[EandM]

Cleaned the back of a large building on Thursday. Two and three storey gutters that were properly clogged with grass growing out of them.

Gutter vac was excellent and in a couple of hours had ripped out about 30kg of rubbish.

All was well.

Went back yesterday to do the front and it was hopeless!

Managed about a foot at a time before the second section from the top clogged up completely.

Plenty of suction, the pipes are clean, filter clean and all perfectly good until it blocks.

Looks like a very specific mix of sticky mud, pine needles and resin from the overhanging trees at the front.

Never had this sort of problem before.

Is it unusual or does anyone else encounter unexpected stuff like this?

[LBWCS]

Where is it getting blocked? Sometimes the debris is slushy and sticks in all of the internal poles/hose/head. Have a bucket of water to hand and  just suck a little up and then raise the pole again and you should be good to go imo.

[Smudger]

Second that - some gutter “slurry” requires regular clearing with a bucket of water

[DJW]

Pine needles and sludge. They probably build houses with that in some countries!

[EandM]

Pine needles and sludge. They probably build houses with that in some countries!

 

[EandM]

Thank you all for your comments, very helpful and I'm glad it's not just me.

Yes, it's the second pole section from the top - quite consistently getting blocked.
Even filling the section up with water and sloshing it wasn't enough, I had to run a broom handle through it.

I'm just about done, fortunately, but have another place to do on Monday.

Do any of you ever feel that you're getting too old for this...

[alank]

Yes, that's why I just stick to window cleaning nowadays