What Makes Leaf Guards Work and are They Effective?



Posted: Thursday, September 03, 2009

by Richard Kuhns
Stress Management Institute

All leaf guards and gutter guards work with gravity. The more advanced ones also use the principle of surface adhesion.

Over a hundred different gutter guard devices can be broken down into six different types:

1. Made of metal, wire, or plastic are the screening devices. The problem is that debris lays on top of the gutter protector, becomes brittle, and then is broken into fine pieces by rain crushing against it. The fine debris is then washed into the gutter and gravity works against the gutter protector system. They require routine maintenance to remove them, clean the gutters, and replace them. It's typical to notice green plants growing through them in the spring.

2. Filters, membranes, and brushes that are put on or in gutters. In spite of what their advertising want you to believe they ironically are screening devices and work by the principle of gravity alone. Debris falls on them, accumulates, and eventually becomes like a paper mache (a barrier to water getting to the bottom of the gutter). They are no more effective than screens. One is a brush that has to be removed, cleaned and then reinstalled; one is glued into the gutter and can't be cleaned; and the filters that get installed on top of the gutter have to be cleaned off meaning someone has to go up a ladder to do it.

3. Fin type with a solid top and rounded front nose. This type of device works by the principle of surface adhesion and gravity. Gravity carries the rain water downward as it adheres to the front nose of the gutter cover and is carried into the gutter. The problem is that a significant amount of debris also adheres to the surface and is directed into the gutter. Full sized debris can enter the gutter because there is only a single fin with this style of rain gutter cover--it does not discriminate. To see how surface adhesion works, fill a glass with water and slowly pour the water-you'll notice much of it trickling down the side of the glass.

4. Fin and trough with a solid top and rounded front nose. These work much like the fin type just discussed--only difference there is a trough with sieve openings to keep the debris from entering the gutter directly. But it doesn't take an MIT graduate to figure out that the debris will still either clog the sieve openings rendering that part of the gutter guard ineffective and cause overflow or break down and enter the gutter clogging it causing the gutter to overflow.

5. Rain dispersal and flipping type of gutters. What makes the dispersal unit work is that rain water falls onto the unit with enough force to disperse the water. The problem is that there is not enough force with a slow rain causing soil erosion around the roof line.

The flip clean system simply works with gravity. Periodically the homeowner uses a long pole to unlock a mechanism on the gutter which causes the gutter to drop open thereby dropping the contents onto the ground. In theory it works, but can you imagine standing under the gutter as you flip it with all the dirty leaves and putrid water dropping downward toward you?

6. A front wall louvered gutter protector with a solid top and a rounded front nose that doesn't use a non-discriminating fin, but leads downward to discriminating louvers such as the Waterloov Gutter Protection System. Surface adhesion and gravity are used in making this gutter cover work much like the fin systems. The big difference is that instead of having one longitudinal fin collect the water, there are two rows of interspersed louvers collecting the water. The amount of debris that can enter the gutter is greatly reduced keeping gutters in the heaviest of debris conditions clean and free flowing after twenty years.

Since the louvers of this gutter cover are on the front vertical area instead of sieves in a trough, for instance, any pine needles, leaves and so on that gather on the louvers can easily be seen from the ground and can easily be removed by the homeowner from the ground using a telescopic pole and brush. They call it "suit and tie maintenance" as it's not a dirty job. Only a small percentage of homeowners need to ever do this and it's usually done in the amount of time that it takes to walk the length of the gutter. This design, by an engineer, makes any gutter self cleaning.

For photos please go to http://www.waterloov.com/Articles/Pictures.htm To find out more about advanced gutter protection--self cleaning gutters--please visit http://www.waterloov.com

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