Anyone used a water level?

PaulUszak · 31 Jul 2018

I've been guttering, and thought that I'd use a water level to ensure that the outflow is lower than the top of the guttering run. It's a 6m run, so I was aiming for a 10mm fall across it. The water level doesn't seem usable for one person up a ladder

It might seem simple at first - water finds it's own level. But that level changes as the connecting pipe flexes, kinks, and expands from temperature and pressure. So when you fix one end and mark the level, by the time you get up to the other end, both water levels have changed up or down. By much more than 10mm. This means that you can't mark the 2nd level as the 1st will have changed too. £14 down the drain. Grr.

Has anyone any advice, or am I doing it wrong?

bobasd · 1 Aug 2018

thats funny.
forget about the water level.
go get a line level ther about £3 and a string line an use them instead.
post again if you got a problem with fixing line leveled gutters.

bernardgreen · 1 Aug 2018

Fix both ends of the water level so that the levels are a few centimetres higher than the line you need. Allow the water to settle. ( tea break time ).

You now have an accurate level line a few centimetres above the gutter. Measure the distance from water to gutter at high end ( gutter fixed ). Add the required fall to this measurement and fix the lower end of the gutter that distance below the water

PaulUszak · 1 Aug 2018

@bernardgreen, so you have to leave it for ages? An hour? The 6m head creates ~60kPa which just seemed to keep expanding the uPVC hose as I was doing it on a very hot day in direct sunlight, against a hot brick wall. So both water levels just keep getting lower and lower... I'll try again when I have a couple of hours. Thanks.

bernardgreen · 1 Aug 2018

We used a water level to measure the differences in heights of 22 pad foundations. 5 minutes was more than adequate "settling" time. Cannot say we had any problems with evaporation or expanding hose.

6 metre head suggests the hose is going from gutter level to ground level and back up to gutter level. Better to use the water level to get a level line close to the ground ( virtually no head ) and then measure 6 metres up from the line to the gutters

PaulUszak · 1 Aug 2018

@bobasd Are you sure that would work over 6m? Line levels can't do 1 in 600 with any kind of certainty. That's < 0.1 degrees. The best box spirit levels (like Rabone /Stabila) are guaranteed for 1 in 2000, but cheepo line levels aren't guaranteed at all...

^woody^ · 2 Aug 2018

Try a tennis ball in the outlet

Nige F · 2 Aug 2018

Try some daily shower cleaner mixed in the water - It breaks the surface tension of the water - £1.50 worth a try and let us know

I know it's called daily but I use it weekly when I shower. Whether I need one or not.

bobasd · 2 Aug 2018

messin about up ladders with a water level is dangerous an foolish.
set a bracket high at far end -set the outlet lower at the other end.
eyeball the line is droppin to the outlet, even a bit an then go up an hang the line level at 3m to check.
fix your brackets.

water levels are great an accurate if youve got time.but only for low level or ground work.

noseall · 3 Aug 2018

Water level - for guttering!!

We look at the fascia (with a 1200mm level) and see if there is any discrepancy and allow for that with increases/decreases in measured drop from the start gutter bracket down to the outlet or the last lowest gutter bracket - i.e. set the highest one 50mm up from the bottom of the facia and the lowest 35mm up etc.
Then use a LINE.

rsgaz · 3 Aug 2018

noseall said:
Water level - for guttering!!

I know, using a liquid and gravity to find out if something is level, crazy right?!

noseall said:
with a 1200mm level

Erm...

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noseall · 3 Aug 2018

Us professional builders tend to do what is practical first. The person that thought is was a good idea to use a water level up a ladder is sadly dead.

Millwright · 11 Aug 2018

Water levels, the idea is good, in practise they're difficult.

Fix your first bracket, then use string line tied tight to that and run that across the run of the intended gutter line, then fix a bracket at the end and use that line to fit the brackets inbetween.

bernardgreen · 11 Aug 2018

Millwright said:
Water levels, the idea is good, in practise they're difficult.

Not difficult if the water level is use to set an arbituary level line at a safe height above ground (*). Then use that level line and a tape measure to set levels at the top of a ladder.

(*) setting this about 4 foot above ground level saves backache from bending

bobasd · 11 Aug 2018

stop with the bad adviceabout setting low benchmarks and workin up from them to set gutter falls.

droppin a tape from the top of a ladder?

what if the buildin is a three storey or more with all kinds of structural obstacles eg string courses an overhangs etc. youd be well up an down the ladder with all the risks an inacuracies in the measurements

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Anyone used a water level?

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