gutter cleaning/compressed air

[Anonymous-0]

I need to clean gutters on my house, steep roof and gutters are 30' off ground. what about this idea? Make a long spray wand made from a 1/2-in.-dia. x 10-ft.-long PVC pipe. Start by cutting two 6-in. lengths of pipe. Then, use PVC cement to join these short sections and two 90-degree elbows with what is now a 9-ft.-long pipe, forming a J-shaped hook. At the short end of the hook, glue on a solid endcap. Drill three 1/8-in.-dia. holes in the cap. Glue a threaded adapter onto the opposite end of the pipe and attach a air hose.

Place the short end of the J-shaped hook inside the gutter, and turn on the compressor. As you walk along the house, high-pressure streams of air will clean the gutter.
compressor is 15 gal, 6 cfm @ 90psi. Air hose will be about 100'. Enough pressure/volume?

 

[Sam from WA]

I think you"d be better off using a pressure washer instead of compressed air. If you were to use compressed air, I"m not sure that you"ll have enough volume to get done in a timely manner. You might look into using an engine driven screw-type air compressor for your gutter cleaning so you can get the kind of volume that is needed. I personally use a long homebuilt wand on my pressure washer, and I run the pressure at right around 500psi. Works great.

 

[CNKS]

I agree with Sam, your compressor is way too small, unless you wait for it to recharge -- it will not keep up. Not sure my 80 gallon 24 cfm would either.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Good idea, but use water. mine is 20ft off the ground and I just hook up my contraption to the regular water hose.


Dave

 

[Mike M]

Either way you are going to get one heck of a bath of yucky stuff !

 

[NawlensGator]

I bought a J shaped pole attachement that hooks to my pressure washer that is designed to clean gutters. I tried it out last weekend. It blew crap everywhere and made a huge mess. But it cleaned them. I quit using it and ended up on a ladder pulling leaves out by hand and dumping them in a large plastic can. I have a hip roof with 8ft high gutters.

I predict a pole on a pressure washer long enough to reach your gutters will create too much torgue for you to hold the pole. A long ladder maybe?

 

[Chris Jones]

Try this.

I don't know how well it works personally as my roof is not very steep and I just use a leaf blower. But, I can vouch for their floor cleaning robot, roomba. It works great.
Looj

 

[Pappy]

It might work if the leaves are very dry. Once they get wet, it won"t work well. You may have more problems with your downspouts clogging than with the gutters. That is usually my problem.

 

[bc]

I made one with pvc hooked to a garden hose. On my U shaped end, I put a standard round brass spray nozzle. It blew crap all over the roof, side of the house, me, and the ground. Whether you use air or water, there is enough wet muck in the gutter to make a mess. Then you will need a power washer to clean your siding.

Moral of the story. Just use the pipe to slide along the gutter to clean it out. Maybe rig up some type of scoop that fits the bottom of the gutter. Then run water with no high psi nozzle to rinse out the mud, crud, shingle rock, etc that is left and chase it down the downspout. You may have to stuff a hose up a down spout to get it cleaned out. I had to use 1" pvc to meke it stiff enough to hold and work. 1/2" is too limber if you have to go very high.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Forgot to mention that I only used mine once........ I hang a 5 gal bucket on a ladder and scoop them out by hand. Easier when everything is wet.


Dave

 

[Anonymous-0]

my cousin cleans gutters for a living. He has an extention handle with a hoe type tool on the end of it. From the ladder , he can reach out , pulling the debris towards him. Then puts it in his bucket.

 

[Anonymous-0]

thanks for all the thoughts....I do have 32' ladders, but one end of my 2 story house (with basement) makes the gutter on one end 30 ft off the ground. My roof pitch is 9/12..which is a little too steep for me to walk on (wife says NO!!). I might have to climb out dormer window, tie rope around waist, and have neighbor hold other end on opposite side of roof.
I like the idea of long pvc with "hoe" attachment to pull debris to me, but I think the gutter screws/ferrules may get in way. I may just have to get gutter guards, but heard those don't work too well.

 

[Dusty MI]

PVC the same dia. as shop vac. hose with J bend. And vac. them out.

 

[woodbutcher]

I used 3" PVC to make a similar J-shaped extension for my electric leaf blower. It works great except that I seem to be right below where the leaves that are blown from the gutter fall, so I get a generous covering.
Butch

 

[Spritzer]

THIRTY FEET high,and a steep roof is a bad combination. You almost need a cherry picker to get at the gutters. If somehow you can get up there without too much difficulty, a powerful leaf blower would clean it out- -leaves, muck and all- -even water.

 

[Anonymous-0]

I've been using the ECHO rain gutter attachment on my leaf blower and have been quite satisfied with it's performance.

Of course I'm only operating on a single story dwelling, but I'd imagine you could put two sets together, or lenthen some other way.

Echo 99944100010 Rain Gutter Kit