Puck Luck
11-30-2013, 08:17 AM
Our house backs onto green belt with some very very tall tree's. Keeping the gutters clean can be a challenge. Or expensive to hire someone twice a year. Needed to come up with a way that was safe and economical...
This is my home made gutter cleaning vacuum/blower system. I take no credit for the idea. Credit to google and youtube.
All the pieces were bought form Homedepot, except for the vacuum. Craigslist... half the retail price, like new condition. Although Ridgid is homedepot's brand.
What's needed:
* Good shopvac
* 2 inch diameter pvc pipes cut into: 12, 5, 3, 2, 1 feet sections
All sections have tops with male threaded adapters cemented on, bottoms have female threaded adapters cemented except for the 1 foot section. That one section uses a 2x2 rubber flexible coupling that will fit snugly to shopvac
* Top piece, the J curl is a 90 degree and a 45 degree, 1-female threaded adapter and about 4-5 inch of pipe all cemented together
* The 1 foot pipe always stays fastened to the shopvac hose via a 2x2 flexable coupling and secured using its hose clamps. All other sections will screw on top of the 1 foot piece, using whatever length is required for that part of the roof.
Anything above 14 or 15 feet is tricky to control. Its like holding a wet noodle in the air
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the white pipes are central vacuum tubes, thinner and lighter. I use them for blowing out the gutters.
These white tubes slides perfectly inside the 1 foot black section tube and is secure together whit a 1.5 x 2 rubber flexible coupler. The other end is simply duct taped to the blower, (although i needed an adapter so the vac hose would fit over the end of the blower). I strap the blower to my waist with a tool belt.
The vacuum works well when things are a bit damp, leaves suck up nicely. Can be a bit of a hassle when dragging the vacuum around and stopping to add/remove sections of tubing as i walk around the house reaching the upper and lower gutters.
The blower i simply carry around on my belt but creates a mess to clean up on the ground after.
Blower works best after a few days of hot dry weather. The leaves are light and dry.
This is my home made gutter cleaning vacuum/blower system. I take no credit for the idea. Credit to google and youtube.
All the pieces were bought form Homedepot, except for the vacuum. Craigslist... half the retail price, like new condition. Although Ridgid is homedepot's brand.
What's needed:
* Good shopvac
* 2 inch diameter pvc pipes cut into: 12, 5, 3, 2, 1 feet sections
All sections have tops with male threaded adapters cemented on, bottoms have female threaded adapters cemented except for the 1 foot section. That one section uses a 2x2 rubber flexible coupling that will fit snugly to shopvac
* Top piece, the J curl is a 90 degree and a 45 degree, 1-female threaded adapter and about 4-5 inch of pipe all cemented together
* The 1 foot pipe always stays fastened to the shopvac hose via a 2x2 flexable coupling and secured using its hose clamps. All other sections will screw on top of the 1 foot piece, using whatever length is required for that part of the roof.
Anything above 14 or 15 feet is tricky to control. Its like holding a wet noodle in the air
================================================== ========
the white pipes are central vacuum tubes, thinner and lighter. I use them for blowing out the gutters.
These white tubes slides perfectly inside the 1 foot black section tube and is secure together whit a 1.5 x 2 rubber flexible coupler. The other end is simply duct taped to the blower, (although i needed an adapter so the vac hose would fit over the end of the blower). I strap the blower to my waist with a tool belt.
The vacuum works well when things are a bit damp, leaves suck up nicely. Can be a bit of a hassle when dragging the vacuum around and stopping to add/remove sections of tubing as i walk around the house reaching the upper and lower gutters.
The blower i simply carry around on my belt but creates a mess to clean up on the ground after.
Blower works best after a few days of hot dry weather. The leaves are light and dry.