I'm sure I'm not the only one who had a little flood today, but mine
was caused by the leaf guard (kind of upside-down plastic basket) on
the outlet of my flat roof becoming blocked. Having cleared it this
evening, I got to wondering what the point of these is: All mine ever
seems to do is to collect leaves and block. If it wasn't there,
presumably the leaves would just go down the pipe and collect on the
grille of the drain below, where they would be easier to clear, and
cause less flooding.

What d'you think chaps - should I just chuck it away, or does it do
something useful that I'm overlooking?

Cheers all

On Fri, 15 May 2009 15:05:09 -0700 (PDT), GMM wrote:

I'm sure I'm not the only one who had a little flood today, but mine
was caused by the leaf guard (kind of upside-down plastic basket) on
the outlet of my flat roof becoming blocked. Having cleared it this
evening, I got to wondering what the point of these is: All mine ever
seems to do is to collect leaves and block. If it wasn't there,
presumably the leaves would just go down the pipe and collect on the
grille of the drain below, where they would be easier to clear, and
cause less flooding.

What d'you think chaps - should I just chuck it away, or does it do
something useful that I'm overlooking?

Cheers all

Depends on what's downstream of it - better a blocked grid on the gully
than floods.
On a friend's house the leaftrap was useful because of the double bend in
the downpipe and, more so, because the DP went straight in to the ground -
no gully! In his case the gutter just overflowed, so no problem.
--
Peter.
You don't understand Newton's Third Law of Motion?
It's not rocket science, you know.

On 16 May, 10:18, PeterC wrote:
On Fri, 15 May 2009 15:05:09 -0700 (PDT), GMM wrote:
I'm sure I'm not the only one who had a little flood today, but mine
was caused by the leaf guard (kind of upside-down plastic basket) on
the outlet of my flat roof becoming blocked. *Having cleared it this
evening, I got to wondering what the point of these is: *All mine ever
seems to do is to collect leaves and block. *If it wasn't there,
presumably the leaves would just go down the pipe and collect on the
grille of the drain below, where they would be easier to clear, and
cause less flooding.

What d'you think chaps - should I just chuck it away, or does it do
something useful that I'm overlooking?

Cheers all

Depends on what's downstream of it - better a blocked grid on the gully
than floods.
On a friend's house the leaftrap was useful because of the double bend in
the downpipe and, more so, because the DP went straight in to the ground -
no gully! In his case the gutter just overflowed, so no problem.
--
Peter.
You don't understand Newton's Third Law of Motion?
It's not rocket science, you know.

Well...that's the way I was looking at it. Yesterday, the level in
the flat roof rose high enough to test the flashing against the
house. I found out because there was a puddle indoors. It seems to
me that the worse that can happen without the guard is that the grille
in the gully will block and water will spill onto the ground outside,
which is probably a much better outcome!

I can se the issue if there's no gully, of course. So maybe I'll go
and remove it...once the rains stops!

GMM wrote:
I'm sure I'm not the only one who had a little flood today, but mine
was caused by the leaf guard (kind of upside-down plastic basket) on
the outlet of my flat roof becoming blocked. Having cleared it this
evening, I got to wondering what the point of these is: All mine ever
seems to do is to collect leaves and block. If it wasn't there,
presumably the leaves would just go down the pipe and collect on the
grille of the drain below, where they would be easier to clear, and
cause less flooding.

What d'you think chaps - should I just chuck it away, or does it do
something useful that I'm overlooking?

Its doing what its meant to do! Stopping leaves & stuff getting into the
down pipe.

You are supposed to get up there & clean it out every now and then - its
called maintenance :-)


--
Dave - The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk

On 17 May, 11:01, "The Medway Handyman"
wrote:
GMM wrote:
I'm sure I'm not the only one who had a little flood today, but mine
was caused by the leaf guard (kind of upside-down plastic basket) on
the outlet of my flat roof becoming blocked. *Having cleared it this
evening, I got to wondering what the point of these is: *All mine ever
seems to do is to collect leaves and block. *If it wasn't there,
presumably the leaves would just go down the pipe and collect on the
grille of the drain below, where they would be easier to clear, and
cause less flooding.

What d'you think chaps - should I just chuck it away, or does it do
something useful that I'm overlooking?

Its doing what its meant to do! *Stopping leaves & stuff getting into the
down pipe.

You are supposed to get up there & clean it out every now and then - its
called maintenance :-)

--
Dave - The Medway Handymanwww.medwayhandyman.co.uk

Couldn't agree more Dave, except for two things. First, there were
hardly any leaves up there, but the amount of rain sluiced what were
there to the leaf guard. When the level rose, these acted as a better
seal.
Second, I don't understand why it's better to clog the outlet from the
roof, which encourages the standing water to seek out any ways through
the flashing etc, than to clog the gully, which leads to a spillage of
water at ground level.
I can see the point if a blockage at the bottom of the down pipe was
worse, but here it seems preferable.
Actually, I only replaced this guard last autumn after quite a few
(problem-free) years without one, as I was up there replacing the
guttering and found the old guard had been 'recycled' to space a down-
pipe bracket from the main roof away from the wall, by a previous
bodger(!). Seems all I did was create/reinstate a problem!

GMM wrote:
On 17 May, 11:01, "The Medway Handyman"
wrote:
GMM wrote:
I'm sure I'm not the only one who had a little flood today, but mine
was caused by the leaf guard (kind of upside-down plastic basket) on
the outlet of my flat roof becoming blocked. Having cleared it this
evening, I got to wondering what the point of these is: All mine
ever seems to do is to collect leaves and block. If it wasn't there,
presumably the leaves would just go down the pipe and collect on the
grille of the drain below, where they would be easier to clear, and
cause less flooding.

What d'you think chaps - should I just chuck it away, or does it do
something useful that I'm overlooking?

Its doing what its meant to do! Stopping leaves & stuff getting into
the down pipe.

You are supposed to get up there & clean it out every now and then -
its called maintenance :-)

--
Dave - The Medway Handymanwww.medwayhandyman.co.uk

Couldn't agree more Dave, except for two things. First, there were
hardly any leaves up there, but the amount of rain sluiced what were
there to the leaf guard. When the level rose, these acted as a better
seal.
Second, I don't understand why it's better to clog the outlet from the
roof, which encourages the standing water to seek out any ways through
the flashing etc, than to clog the gully, which leads to a spillage of
water at ground level.

Generally best practise is to have the 'clog up' point easily accessable.
For this reason gutter downpipes are only a sliding fit e.g. very easy to
dismantle for clearance. In many/most installations the downpipe is
cemented into the ground at the base - to stop it being physically knocked
out of position.

I can see the point if a blockage at the bottom of the down pipe was
worse, but here it seems preferable.

If its an 'open' discharge it would be preferable, but as I said, many are
cemented into the ground.

Actually, I only replaced this guard last autumn after quite a few
(problem-free) years without one, as I was up there replacing the
guttering and found the old guard had been 'recycled' to space a down-
pipe bracket from the main roof away from the wall, by a previous
bodger(!). Seems all I did was create/reinstate a problem!

If you are in the situation where the bottom of the downpipe is easy to
access and its easy to remove any bends & the clips to clear blockages, then
remove the leaf guard. If not, 'leaf' it where it is & check it regularly.


--
Dave - The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk