Unblock gutter swan neck

[warey4life]

Hi all,

First time post. First of many I suspect,. I bought an old house a few years ago which needs quite a bit of attention.
I have a blocked gutter, blocked at the top in the swan neck. The gutter is on my neighbour's house but they cannot access so I look after it. It is very difficult to get to so I want to unblock it from the bottom.
Is there a device like a thin bendy drain rod which I can feed into the down pipe?

Thank,

Ben

 

[CountryFan]

What’s your plan of access? I wouldn’t like to be standing on that glass.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Is there a device like a thin bendy drain rod which I can feed into the down pipe?

It would have to be so flexible, you would be struggling to get it up to the to. My swan neck was cleared from the ground, using a vacuum with a long, rigid pipe, with a U on the top end. This was a semi.

 

[foxhole]

I clear mine with a leaf blower , (connected to a section of waste pipe) if you can access roof opposite you could blow up the pipe to clear .

 

[warey4life]

What’s your plan of access? I wouldn’t like to be standing on that glass.

I've got a tall step ladder which gets me up to the glass roof. I put large pieces of dense 100mm thick foam sheet on the roof and then very careful walk on my knees up to the bottom of the down pipe, being careful to put my weight above the roof beams.

 

[warey4life]

I clear mine with a leaf blower , (connected to a section of waste pipe) if you can access roof opposite you could blow up the pipe to clear .

How do you get a tight fit?

 

[warey4life]

I wonder if this would get up to and around the swan neck?

https://www.screwfix.com/p/essentials-drain-unblocker-7-6m/186xg?ref=SFAppShare

 

[foxhole]

How do you get a tight fit?

Soften the end of the leaf blower with a heat gun and push in waste .
Doesn’t need to be tight fit on down pipe , I use a couple of 45 degree bends on the soil pipe to accommodate any angles required ,

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

I wonder if this would get up to and around the swan neck?

https://www.screwfix.com/p/essentials-drain-unblocker-7-6m/186xg?ref=SFAppShare

For drains, possibly, for fall pipes unlikely.

How do you get a tight fit?

Poke the nozzle in at the bottom, into the shoe, then pack around it with rags, or WHY, to seal it. Then switch on. You could perhaps even use a vacuum cleaner, if it has a blow option. You only need to force a way through, then the debris will wash down.

 

[aveatry]

I have some old memory foam mattress that I use for exactly this kind of job. In your case I would put it on the tiled roof with a plank with a stop batten on it and then you can put a ladder on that and get access to the swan neck. When it is done I would add a section of drainpipe across the glass roof straight into the hopper.

 

[Munroast]

I have a long pole that can reach that height, copper pipe with 180° bend on top and attached to hose pipe, with a bit of effort I can get it into the top swan bend then turn it on, if the excellent idea of the leaf blower fails, give this a try


Do you not have snow boards on that roof to protect the glass ? and there must be a hell of a lot of water comes down that drain on to the glass then into that V valley, recipe for problems, whoever done the work should have done something better with that drain, it looks like it drains that entire side of the roof

 

[aveatry]

Do you not have snow boards on that roof to protect the glass ? and there must be a hell of a lot of water comes down that drain on to the glass then into that V valley, recipe for problems, whoever done the work should have done something better with that drain, it looks like it drains that entire side of the roof

Thats why I said fit a drainpipe directly into the hopper. I never like that set up it always seems lazy and not a good idea.

 

[warey4life]

Thats why I said fit a drainpipe directly into the hopper. I never like that set up it always seems lazy and not a good idea.

The downpipe outlet is not inline with the hopper, so I'm stuck with it like that at the moment. The soffit and fascia that the gutter is fixed to is rotten on the end that meets the house, so if I can get anyone to do that I might get the downpipe relocated at the same time.
It's a terrible design. I wish I'd thought a bit more when I viewed the house about how on earth a scaffold can be erected at the back, or how the hell you'd even get any scaffold equipment to the back of the house!

 

[warey4life]

So, does anyone think it's possible to erect a scaffold here somehow so that the fascia and soffits can be done?

 

[Munroast]

not cheaply - how close could you get a cherry picker to it, might be cheaper doing it that way