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Which is better carbon fibre or alloy gutter poles?

slippy

Active member
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840
Location
Bournemouth
Which is a better gutter vac pole out of these 2?  Will the carbon fibre one break if chucked around in van?

Was going to hook it up to the gutter Vac King from Machine Mart.   Will this work?   20170909_160648.jpg

 
I've got aluminium poles and as long as your pointing them straight up it's easy. Reaching over a garage roof is harder as they do start to get heavy. Not impossible it's just a couple of minutes of pain lol. If your budget allows it I'd buy carbon. I get by with mine but carbon would be easier. Just make sure their secured properly so their not getting chucked about in the van.


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If your going to the bother of getting a gutter vac I'd get a bigger one personally. I got a 3000w vac on eBay for £155. Took me 10 minutes to make the inlet slightly larger and it's been brilliant. I ladder some gutters too but tbh I much prefer gutter cleaning over window cleaning.


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Carbon will be liter but will were out quicker alli will last for ever but the trade off is there heavy I'm thinking about trying the grippa pole with clamps so they don't get stuck tougher 

 
Anyone used a vac king from machine mart?  I figured if it didn't work just get a proper gutter vac machine.  Only lose money from vac.   

Which of these would be best? 

https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/050511127/?da=1&TC=GS-050511127&gclid=Cj0KCQjwxdPNBRDmARIsAAw-TUkSNTUAxBRLJ2Le5mXb6EiwTxCWBPQ75oNXRa-y5j6yIvvJJh4ZNLIaAkZlEALw_wcB

Smaller size the better.
All I would say is get the most powerful one you can buy, a single 1400 watt machine won't be very good at 30' as the further you go from the machine the less powerful it becomes. Even on standard houses it won't be strong enough to suck the large clumps out.  

Not sure of that model iderly for guttering cleaning you would need a 3000w + vac.
If I can afford it I'm going to get the Sky vac .

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This is the most powerful one I've found, I think Clearview Lee bought one 

 
We have both but haven't used the alloy ones in years far to heavy after using carbon , carbon are more delicate and can be damaged but using reasonable care are fine we have had ours about 4-5 years ? Still going strong if working in the wind at 50 feet + they are affected by wind more than alloy , we got ours from carbon fibre tubes very reasonably priced compared the the other company's prices and they are 100% carbon not got any fibreglass in them be careful about that as a lot claim they are carbon but when you actually look into it they are mostly fibreglass with some carbon content 

 
I wouldn't buy that off machine mart it's not gonna have the power you need.

Just get a 3000watt machine and if you plan on running it all day everyday get another one so you can do a couple of hours with each machine then rest it and use the other one, because they just burn out if you have them on all day even if they are commercial/industrial rated.. 

 
If your going to the bother of getting a gutter vac I'd get a bigger one personally. I got a 3000w vac on eBay for £155. Took me 10 minutes to make the inlet slightly larger and it's been brilliant. I ladder some gutters too but tbh I much prefer gutter cleaning over window cleaning.


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I would probably only do one or two gutter clean's  a month.  2 storey house would be the highest for now.   The big machines I saw at the show seem too big and take up too much space.  Is it possible to get a smaller one with 3000 watts power?

Got a link or name Dan for your vac?

 
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I was using carbon poles of about 30'-35' my 1800watt, struggling with pure turf in gutters. Had to use weedhook to try n break bits away, didnt finish the job. Would say if u can afford it get the best you can get.
The carbon poles showed how light they were when liftung n lowering the whole length up n down.

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We do between 2/4 gutter jobs per week. We bit the bullet and bought a toilet truck with a 1 ton vacuum tank powered by a petrol engine. It'll pick up dead loads of water if required. The guy who fabricated said that with the blower reversed, thus building pressure it'll blow a solid object like a nappy over 60m. Nappy because the machine is normally used to empty porta loos.

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If your struggling to get the moss soil out flood the gutter with water for ten minutes and work on an easier section while all the filth softens up. 

 Have the gardener gutter tool I fit on my slx to sort that out. 

 
I've never seen a smaller one. Generally the smaller the tub the smaller the motors.


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If your struggling to get the moss soil out flood the gutter with water for ten minutes and work on an easier section while all the filth softens up. 
 
 Have the gardener gutter tool I fit on my slx to sort that out. 
 
 
I had bought the gardener tool for this specific job, but the slx pole had to much flex at about 35' to get it dug in, also the gutter had those metal cross straps every metre or so so causing issues to get good purchase/ force.

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Yeah I know what you mean about it being whippy, I cant get much leverage either to dig it out.. All I can say I do with the bad patches is flood it with loads of water and at the same time vacuum it out..

Problem with this is the vac gets loads of water in it and the waste pipe to empty water always gets clogged up so I end up lifting it back into the van and sorting it out at home.. It can be pretty heavy when its full..

 
I've got a 1400 watt Hyundai Pro with  2200mm of water lift. 

I converted my machine to a 51mm side entry cyclonic using 5mtrs of 51mm hose to cut down suction loss and this hooks onto lightweight 51mm alloy poles I got from Aquafed. 

I purchased 32ft of poles and even with using the full 32ft with the end tool connected it's got plenty of suction and lifts big turfs out. I will admit that 32ft of these poles are hard to work with, need plenty upper body strength. The poles are 1.2mtrs each and weigh 620 grams, but you have the weight of the clamps and end tool to take into consideration as well. 

 
My converted vac. I used the original opening for the side entry, just carefully cut it out. 

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