So you’ve spent a little time cleaning out your gutters but the gutter will still not drain – they can be stubborn things at times! In this situation, there is a good chance that you have a blocked downpipe.
In some cases, there will simply be a blockage at the top of the downpipe and you will just need to spend a little extra time clearing away the debris. Often times, though, there could well be a blockage in one of the angled couplings on the downspout, and these can be a little more tricky to unblock. If you literally don’t have any specialist equipment available to clear the blocked downpipe then, in this post, we’ll give you a few tips that you can try to clear that stubborn blockage.
Starting at the top
Most gutters in the UK tend to have an angled coupling right near the top of the downpipe. From my experience of cleaning gutters, this is often where blockages can occur. These can be tricky things to deal with, as you can’t really get your hand in there to clear the debris. The bend in the gutter can also make things even more difficult. If you don’t have any specialist equipment – or drainage rods – to hand, then I’ve found that in this situation, a flexible twig can be your best friend. You will want to find a flexible twig – or something similar which you have lying around the house – which is stiff enough to not snap while you ‘poke’ away at the blocked debris to loosen and eventually clear it, whilst at the same time being flexible enough to be able to bend through the angled coupling to get at the blockage. Of course, you could always take the coupling off and clear the blockage that way, but this can often be quite a fiddly job.
The angled coupling at the bottom of the downpipe
If you’re sure that the top angle coupling on your downpipe contains no blockages but your downpipe still will not drain, then you may find that you have a blockage in the angled coupling at the bottom of the downpipe instead. In this case, you can usually use the same trick again of poking a flexible, but strong twig up into the coupling to loosen the debris and hopefully clear the blockage. Be ready to jump back out of the way when you are doing this however, as if there is a blockage in this part of your downpipe, the water tends to come gushing out quite forcefully when it is eventually cleared. If you’ve managed to loosen some of the debris in this area but the blockage just doesn’t want to clear fully, then you could also try tapping the downpipe close to the coupling to loosen the debris further. Again, if all else fails, then you may be forced to remove the coupling completely. As we said earlier though, this can sometimes be a bit of a time consuming exercise.
So there we have a few basic tips to help those who do not have specialist equipment available to clear their downspout. They may sound simple, but the idea here was to help out those people who want to clear their downpipe with things that anyone can get a hold of and without having to pay for it.
If you want to save yourself the hassle and get a competitive gutter cleaning quote from us, however, then please feel free to contact us today.
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