[Steve H]

Hi chaps,
Unless you can point me in the direction of a link to a conversation on this subject (which I'm sure there have been plenty) could you give me some feedback as to whether or not (generally) its worth looking at buying a gutter vac.
I have a couple of large jobs to do and to be honest I would rather not be up ;ladders all day doing them, however np point in investing in a system if its not going to make a big difference (ie quicker, make more money at it etc,)
Ive been looking at the gutter sucker at around £1,000 (3000 watt) would this do a decent job on most gutters?
many thanks in advance.
Steve

[samson]

Can only comment on my own experience, but the skyvac is a brilliant machine that will the gutters from the wall !!
www.spinaclean.com/gutter-cleaning-machines.asp

There are cheaper machines around, but you find they don't suck as well, so you will be straining your back and shoulders more, and there is the saying - buy cheap pay twice 

[samson]

Try and splash out extra for carbon poles, unless you have shoulders like the hulk -
www.carbonfibretubes.co.uk

[Paul Wisdom]

Just bought a gutter vac 3600 vac with 25ft of poles and a few heads. NOW WHAT haha Sitting in the garage.

How do you guys go about getting work for it.

Impulse buy for sure 

[JandS]

Got mine from here..........http://www.guttercleaningsystems.co.uk/...£990 including camera, tools and 7 carbon fibre poles.
Does a good job, less than 5 minutes sometimes to do a side if it's just dried up dirt and the gutters are nice and wide.

It's 3kw same as the Skyvac.

Did my first one Saturday where I couldn't use it for half the house the gap was so small, in fact did 2 because the neighbour next door wanted his doing and his were the same for half the house. did it with bare hands.

[JandS]

Just bought a gutter vac 3600 vac with 25ft of poles and a few heads. NOW WHAT haha Sitting in the garage.

How do you guys go about getting work for it.

Impulse buy for sure 

Advertise?

[Paul Wisdom]

Just bought a gutter vac 3600 vac with 25ft of poles and a few heads. NOW WHAT haha Sitting in the garage.

How do you guys go about getting work for it.

Impulse buy for sure 

Advertise?

Where? I do have a few leaflets about to go out - looking at getting stuck in when all these bleedin leaves start to drop

[Jamie McNamee]

Got mine from here..........http://www.guttercleaningsystems.co.uk/...£990 including camera, tools and 7 carbon fibre poles.
Does a good job, less than 5 minutes sometimes to do a side if it's just dried up dirt and the gutters are nice and wide.

It's 3kw same as the Skyvac.

Did my first one Saturday where I couldn't use it for half the house the gap was so small, in fact did 2 because the neighbour next door wanted his doing and his were the same for half the house. did it with bare hands.

I was thinking of ordering this myself. What is the quality of the camera / viewer like?

[Steve H]

Thanks for the replies fellas, I'm assuming these machines have to be plugged into the customers electricity supply.
What if the customers aren't in? what if the gutters are on a commercial site ie blocks of flats, do some people have a small generator or similar to cover these situations?
One of the jobs I have may mean I wont have access to electricity (without going round plugging in to each flat as I go!!!
Thanks

[samson]

Thanks for the replies fellas, I'm assuming these machines have to be plugged into the customers electricity supply.
What if the customers aren't in? what if the gutters are on a commercial site ie blocks of flats, do some people have a small generator or similar to cover these situations?
One of the jobs I have may mean I wont have access to electricity (without going round plugging in to each flat as I go!!!
Thanks

You need a good sizes genny if you are doing a lot of gutter cleaning.    Make sure the wattage is sufficient for the vac you are using.   We use a 6.5 Loncin, and its a big lump 

[Smurf]

Just bought a gutter vac 3600 vac with 25ft of poles and a few heads. NOW WHAT haha Sitting in the garage.

How do you guys go about getting work for it.

Impulse buy for sure 

Whilst you are out and about you have only to walk down any street and you will see gutters with stuff growing in them so best give them a knock and/or drop a flyer through their door.  If you have regular window cleaning customers you can also offer gutter clearing to them too.

[Smurf]

Thanks for the replies fellas, I'm assuming these machines have to be plugged into the customers electricity supply.
What if the customers aren't in? what if the gutters are on a commercial site ie blocks of flats, do some people have a small generator or similar to cover these situations?
One of the jobs I have may mean I wont have access to electricity (without going round plugging in to each flat as I go!!!
Thanks

You don't really need to buy a genny to start with as you can hire them cheap enough if/when larger jobs come up and just cost it in on the quote

[Steve H]

Hi fellas
What size generator to run a typical powered  gutter vac? ive just been on HSS wbsite, they tell me I might need a genny to run at either 4or 6k ?  has anyone else used one or hired one.  As may mentioned, this may be a better option than buying one as I wont need it too often, other than for certain commercial jobs.
Thanks fellas

[Smurf]

I've hired 6.5 kva genny's in the past but are massive so used from the van to save lugging them about.

[Smudger]

We use a 6 kva - personally wouldn't do gutter vaccing without one.

Ok hire by all means, but then you've got to collect and return it, it's all added time and mileage to your job

Darran

[Smurf]

Do you use a genny for all domestic jobs too smudger?

To be honest I've never found the need myself to buy one as running a genny also adds cost to the job not only wear & tear / maintenance costs but also adds fuel costs that needs to be included in the cost. Also carting another lump about adds extra weight to the van too.

The only advantage I see owning/running a genny is if you do a lot of what I call multi occupied properties like blocks of flats etc or commercial/industrial stuff so you are not reliant on using customers power.

After saying that I've never lost a job because a domestic customer did not want to plug the vac into their plug socket be it outdoors, in a garge or in the house.

Payment on completion and all that  as it's best for someone to be home that can see you are doing the job properly. No chasing for payment or waiting to be paid by bacs, paypal etc either...Job done 

[Steve H]

Just to get going on this again......
I have bought a sky vac gutter sucker 3600 (3 motors).
If anyone has one of these or has used a similar one can they answer any of the questions below, as the instructions I got with it are pretty limited to say the least.
1) will it run off a 4 kva generator? (hiring one on Monday - this was the bets one they had at short notice 6kva looks a bit of a lump to say the least.
2) I haven't got it out of the box yet, can you run the motors individually if required (less suction, but less power needed) especially on lower guttering ie bungalows etc.
3) It has a bag inside (to catch the dust on a dry day) I'm assuming this doesn't need to be in there for wet stuff, like it will be on Monday after all this rain.
If anyone know where i can get more info, from please jet me know.
Finally, I'm assuming it is a decent machine that will do most jobs, seems powerful enough for what I will mostly use it for, which is domestic work (possibly up to 3 storey height sometimes) I have 6 poles so should reach!!!
Many thanks in advance guys
Steve

[Nameless Drudge]

Apparently this is good kit,I went 6.5kva gen,Kevin martins vac and gardiner poles from his partner company though they did sell me a U bend for £45.00 quid that was completely useless and plus vat. £680 in 3 hours calmed me down but it's same old,same old,shed full of stuff that never gets used. The guys braving it on ladders with a bucket and trowel earn more!,won't get you commercial though yet that's all through the bank,Give the tax man nowt they only waste it,

Think  you need 6.5Kva,smaller may keep tripping,nearly sure of that!

[Smudger]

Don't think 4 kva will be good enough

Yes never go to a job without the genny , horses for courses, it's easier to plug in and start up a genny than faff about waiting for a customer to open the door find a socket plug into a dodge extension then blow a fuse 

Besides the genny keeps your hands warm during January !!!

Darran

[Smurf]

Just to get going on this again......
I have bought a sky vac gutter sucker 3600 (3 motors).
If anyone has one of these or has used a similar one can they answer any of the questions below, as the instructions I got with it are pretty limited to say the least.
1) will it run off a 4 kva generator? (hiring one on Monday - this was the bets one they had at short notice 6kva looks a bit of a lump to say the least.
2) I haven't got it out of the box yet, can you run the motors individually if required (less suction, but less power needed) especially on lower guttering ie bungalows etc.
3) It has a bag inside (to catch the dust on a dry day) I'm assuming this doesn't need to be in there for wet stuff, like it will be on Monday after all this rain.
If anyone know where i can get more info, from please jet me know.
Finally, I'm assuming it is a decent machine that will do most jobs, seems powerful enough for what I will mostly use it for, which is domestic work (possibly up to 3 storey height sometimes) I have 6 poles so should reach!!!
Many thanks in advance guys
Steve

1. If running say in your case a 3600 watt wet vac from a portable generator before you buy or hire one then you need to check the constant power rating which will find on the plate/spec sheet or get advice on the size you need so it's not going to play up on you with the 3 motors running. It's always better to get a larger kva generator than you need so can handle the watts power draw so you don't put it under too much load. In your case ideally you want a min spec of a 5kva portable generator to run your guttervac.

2. You will find it’s quicker to suck up gutter crud using all 3 motors no matter what height the roofline is.

3. Best keep the drum filter in or the crap can be sucked through the motors a knackers them (I've knackered a few prematurely leaving the drum filter out). The only time you should take the drum filter out is to empty the drum, clean the drum filter or when you want to suck up large volumes of water so the float valve cuts in to prevent water being sucked up through the motors. 

4. So say guttervacs do have limitations to what they can actually do so always best to do a gutter camera survey first to see what you are up against. Then you can decide what best methods to use as sometimes easier/quicker using ladders than struggling with a guttervac. 

The example job in the pics below I used both methods including using a pro gutter tool on a stripped down wfp to clear the blocked roof valley.  Whilst I had the ladders set up there above the roofline after clearing the roof valley and corner out by hand I also used what I call a combo method which is using both the ladder and lightweight smaller gutter vac hose with a crevice tool attached. Those type aluminium internal bracket gutters were also fitted with downspout gutter balloons (downspout filters) so needed clearing too.

If that had been a 3 storey job then I would have considered using a picker as would be a safer option instead of using ladders.

As with anything you will need to gain experience using a guttervac as you will find no jobs are the same

Hope this helps?