought some of those in brown, and they warped all to hell in less
than a week.

Fortunately, HD accepted the return.

I used the white ones. My neighbor has the brown ones and they were holding
up well. I think they have to be installed correctly or they'll warp. When
the roofers re-did his roof they refused to reinstall them and now they are
warped. Prior to that they looked fine. If they are in a really hot area
they may not be a good choice.

They are not as easy to install as the literature would lead you to believe.
They were an 8 on the curse-o-meter and I don't like spending that much time
on a ladder.

On Fri, 2 Apr 2010 15:53:11 -0500, "JimT" wrote:


"jerry" wrote in message
...
Does anyone have experience with Rain Flow Total Gutter Protection --
a fiber filter that keeps stuff out of your gutters? Tnx.

cheers,
jerry

They had something similar at Costco and I decided against it. I asked about
it here and we/I came to the conclusion they would just clog up eventually.
I ended up with these:

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1...atalogId=10053

Sort of a pain to install but the price is right. I got a few extra so I
could experiment with corners. I'm sure they won't work on all gutters but
you can just take them back if they don't work. I had to use some
needle-nose pliers to reshape the edge that they clip into on some of the
gutters. After lots of cussing I got them in and they seem to work just
fine.

I don't understand the filter part. The little particles never clog
the gutter, do they? It's the leaves. Doesn't filtering out the
little particles just leave one with a clogged piece of filter so the
water can't get to the gutter?

mm wrote the following:
On Fri, 2 Apr 2010 15:53:11 -0500, "JimT" wrote:


"jerry" wrote in message
...

Does anyone have experience with Rain Flow Total Gutter Protection --
a fiber filter that keeps stuff out of your gutters? Tnx.

cheers,
jerry

They had something similar at Costco and I decided against it. I asked about
it here and we/I came to the conclusion they would just clog up eventually.
I ended up with these:

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1...atalogId=10053

Sort of a pain to install but the price is right. I got a few extra so I
could experiment with corners. I'm sure they won't work on all gutters but
you can just take them back if they don't work. I had to use some
needle-nose pliers to reshape the edge that they clip into on some of the
gutters. After lots of cussing I got them in and they seem to work just
fine.


I don't understand the filter part. The little particles never clog
the gutter, do they? It's the leaves. Doesn't filtering out the
little particles just leave one with a clogged piece of filter so the
water can't get to the gutter?

My thoughts exactly. I think they would work better without the filter.
It's the big stuff that clogs gutters, the small stuff that gets into
the gutters can be flushed with the rain easier than the big stuff.
Every type of gutter covers have their own problems, whether it is the
covers that do not allow debris in the gutters, but pile it up on top
of, or in back of, the covers so that the gutters don't work at all , or
heavy rains that just roll over the gutter cover and onto the ground.
And those screen type inserts that go into the drop outlet hole are the
worst of all. They block the large debris from going down the downspout
and just pile it up like a dam, preventing even the small stuff from
getting to the downspout..
The best way to keep the gutters clean is to cut down all trees taller
than the gutters for about 100' feet from the house :-).


--

Bill
In Hamptonburgh, NY
In the original Orange County. Est. 1683
To email, remove the double zeroes after @

On Sat, 03 Apr 2010 09:35:21 -0400, willshak
wrote:

mm wrote the following:


I don't understand the filter part. The little particles never clog
the gutter, do they? It's the leaves. Doesn't filtering out the
little particles just leave one with a clogged piece of filter so the
water can't get to the gutter?

My thoughts exactly. I think they would work better without the filter.
It's the big stuff that clogs gutters, the small stuff that gets into
the gutters can be flushed with the rain easier than the big stuff.
Every type of gutter covers have their own problems, whether it is the
covers that do not allow debris in the gutters, but pile it up on top
of, or in back of, the covers so that the gutters don't work at all , or
heavy rains that just roll over the gutter cover and onto the ground.
And those screen type inserts that go into the drop outlet hole are the
worst of all. They block the large debris from going down the downspout
and just pile it up like a dam, preventing even the small stuff from
getting to the downspout..
The best way to keep the gutters clean is to cut down all trees taller
than the gutters for about 100' feet from the house :-).

Strangely, I have trees 10, 20, maybe 30 feet higher than my house on
two sides, and close to the house IMO, and yet there are never leaves
in my gutters. I thought when they dried out in the fall they could
be carried pretty far by floating on a breeze.

On 2010-04-02, JimT wrote:

I used the white ones. My neighbor has the brown ones and they were holding
up well. I think they have to be installed correctly or they'll warp. When
the roofers re-did his roof they refused to reinstall them and now they are
warped. Prior to that they looked fine. If they are in a really hot area
they may not be a good choice.

They are not as easy to install as the literature would lead you to believe.
They were an 8 on the curse-o-meter and I don't like spending that much time
on a ladder.

I don't see how they can be installed "incorrectly." It's just a one
piece unit.

They only choice that I had was whether or not to tuck them under the
shingles, which I didn't do since the pictures showed them laying *on
top* of the shingles.

"ShadowTek" wrote in message
n...
On 2010-04-02, JimT wrote:

I used the white ones. My neighbor has the brown ones and they were
holding
up well. I think they have to be installed correctly or they'll warp.
When
the roofers re-did his roof they refused to reinstall them and now they
are
warped. Prior to that they looked fine. If they are in a really hot area
they may not be a good choice.

They are not as easy to install as the literature would lead you to
believe.
They were an 8 on the curse-o-meter and I don't like spending that much
time
on a ladder.

I don't see how they can be installed "incorrectly." It's just a one
piece unit.

They only choice that I had was whether or not to tuck them under the
shingles, which I didn't do since the pictures showed them laying *on
top* of the shingles.

And that's what did it. My neighbor's warp right after they refused to tuck
them under the shingle. I was very hesitant to use them for that reason but
I came to the conclusion (hopefully correct), that tiny amount couldn't
hurt. I researched them and you are supposed to tuck them under. It's part
of the reason they are almost freakin' impossible to install. The distance
between the edge of the gutter and, the space to tuck them, has to
accommodate them. I had to trim them to fit. Especially in the corners.

Where did you see a picture of them laying on top? I found something
(somewhere) that shows exactly how to install them. I'll admit it's hard to
decipher from looking at the product.

Check out the PDF file at Amerimax.....Clearly tucked under per mfg.

"mm" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 03 Apr 2010 09:35:21 -0400, willshak
wrote:

mm wrote the following:


I don't understand the filter part. The little particles never clog
the gutter, do they? It's the leaves. Doesn't filtering out the
little particles just leave one with a clogged piece of filter so the
water can't get to the gutter?

My thoughts exactly. I think they would work better without the filter.
It's the big stuff that clogs gutters, the small stuff that gets into
the gutters can be flushed with the rain easier than the big stuff.
Every type of gutter covers have their own problems, whether it is the
covers that do not allow debris in the gutters, but pile it up on top
of, or in back of, the covers so that the gutters don't work at all , or
heavy rains that just roll over the gutter cover and onto the ground.
And those screen type inserts that go into the drop outlet hole are the
worst of all. They block the large debris from going down the downspout
and just pile it up like a dam, preventing even the small stuff from
getting to the downspout..
The best way to keep the gutters clean is to cut down all trees taller
than the gutters for about 100' feet from the house :-).

Strangely, I have trees 10, 20, maybe 30 feet higher than my house on
two sides, and close to the house IMO, and yet there are never leaves
in my gutters. I thought when they dried out in the fall they could
be carried pretty far by floating on a breeze.

Man you're lucky. We have huge live oaks that shed their leaves around March
that will clog up the gutters every year. I first tried just putting screen
near the down spout but that only helped a little. I'm not sure I completely
understand wilshak's question but, I think it has to do with the gutter
angle. If they are like mine the water won't flow fast enough to carry the
small particles out so they accumulate like river sand. I really need a
whole new gutter system but this is going to have to do.

On another subject: One poster said something about only needing a place for
the water to run off. In heavy rain areas you need both but, in my case I
also have a pool in he back and we don't want the water running off the roof
and into the pool, also.

Jim

"JimT" wrote in message
...

"ShadowTek" wrote in message
n...
On 2010-04-02, JimT wrote:

I used the white ones. My neighbor has the brown ones and they were
holding
up well. I think they have to be installed correctly or they'll warp.
When
the roofers re-did his roof they refused to reinstall them and now they
are
warped. Prior to that they looked fine. If they are in a really hot area
they may not be a good choice.

They are not as easy to install as the literature would lead you to
believe.
They were an 8 on the curse-o-meter and I don't like spending that much
time
on a ladder.

I don't see how they can be installed "incorrectly." It's just a one
piece unit.

They only choice that I had was whether or not to tuck them under the
shingles, which I didn't do since the pictures showed them laying *on
top* of the shingles.

And that's what did it. My neighbor's warp right after they refused to
tuck them under the shingle. I was very hesitant to use them for that
reason but I came to the conclusion (hopefully correct), that tiny amount
couldn't hurt. I researched them and you are supposed to tuck them under.
It's part of the reason they are almost freakin' impossible to install.
The distance between the edge of the gutter and, the space to tuck them,
has to accommodate them. I had to trim them to fit. Especially in the
corners.

Where did you see a picture of them laying on top? I found something
(somewhere) that shows exactly how to install them. I'll admit it's hard
to decipher from looking at the product.

Check out the PDF file at Amerimax.....Clearly tucked under per mfg.



heh....the missing link:
http://www.amerimax.com/productdetai...8&iSubCatID=14

You may have confused the plastic gutter guards with theses?:
http://www.amerimax.com/productdetai...4&iSubCatID=14

These clearly would never warp. I tried them but I couldn't get them to work
with my gutters.

On 2010-04-03, JimT wrote:

Where did you see a picture of them laying on top? I found something
(somewhere) that shows exactly how to install them. I'll admit it's hard to
decipher from looking at the product.

It must have been the pictures on the box. I clearly remember thinking
that it might be a better idea to tuck them under, but I decided to go
with what was pictured instead.

Regardless, the warpage of the plastic suggests that it wouldn't last
many years, at least not the dark color ones, and not under the direct
sunlight here around my house.

Check out the PDF file at Amerimax.....Clearly tucked under per mfg.

There were no instructions included with the boxed set, and the pictures
were misleading, so it's odd that they have taken the time to compile a
manual without either distributing it *or* indicating its presence on
the package in some way.

Oh well, it's their loss.

On 2010-04-03, JimT wrote:

You may have confused the plastic gutter guards with theses?:
http://www.amerimax.com/productdetai...4&iSubCatID=14

No, those are the ones that I'm using now. I *did* tuck those under the
gutter, and I haven't had any problems with them.

These clearly would never warp. I tried them but I couldn't get them to work
with my gutters.

I had to do a lot of fiddling with the clips, but they all finally went
on well.

"ShadowTek" wrote in message
n...
On 2010-04-03, JimT wrote:

Where did you see a picture of them laying on top? I found something
(somewhere) that shows exactly how to install them. I'll admit it's hard
to
decipher from looking at the product.

It must have been the pictures on the box. I clearly remember thinking
that it might be a better idea to tuck them under, but I decided to go
with what was pictured instead.

Regardless, the warpage of the plastic suggests that it wouldn't last
many years, at least not the dark color ones, and not under the direct
sunlight here around my house.

Check out the PDF file at Amerimax.....Clearly tucked under per mfg.

There were no instructions included with the boxed set, and the pictures
were misleading, so it's odd that they have taken the time to compile a
manual without either distributing it *or* indicating its presence on
the package in some way.

Oh well, it's their loss.

I agree. I thought it might be a liability issue. I know if I asked my
roofer he'd prefer I didn't use these. I just couldn't resist due to the
price and what seemed like the ease of installation, We live in Austin
(Central TX) where we have hellacious summers. My neighbor's brown ones held
up fine until he got his roof re-done last spring. That summer they started
warping because the roofers just placed them back on the gutters. He's since
had someone come out and fix them for him and they went right back in and
the warp doesn't seem to matter. I'd of done it for him if he wasn't such an
ass.

He had his up for 6+ years prior and I didn't notice any problem at all. In
fact they look sharp. I get a good view cause he's downhill. So the jury is
still out on how long they'll last. I can attest to their strength because I
had to really fight to get them in and not one of them broke. So it's very
tough plastic. I had to push hard to get them to clip properly. If they are
installed properly they look very professional. I recommend them with the
installation caveat. The price is right. I did about 55' for about $35.
Maybe 8 hours of hard labor.

I have doubts roofers would approve of the metal ones either as they rest on
the shingle. They have a more visible profile too. The plastic ones lay flat
so, on my house, you can't see them at all from the street. I'm "pleased"
with the results. If their was ANYTHING wrong with them SWMBO would make me
do it over. I'm well trained that way.

On 2010-04-04, JimT wrote:

I have doubts roofers would approve of the metal ones either as they rest on
the shingle. They have a more visible profile too. The plastic ones lay flat
so, on my house, you can't see them at all from the street. I'm "pleased"
with the results. If their was ANYTHING wrong with them SWMBO would make me
do it over. I'm well trained that way.

I beat those metal ones flat so I could tuck them under the shingles.

It looked pretty obvious stuff would pile up behind it if left
bent, and I not longer had faith in the manufactures recommendations, so
I just did it the way that seemed best.

"ShadowTek" wrote in message
n...
On 2010-04-04, JimT wrote:

I have doubts roofers would approve of the metal ones either as they rest
on
the shingle. They have a more visible profile too. The plastic ones lay
flat
so, on my house, you can't see them at all from the street. I'm
"pleased"
with the results. If their was ANYTHING wrong with them SWMBO would make
me
do it over. I'm well trained that way.

I beat those metal ones flat so I could tuck them under the shingles.

It looked pretty obvious stuff would pile up behind it if left
bent, and I not longer had faith in the manufactures recommendations, so
I just did it the way that seemed best.

FWIW: I'd be concerned about the shingles being lifted too high. Could
develop a leak near the edge. I went with the plastic ones because they
barely lift the shingle.

On 2010-04-05, JimT wrote:

FWIW: I'd be concerned about the shingles being lifted too high. Could
develop a leak near the edge. I went with the plastic ones because they
barely lift the shingle.

I bent them completely flat, so they don't lift the singles at all.