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Unblocking downpipe

Applepicker

Member
Messages
45
Location
South
Found it hard to get to this downpipe.  What's the best way to get up corners of houses and also when I tried to pull the elbow down the fascia board came down a bit.  It was obvious knackered and the wood rotten but still embarrassing to have to explain this to customer. I then used a drill to undo brackets on wall, should I have just done this from the beginning? 

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I think you landed yourself a pickle job there. First thing i would do is get the wfp up there and run water through it to check its running. If it isnt, either pass the job on to someone with a cherry picker or simply tell them its inaccessible and they need a scaffold up.
some roofers would get up on the roof and do it but they shouldnt feel obligated to as it is dangerous. This is what happens when they are fitted in ridiculous places.
No point risking life & limb over a blocked downpipe. Would rather lose the work and keep my health....theres always an easier job waiting. And when you end up damaging or dislodging things in the process it leaves you in a predicament then.
I tend to go by the motto “if it looks awkward, it is awkward, if i can’t do, i can’t do”
Sometimes we don’t think jobs through before taking them on, i’m a bit more careful now than i used to be but it comes with experience


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Yes they do but they’re not the best in my opinion, the ladder can swing left or right if you put too much weight on one side. unless you’ve got someone footing the bottom of the ladder i wouldn’t even bother trying. A second man is key when it comes to ladders. The risks people take going up them alone to do gutters you may as well not bother and stick to windows/pressure washing etc. best thing to do if in doubts about taking the job on, is wfp above all downpipes, if theyre all running you know its just a gutter vac job and happy days easy gutter clearance


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We generally manage to suck out the obstruction with the vac by breaking it up with a combination of the vac and Gardiners gutter spike tool works 99% of the time , another trick is the chimney sweeps fibreglass sweeping rods on a continuous reel if you have an open bottom to the down pipe you can push it up the downpipes from the bottom and it will go round most bends as it’s only the thickness of a pencil works very well especially for 3+ storey jobs where a ladder isn’t an option many buildings now have a access port in the bottom of the downpipes for this very reason 

 
We generally manage to suck out the obstruction with the vac by breaking it up with a combination of the vac and Gardiners gutter spike tool works 99% of the time , another trick is the chimney sweeps fibreglass sweeping rods on a continuous reel if you have an open bottom to the down pipe you can push it up the downpipes from the bottom and it will go round most bends as it’s only the thickness of a pencil works very well especially for 3+ storey jobs where a ladder isn’t an option many buildings now have a access port in the bottom of the downpipes for this very reason 
How about these? 

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Looking at that pipe I would put water in the top gutter. Put a drain snake auger up it, try and loosen it, then jam a rag at the bottom of the pipe and stick the gutter vac directly on the top of the downpipe, leaving the water running into it. If that did not work I would fit a smaller tube to the pole and stick it down the down pipe and suck it out.

If that did not work i'd put a hose pipe up the down pipe and turn it on full blast and get the vac on the top again.

 
If however you can get up on a ladder and pull it apart is it best to unscrew the wall brackets from the bottom with a drill and take it apart or just pull top bit down like I did? 

 
i use a hover pipe in my vac its a lot finer than a standerd nosel attachment and it goes strate down the pipe and unblocks them i then use a old wfp pole with the reper shot attached to the end pointing down to flush them to make shore there unblocked and running free i very rearly use a ladder these days to do gutters 

 
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