Removing pine needles from gutters

Are Pine Needles Clogging your Gutters?

Ah, the majestic pine tree, lovely to look at. But not so lovely if you’re living in the pine needle “drop zone”. These pesky pine needles fall all year round – with September to December being the peak season. Tumbling into gutters and knitting together to form ever growing gutter blockages. If left unchecked, these meshy clumps can cause your gutters to back up and overflow – and that’s where the expensive property repairs start…

Can gutter guards prevent pine needles blocking gutters?

The pine needle is nothing if not tenacious. It’s like kryptonite for gutters!

These stubborn needles can poke their way through leaf guards, mesh covers and wrestle their way around in gutter brushes. Before you know it, your gutter is a jumbled weave of gutter guards and pine needles preventing the rainwater to flow freely…

Oh, and let’s not forget the everyday gutter debris that typically drops into gutters. Autumn leaves, roof moss and the stray twigs. Where are they going to go?

Is it important to remove pine needles from gutters?

Absolutely yes! Pine needles are incredibly resilient and slow to decompose. So, when they’re in your gutters, they’re not going anywhere! With year-round needle showers, adding layer upon interwoven layer, they quickly obstruct the flow of rainwater through the gutters. Before you know it, your gutters are blocked, overflowing, and sagging under the weight of trapped rain, soggy pine needles and other gutter debris.

So, if pine needles pepper your property, it’s vital to keep on top of your gutter health. Schedule in regular gutter cleans and look out for the tell-tale signs that your gutters need cleaning.

Is there an easy way to remove pine needles from gutters?

Yes! Our specialist skyVac® gutter vacuums are designed and engineered to take on challenging gutter cleans and all from the safety of the ground. No ladders required.

With high reach suction poles and specialist tools to get you into the gutter nitty gritty, we have a couple of methods of evicting pine needles!

Best Ways to Remove Pine Needles with a Gutter Vacuum.

Method 1: Suck out the Pine Needles.

To use suction power to remove pine needles from gutters, you will need some specialist equipment. With a standard gutter cleaning end tool, clumps of pine needles can block the opening. Going nowhere.

Our wide mouthed Hi-Flow end tool, coupled with the Anti-Block Hairpin neck angle will guide the meshy pine pins into the funnel, and through the roomy 50mm diameter suction poles.

Equipment: Specialist Neck & End Tool:

Technique:

Hover the wide mouth over the top of the pine needles. Ease along the gutter, a bit at a time, pausing to allow the knitted pine needles to ease into the system. Slow and steady does it.

Considerations:

It’s not always a quick or effective process. Best suited to the top up cleans for freshly fallen dry needles.

Thick blankets of pine needles that have matted together over time are going to a really tough ask…

Method 2: Blow out the pine needles!

On gutters with very heavy, dense and long-established build it, we would recommend using blow power to evict pine needles.

Our specialist range of skyVac® gutter vacuums also feature a blow function which means you can customise your method to suit the in-gutter conditions.

Equipment: A gutter vacuum with a powerful Blow Function:

Technique:

Ease your daily end tool into the gutter and underneath the thick blanket of pine needles. Turn the blow function on and gradually shuffle forward. The air will blast into the gutter and force the needles up and out, over the edges.

On gutters with very heavy, dense and long-established build it, we would recommend using our most powerful system, the skyVac® Interceptor. It's immense blow power will evict heavy build up.

Considerations:

The best and most effective way to evict pine needles from gutters. It’s best to review the level of pine needle build up and to use the most powerful system on long established gutter debris. Then there’s the matter of the clearing up afterwards! Needles tend to drop in clumps, for an easy clean up, so consider where your gutter debris may fall and plan ahead!

So, if you live in the pine needle “drop zone”, schedule regular cleans to keep your gutters free flowing.