Brush device to go in gutter - any good?

Murmansk

There's a length of gutter on the top floor of our old Victorian house, about 5 metres long with a downpipe in the centre. The gutter tends to fill up with moss and bits of stick and shells etc caused by birds on the roof (it's at the seaside). 

The downpipe got totally blocked recently and I'm wondering if, having now cleared that, one of those long brush-like things laid in the gutter would be a help - I guess it would stop the rubbish going down the pipe and could be removed every now and then to be cleaned and put back?

Silvertabby

Don't!  We put this stuff in our conservatory guttering.  Not to block rubbish, but to stop the birds from using the gutter as a bath and doing the cat's head in.

It just trapped leaves, which blocked the downpipes, and the whole lot became a slimy mess.

Mr S had to take the guttering down to clean it (not an option with house guttering!) and binned the brush stuff.  If we need it (too cold for birdie baths at the moment?) we may try some sort of wire mesh cover.

Rdwill

I put these things above the downpipes to stop debris going down the pipes and into my soakaway and just get up there periodically to clear the crud out of the gutter. 

Seems to work OK.

Murmansk

Rdwill said:

I put these things above the downpipes to stop debris going down the pipes and into my soakaway and just get up there periodically to clear the crud out of the gutter. 

Seems to work OK.

Thanks but I can't actually get to the point in the gutter where the downpipe meets it so I'd not be able to install one of these but I could just about feed a brush device in from the window at one end of the gutter

Eldi_Dos

@Silvertabby. If water is gathering in the gutter and causing a nuisance you could put some spacers between brackets and gutter to increase the drop towards downpipe, I find nylon washers good for spacers as they do not rust over time.

Silvertabby

Eldi_Dos said:

@Silvertabby. If water is gathering in the gutter and causing a nuisance you could put some spacers between brackets and gutter to increase the drop towards downpipe, I find nylon washers good for spacers as they do not rust over time.

Thanks for that - will try that if the bathing birdies annoy the cat too much.  For such a little thing, she can certainly make a lot of noise!

twopenny

Eldi is it possible to explain what the bracket is and how a spacer goes on it and how it increases the drop? This is someone elses thread but if I post my own with photos perhaps you would oblige?

Eldi_Dos

@Twopenny, Hi on most conservatories the gutters are plastic and a bracket attached just before the roofline holds the gutter in place by clicking over edge.If you unclick the bracket so there is movement you can insert  a nylon washer between the bracket and bottom of the gutter and redo  this will slightly raise gutter and increase drop  towards downpipe if water had been laying in gutter. 

Murmansk

OP here

Water was gathering in the gutter because the downpipe was blocked - not because the slope wasn't right!

It's very high up and inaccessible - I can scrape some of the gunge out of the gutter with a long stick from the bay window but it's hard. Still wondering what others think of the brush idea?

twopenny

Isn't the brush going to collect the debris?

It seems like that's the idea.

Yes it will probably help to keep the downpipe clear but then you need to get the brush out to clean it. It needs to be installed with a bar to prevent it lifting out during storms.

What was blocking your downpipe? Leaves? Twigs?

Annemos

I love my White Porcupine Gutter-brush.

But I have easier conditions. I am not sure whether this would be as viable if it was installed up high onto a house like yours......


I also installed it into the 4 meter gutter of my lean-to conservatory, because the blackbirds liked to flap around in it and brown mud was constantly cascading down the windows. 

I am able to clear most large chunks of moss from the lean-to roof, before they even get into the gutter. I then find that for any bits of moss that I do miss, then the  Porcupine spikes do break them up. (There are no leaves in my case.) 

And I do have a go at cleaning out the gutter sometimes underneath the porcupine, where the muddy water collects. And I also have a gutter balloon in the downpipe. 

That all works for me for about 4 years.

But at the 4-year stage, like Silvertabby says, the Porcupine then gets so slimey and clogged, that I then just lift it out and throw it away (I then clean out the gutter well and install a brand new Porcupine length.)

But the reason this all works for me, is that I can just stand on top of my step ladder and do all this, because the gutter is only at about 7 feet high. 


(PS I get the muddy water in the bottom. because the chap that fitted the downpipe, left it sitting proud by about 4 millimeters, so I need a depth of 4mm before the water goes down the downpipe!!)