Gutter Vac

Am I right in saying a gutter vac is just a industrial wet and dry vac with a giant pole on the end???

What kind of power vac do I need and where can I get the clear poles from, or will any clear poles do as long as the diameter is right??

Thanks

Dave

Yes you are right it is just a wet and dry vacuum i got my poles about a month ago from a bloke on here

Nice one dude, what the diameter on those bad boys??

got them from this company say you are from here and you will get discount

http://www.guttervacuumsystems.co.uk/index.html

I've been using guttervacs for a few years now however I've found I can clear most gutters out quicker by hand when safe to do so..

Always comes in handy though for some jobs that ladder access is an issue. Don't expect it to remove large sods though without breaking them up first with some kind of gutter hook. Above 2 floors high they are not that good and bloody hard work especially if the guttering is full of sods

May I add if you do get into gutter clearing with a guttervac be expected from time to time as having to go up ladders as they don't unblock downspouts like in the pic below.

Most jobs I do if the guttering is quite clear and is good condition but the coustomer complains the water overflows then more often than not the downspouts are blocked.

Ouch lol

May I add if you do get into gutter clearing with a guttervac be expected from time to time as having to go up ladders as they don't unblock downspouts like in the pic below.

Most jobs I do if the guttering is quite clear and is good condition but the coustomer complains the water overflows then more often than not the downspouts are blocked.

Click to expand...

Hi Smurf,

you are right even with a gutter vacuum you will have the need to get up ladders every now and then, but if you use a vacuum with enough power 9 out of 10 times you can still unblock a down pipe with a gutter vacuum.



Regards Mark

The time it takes to feck about like that wich may I add was not that thick/heavy you could have cleared most of the gutter run out by hand.

Sorry been doing this a long time now so probaberly I am the best to judge how good guttervac's are and to be honest they are not that good at clearing downspouts out properly especialy ones with blocked elbow joints...

The time it takes to feck about like that wich may I add was not that thick/heavy you could have cleared most of the gutter run out by hand.

Sorry been doing this a long time now so probaberly I am the best to judge how good guttervac's are and to be honest they are not that good at clearing downspouts out properly especialy ones with blocked elbow joints...

Click to expand...

Your right there are some instances where it would be quicker by hand, the commercial property in that video is one of them that would have been quicker if the customer would allow it, but its getting harder and harder now days with all the health and safety issues when trying to use ladders. I am getting asked more and more now days for method statements risk assessments and liability insurance (commercial obviously).

the gutters in that video where about a foot wide and quite deep, and the muck that was coming out was very thick and quite heavy, coming down in big clumps the one in the video weighed over 1.6 kg's that's a fair bit of weight considering the the pole's i was using where only around 4kgs 16ft.

I'm just giving my opinion and i find that i can clean down pipes out with the vac, yes it does take some poking about and yes sometimes you do need to get a ladder out.

I don't carry a ladder on my van i have one here and if i am working miles away i will put it on the van just in case, but for the little use it gets i don't see the point in carrying it at all times.

Regards Mark

I find sellers of guttervacs are quite bias as they want to sell as much kit as they can howerver most commercial jobs are better being priced up using access equipmet instead of struggling with a guttervac.

May I add if you do get into gutter clearing with a guttervac be expected from time to time as having to go up ladders as they don't unblock downspouts like in the pic below.

Most jobs I do if the guttering is quite clear and is good condition but the coustomer complains the water overflows then more often than not the downspouts are blocked.

Click to expand...

do you find it usually tends to be a tennis ball blocking the down spouts lol

No not very often but does indeed happen...

Downspouts and any bends in the downpipes tend to get blocked with a twig, broken bit of tiles etc and then debris backs up to what I call a flower pot effect so any seads can grow into thick rooted growth. If guttering is not cleared same thing happens untill it gets so bad you end up with what I call a gutter garden.

I've found all sorts of things blocking downspouts & guttering including dead birds, a dolls leg, screwdriver, balls, dog toys and usual stiff like broken roof tiles, fillets of cement from roof even removed many sapling trees too.

If anybody thinks they can just offer a guutervac cleaning service on all jobs then would say they are sadly mistaken.

i have to agree with you there smurf , hopefully some manufacturer will come up with something powerfull enough to advoid ladders

I was probably one of the first to use an omni 4200 watt guttervac and they are not powerfull enough still on some of my jobs. Go figure /emoticons/biggrin.png