Drain hose to clear downpipe

[ched999uk]

So I have recently bought a Panther gutter vac and I don't carry ladders (my choice).
I'm trying to think of ways to unblock a downpipe from the bottom if the vac can't clear a blockage. I was thinking that a 15m drain hose attached to my Nilfisk pressure washer might do the job? Plus my geny can power my little Nilfisk.
I know it's a a bit of a long shot to see if anyone has tried this idea but I thought I would ask. For anyone who doesn't know, you can get drain hoses which are 3/8" diameter and have an attachment to fit pressure washers (you select the attachment required for your machine) and on the other end is a nozzle with 1 forward facing jet and 3 rearward facing jets to help push the hose forward. They are only about £30 for a 15m hose.

So anyone any idea if this might work?

 

[Mattlekim]

So I have recently bought a Panther gutter vac and I don't carry ladders (my choice).
I'm trying to think of ways to unblock a downpipe from the bottom if the vac can't clear a blockage. I was thinking that a 15m drain hose attached to my Nilfisk pressure washer might do the job? Plus my geny can power my little Nilfisk.
I know it's a a bit of a long shot to see if anyone has tried this idea but I thought I would ask. For anyone who doesn't know, you can get drain hoses which are 3/8" diameter and have an attachment to fit pressure washers (you select the attachment required for your machine) and on the other end is a nozzle with 1 forward facing jet and 3 rearward facing jets to help push the hose forward. They are only about £30 for a 15m hose.

So anyone any idea if this might work?

How blocked are we talking about? Is it stopping water. We too have panther and have found that id it's blocking water you can put loads of water in gutters then use vac to get extra vacuum in the down pipe.

 

[Part Timer]

If you can disassemble the bottom section of the downpipe then simple push rods will work.

 

[ched999uk]

If you can disassemble the bottom section of the downpipe then simple push rods will work.

Cheers. What sort of push rods? I can't imagine standard drain rods would go round the swept bend at the top?

 

[Part Timer]

Cheers. What sort of push rods? I can't imagine standard drain rods would go round the swept bend at the top?

Quite often the bad blockages have long roots and you can tangle them and loosen the grip.

 

[ched999uk]

How blocked are we talking about? Is it stopping water. We too have panther and have found that id it's blocking water you can put loads of water in gutters then use vac to get extra vacuum in the down pipe.

The one I had problems with was stopping water flowing. It was overflowing that's why my customer asked me to empty out the gutter.
Great tip to add a load of water and use that to help add a bit of suction plus probably loosen things up a bit. Thanks.

I am also thinking of making a 32mm nozzle for the panther to see if the decreased diameter would go into the downpipe further and provide a bit more suction. I found you can but 50mm to 32mm solvent weld reducers and 32mm drain pipe. So using 2 solvent weld reducers I can make it fit inside the gvs bend. Not tried it yet as not been to Toolstation yet to buy the bits. Just trying to think about solutions to problems before they cause me issues/
The job I had where I couldn't clean out the downpipe was for a decent customer and insisted in paying me for emptying the rest of the gutters! What compounded the problem was the downpipe was about 6" onto his neighbours side, so I couldn't get to the bottom - long story.

 

[spruce]

The one I had problems with was stopping water flowing. It was overflowing that's why my customer asked me to empty out the gutter.
Great tip to add a load of water and use that to help add a bit of suction plus probably loosen things up a bit. Thanks.

I am also thinking of making a 32mm nozzle for the panther to see if the decreased diameter would go into the downpipe further and provide a bit more suction. I found you can but 50mm to 32mm solvent weld reducers and 32mm drain pipe. So using 2 solvent weld reducers I can make it fit inside the gvs bend. Not tried it yet as not been to Toolstation yet to buy the bits. Just trying to think about solutions to problems before they cause me issues/
The job I had where I couldn't clean out the downpipe was for a decent customer and insisted in paying me for emptying the rest of the gutters! What compounded the problem was the downpipe was about 6" onto his neighbours side, so I couldn't get to the bottom - long story.

In our experience, we have found that the majority of blockages occur at the top at the down pipe inlet before the bends. Fitters, for some reason, insist on using 6" screws to hold the pieces together. I'm not sure if I should be grateful they do this or not. In most cases, the blockage is above the screw and easily taken out. In some cases, we need to do this off the ladders. Sometimes the bends are held together by the down pipe and can be persuaded apart with a little force.

I've only had a couple of instances where I've had to unblock the down pipe. A couple of those were where the down pipe went directly into the underground gulley. I had to remove the downpipe off the wall.

Because I only clean gutters with my lad, usually you can hear if the down pipe is bocked by listening. We put the vacuum cleaner nozzle into the down pipe inlet at the top and listen at the downpipe's foot. If the down pipe is blocked, then you won't hear anything.

These days I tell customers that removing downpipes are not in my remit. Some screws holding the brackets are very rusty and in some cases I would have to drill new holes in the wall for the brackets. I don't carry drilling equipment to do this. Different gutters require that manufacturer's parts, which becomes another sourcing issue. This happened to my wife's sister-in-law. We couldn't get the right joiner and ended up having to replace the full gutter length, brackets and down pipe on her conservatory. I did it for her, but it's not a service we offer.

 

[ched999uk]

Thanks everyone, great info.
I bough the bits to make a 32mm nozzle just in case that would help. Just about to go to the garage and cut them to size and solvent weld them together.

 

[Part Timer]

Thanks everyone, great info.
I bough the bits to make a 32mm nozzle just in case that would help. Just about to go to the garage and cut them to size and solvent weld them together.

If you have a blow option this can help as well

 

[ched999uk]

If you have a blow option this can help as well

That's one advantage the Atom has over the Panther, so unfortunately no blow option for me, good to know though.

 

[ched999uk]

Update. Plumbers can't measure for toffee!!!!
I bought an adapter from Toolstation that is supposed to be 50mm x 32mm. While the 32mm fits very snugly the 50mm is actually 56mm! So no way it's going to fit inside a 51mm silicon bend.

Back to square one. ?

 

[Deleted member 5762]

Update. Plumbers can't measure for toffee!!!!
I bought an adapter from Toolstation that is supposed to be 50mm x 32mm. While the 32mm fits very snugly the 50mm is actually 56mm! So no way it's going to fit inside a 51mm silicon bend.

Back to square one. ?

@ched999uk not quite the same but I was fixing the pipe coming out of the house for the sink waste, and I bought an elbow and length of pipe that were different sizes (although both listed as the same) because they were different manufacturers. There's a guy on YouTube who built a gutter vac pole system for a Screwfix/titan wet and dry vac from pvc piping. If I can find the video I'll add it here. Might be able to help you a bit.

 

[THL4KEL]

You have to be careful your not buying push fit pipes/fittings as they are a different size to solvent weld pipe/fittings

 

[ched999uk]

You have to be careful your not buying push fit pipes/fittings as they are a different size to solvent weld pipe/fittings

Cheers. 100% correct they are different. The parts I bought where all solvent weld plus they are actually listed as 50mm to 32mm adapters and the dimensions say 50mm not to fit 50mm pipe! I was that annoyed yesterday as I had already dremmelled off the inner flange on 2 of the adapters so I could make 2 32mm gutter nozzles plus I has cut the 3m pipe down outside tool station so it would fit in the car, so no way to take them back.
I am going to have a chat with by partners brother who is a plumber to see if there are adapters out there that are the actual size I need.

I am probably over thinking things as normal, I was just trying to make a slim 32mm nozzle that would be easier to go down the outlets a bit easier and maybe past those long screws that fitters seem to use.

 

[RickyG]

Update. Plumbers can't measure for toffee!!!!
I bought an adapter from Toolstation that is supposed to be 50mm x 32mm. While the 32mm fits very snugly the 50mm is actually 56mm! So no way it's going to fit inside a 51mm silicon bend.

Back to square one. ?

It’s the inside measurement?

 

[Deleted member 5762]

@ched999uk is it just a smaller tool for getting I to the top of the downpipe you're after? I have a gutter sucker vacuum and I have this one in the link. I've used it on gutters with narrow gaps to get at them. It's ok but obviously not as good as standard tools. You could probably wiggle it about enough to get it into the top of the downpipe Reducer End Tool for Gutter Cleaning - Gutter Sucker Direct - not sure how far you'd get though. If you squeeze some damp microfiber cloths into the bottom of the downpipe that will help with suction at the top ? (apologies if I am pointing out anything obvious).

 

[ched999uk]

@ched999uk is it just a smaller tool for getting I to the top of the downpipe you're after? I have a gutter sucker vacuum and I have this one in the link. I've used it on gutters with narrow gaps to get at them. It's ok but obviously not as good as standard tools. You could probably wiggle it about enough to get it into the top of the downpipe Reducer End Tool for Gutter Cleaning - Gutter Sucker Direct - not sure how far you'd get though. If you squeeze some damp microfiber cloths into the bottom of the downpipe that will help with suction at the top ? (apologies if I am pointing out anything obvious).

Cheers for the suggestion, unfortunately my GVS Ali poles are 51mm. It is the sort of thing I am looking for though.
Great tip about the microfibre cloths at the bottom.

 

[Deleted member 5762]

Cheers for the suggestion, unfortunately my GVS Ali poles are 51mm. It is the sort of thing I am looking for though.
Great tip about the microfibre cloths at the bottom.

Oh I understand I use the carbon and the silicone neck is a smaller diameter. Never tried it myself but GVS have a conical adapter Conical Nozzle but not in stock there atm. No worries about the cloths, I found that very helpful on a bunged up bungalow gutter (got the tip off a facebook group) ?

 

[ched999uk]

Update:
I had the pressure washer (Nilfisk 120bar 440L/hr 7Lpm) with the drain hose attachment out today. From the bottom of the downpipe I fed it up and although it managed to get round the first bend in the swan neck it wouldn't go round the second bend. So looks like it's not going to work and that was on a bungalow with fairly new gutters as I replaced that side about 18 months ago.

 

[Mattymarske]

Update:
I had the pressure washer (Nilfisk 120bar 440L/hr 7Lpm) with the drain hose attachment out today. From the bottom of the downpipe I fed it up and although it managed to get round the first bend in the swan neck it wouldn't go round the second bend. So looks like it's not going to work and that was on a bungalow with fairly new gutters as I replaced that side about 18 months ago.

https://gardinerpolesystems.co.uk/quick-loqr-gutter-spike-agitator.html
I know it's not exactly what you're asking for but have you got one of these in the van? Admittedly the jet didn't do much but found the length of it especially with a Gardiner long length top arm gooseneck has helped me out on a handful of stuck downpipes. ?