The Folly of Gutter Guard Inventions - Part Two

After having installed gutter guards for several years you actually see how other gutter covers handle debris and they all fail yet, every now and then a prospectus crosses my desk and I get a laugh at the silliness.

For instance one system (not yet on the market) is basically a very long brush inside the gutter extending from one end to the other. It is turned by a three speed electric motor on one end. The inventor apparently tried one of the filter systems and noticed the one that is maintained by removing it from the gutter and shaking it clean. Noticing the inconvenience and mess this causes, he thought he'd improve upon it by having the brush spin by a motor. Can you imagine the mess created by a brush spinning inside a putrid clogged gutter? And it how about the downspout which may still be clogged? What happens if the homeowner forgets to spin his brush--then what? Remember, he can't look inside the gutter and see its condition and will probably wait until the last possible minute before spinning the brush.

Another system (not on the market) has larger than life openings made in the bottom of the gutter for a larger than life downspout attachment. The homeowner must remove downspouts from house to clean them. It's set up so that the downspout can be easily removed, however, can you imagine a flood of putrid water flowing from the gutter, as the homeowner removes the downspout, all over the siding? And how about dangling a twenty foot length of leader that's clogged with heavy debris at the top? Also can you imagine the homeowner climbing onto a lower roof to remove a leader from an upper gutter and shaking the debris loose from the downspout? Again, the homeowner can't see into the gutter so most likely he awaits some indication, such as an overflowing gutter, to know that servicing is required. Unfortunately by the time he notices it, his basement may have already been flooded.

Study the progression of gutter cover designs and you'll also see the silliness of them. The first improvement over screens was a solid top device with a single longitudinal fin—patents have expired and many of popularly sold gutter covers are of this design.

Just as I hoped my first invention would work, inventors of these devices hoped that as the water and the debris flowed over the fin that somehow only the water would go into the gutter and that most or all of the debris would be jettisoned onto the ground.

It’s true that less debris gets into the gutter than with screens. However, enough does get in to clog the gutters in mild-to-heavy debris conditions. Don't take my word for it. Just look at the next breed of gutter cover—it’s a fin coupled with a trough system containing a sieve (essentially a screen).

One inventor actually back tracked. Instead of a solid top, he has tiny openings in conjunction with the fin--basically a screen in conjunction with a fin.

This is the second of a three part blog series. If you would like to read the article in its entirety. Click on Gutter Guard.
See you in a few days.