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Cleaning large downpipes

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ryan31688

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11
Location
Surrey
Hope this is the right forum to post this on,  I've got a question I hope you guys can help with. I'm taking on a commercial gutter clean job using the GVS Predator to clear most of them, however I need to clean some external downpipes, I believe they are iron and approximately 12 metres tall. 

Some can be accessed easily from the bottom so I can use our pressure washer and the drain cleaner attachment to blast it up and clear them, but some of the pipes will get blocked and can only be accessed from the top (approx. 12m up). Ceiling access isn't available, the pipes are in a courtyard so we can't use a cherry picker and we would rather avoid scaffolding to keep costs down. We have WFP's and are willing to spend decent money on equipment to make this work — just wondering if anyone had any ideas?

Downpipe.jpg

 
Hope this is the right forum to post this on,  I've got a question I hope you guys can help with. I'm taking on a commercial gutter clean job using the GVS Predator to clear most of them, however I need to clean some external downpipes, I believe they are iron and approximately 12 metres tall. 

Some can be accessed easily from the bottom so I can use our pressure washer and the drain cleaner attachment to blast it up and clear them, but some of the pipes will get blocked and can only be accessed from the top (approx. 12m up). Ceiling access isn't available, the pipes are in a courtyard so we can't use a cherry picker and we would rather avoid scaffolding to keep costs down. We have WFP's and are willing to spend decent money on equipment to make this work — just wondering if anyone had any ideas?

View attachment 21931
I would be very careful working with cast iron downpipes and gutters.

"Most" of them on stately homes and grand old property's are expensive custom made and in some instances one of a kind

They can be brittle awkward and rusted together in sections.

If they break its a metal that is virtually impossible to weld or braze.

I've seen a few chaps use a a ladder and a pressure washer jetting hose and cone tip with the pressure output greatly reduced

They to access from the top of bottom without applying to much pressure to it. The older ones are fastened using cast iron nails and fall away from the wall like old movies when someone climbs them 

 
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