The best reviews I can find for leaf blowers like the Toro Powerjet, and it's available in my area.
But the also highly rated Toro gutter cleaning attachment doesn't fit it.
I've tried homemade contraptions and not been successful but this season I want to see if I can make this work.
I prefer corded electric, but would consider anything you've had good luck with.
My gutter experience was to make one out of PVC. It fit my B&D corded blower but did not work that well besides being heavy. You really need something that will blast the crap out of your gutters as it gets wet and is hard to remove. Besides I think most gutters are like mine and shingles over lap a couple of inches to make the space in a 5 inch gutter only 3 inches.
So earlier this year I installed Gutter Guard. It is a fine stainless screen and working well. I have a magnolia tree in front which fills low hanging gutters with flowers in the spring. Flowers are now down and gutter is working fine. Home Depot has a good deal on Gutter Guard, even $30 less then I paid earlier this year.
I never tried a gizmo to do it from the ground, but that concern sounds right. I've tried to blow them out a few times from the roof and that's the problem. It's hard to get them to come out. I suppose with a gizmo from the ground that gets the air down at the bottom, it might work better. And then when crap flies out, seems it would be coming down on you, all over the place, etc. Doing it early, frequently, when they are light and fluffy as opposed to later when they are starting to rot and stay wet would be key too.
We've had good "luck" with the homemade schedule 80 PVC attachment my husband made for the leaf blower, cleaning the gutters on our 1-story house while standing on the ground.
You're right, though: it's best to get at it while everything is dry. If it's been raining we just put on a raincoat with a hood and have at it. Either way, a shower afterward is a must.
Cindy Hamilton
I bought something 4 or 5 feet long that attaches to the garden hose and at the end of the pipe it bends over and points down. It came with a nozzle and tied to it wa a nozzle attachment, so I had a choice of two kinds of output. Frankly I would think that would be a lot more powerful than air, unless the leaves are all dry, underneath as well.
The problem is I have a 2-story house. I set up a 6-foot step ladder iirc, and I also have a telescoping pole for painting and I tied the gizmo to that and with a little work, I could get up to the gutters and I sprayed in and things went flying. I never did get the clog loose and I'm still kicking myself that I had the gutter replaced (one end came loose and bent the whole thing in half) and I forgot to look in the gutter before they took it away.
I think it was clogged with sticky stuff from the seeds of a some tree around here. The closest example of which fell down, so I think I'm safe. "Milkweed" is what came to mind but that's not a tree. What am I thinking of?
Strangely, even though I have 40 foot deciduous trees on two sides of my tiny townhouse lot, I never get leaves in the gutters. But that clog/obstruction caused the gutter to overflow half-way across.
I google gutter sprayer and found this which is like what I got.
The page finally loaded. I was going by the picture in google search. This is for a pressure washer. The one I have is for a garden hose.
Here is something ilke it: Wish is a US company, though one dimension is partly in mm. "Gutter cleaning extension wands have M22 14mm male thread end and it can change to 1/4 quick connect with included coupler." Maybe Bod can tell us if garden hoses in Europe are the same size connectors as in the USA?
That looks like the best bet for a one story house. I just use a ladder now and get the spots where the leaves have piled up. No sense getting every twig out. Since I cut down the maple next to my house not too many leaves get in there.
Interesting. A water hose attachment hadn't occurred to me, might be worth a try.
I did have FlipClean give me an estimate. This is a system with hinged gutters that flip upside down and dump everything. But they wanted $4200 for my small (30 x 50) house.
One of the things that make cleaning tedious are the gutter spike connections. I use a scoop normally but running into those spikes means pushing underneath. It seems to me if we used an angle bracket underneath the gutter would be much more secure, and with no obstructions there would be more options for cleaning. You could even get a robot in there.
I decided on the Toro gutter cleaning attachment and ordered it and a Toro model leaf blower that they claim it fits. I needed a new leaf blower anyway. So I'll give it a test soon.
I have a couple of colleges who bought the Flipclean despite the price, and love it. I'm considering it. But, I'll see how this goes, since the roof is coming up to probably replacement time and that tends to mess up the gutter systems.
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