Our Projects - How To Clear A Blocked Downpipe

We’ve been clearing gutters in Guildford and surrounding areas in Surrey for over 15 years. In that time we seen maybe four or five blocked Gutters. It’s a rare occurrence but when it happens, it’s not easy to deal with. I spoke to a client a few months ago and he mentioned that the year previous he has a blocked downpipe. I asked him how it was dealt with. He told me that he paid a significant amount of money to have it removed and replaced. Yes, that’s one way to deal with it, I’m thinking, but it’s a nuclear option.

How to spot a blocked downpipe:

You may believe that your downpipe is blocked, but actually it’s most likely due to a blockage in the Swan neck joint at the top of the downpipe. Fortunately, this is much easier to deal with than a blocked downpipe. Try and clear the debris from the Swan neck and then that’s all we need to do luckily . With a blocked downpipe you will most likely notice water pouring out of any joins that the downpipe might have. If it’s one piece, then you won’t notice this. In every case of a blocked downpipe, you will notice that when tapping the exterior of the pipe it will not sound hollow. It will also be very heavy due to the amount of water that’s inside. If you noticed this, then you definitely have a blocked downpipe.

So how can we deal with a blocked downpipe?

UPVC downpipes:

You can try rodding the downpipe from the bottom or the top of the pipe, this will hopefully allow for any blockage to be removed. If this doesn’t work then if your downpipe is sectional, you can try to remove the lower part of the pipe to expect where the blockage might be and hopefully remove it. If it is one piece we would need to remove the down point from the wall. Using a ladder you will need to unscrew all the brackets whilst being careful to not drop the actual pipe when removing it. It’s really a two man job. Once the downpipe has been removed from the wall, the easiest thing to do is to bang the debris out of the gutter by dropping it lightly onto stone or any hard surface. This will slowly push the blockage out of the downpipe. This can easily take 10 minutes or more. Now you need to do is ensure the downpipe is properly cleared and then screw it back onto the wall with the same brackets.

Cast iron:

These are very hard to deal with. You can’t remove it easily, it’s so heavy. You could try to rod out the debris from inside the gutter with a long drainage rod from Amazon or something. You could try. I’m blocking from the ground if you have access to do so otherwise you would have to do it off a ladder. If this doesn’t work then really it’s a job for a specialist to come in and remove it and replace it.