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neb

neb

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#311988 4-Mar-2024 22:08
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When we did the Casa de Cowboy rebuild we replaced the Marley Typhoon guttering, which was totally incapable of handling the flow off the roof and would overflow, with commercial 100mm downpipes and guttering. However since that roof gets a lot of leaves, we retained the leaf diverters since you can't get them in 100mm but only 80mm. Problem is that now with brief bursts of heavy rain this happens:

 

 

 

 

The downpipe is completely clear, as far as I can tell what's happening is that with enough water coming down the downpipe at once it stalls at the 80mm attached to the leaf diverter. 99% of the time it works fine, it's only during brief bursts of heavy rain, for example what we had briefly today. It's a nasty rock-and-a-hard-place because without the leaf diverter there's a real risk the drains will block, which will be a lot worse than one gutter overflowing.

 

 

This is the whole setup:

 

 

 

 

Does anyone have any thoughts on this? Firstly, is it likely that that's the actual problem, and then what would fix it? I was thinking some sort of inflow restriction at the top so at least some of the water flows on to the second downpipe further down which can take the extra load, maybe a 90 -> 80 reducer to act as a chokepoint where it enters the downpipe from the guttering? Or something as simple as a piece of timber across the throat of the outlet, maybe a 45x45 H4? An additional concern there is that the wrong sort/shape of thing may impede the flow too much.

 

 

Anticipating the inevitable, gumming up the join where the water is coming out with silicone or similar will make it impossible to remove the pipes for maintenance, possibly won't work if the silicone won't hold up to water pressure, and will just move the problem to the next-weakest join, so that's mostly a non-solution.

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johno1234
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  #3203216 5-Mar-2024 07:05
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I would replace the two 90 degree elbows with 43 degree ones. Water hitting two walls like that is obstructing the flow.



Bung
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  #3203231 5-Mar-2024 08:07
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It's the section of 80mm above the rain head that is the obstruction. There is a 100mm rain head but for some reason the Australians send a 100/80mm outlet model to NZ. Regarding trying to divert some flow to a 2nd outlet have you been up a ladder when it is raining to see if there's capacity in the gutter to do that? You could just transfer to overflow to along the gutter.


pih

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  #3203237 5-Mar-2024 08:32
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There seem to be 100mm leaf diverters on the market, would that solve the problem?




cshwone
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  #3203249 5-Mar-2024 09:05
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Get rid of the leaf diverter and use gutter guards along the guttering?


eracode
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  #3203251 5-Mar-2024 09:07
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The Marley website says: 

 

  • Do not install on downpipes larger than 80mm as this could cause a flow restriction.




Sometimes I just sit and think. Other times I just sit.


djtOtago
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  #3203254 5-Mar-2024 09:13
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You could look at using 2 downpipes side by side. I have 2 pipes about 600mm apart coming off a large shed.

or look at something like
Rain Harvesting | Leaf Eater Advanced Rain Head 80/100mm White | Mitre10

 

Rain Harvesting | Leaf Eater Original Rain Head 90mm White | Mitre10

 

Rain Harvesting | Leaf Eater Commercial (Polypropylene) Rain Head 150mm White | Mitre10

 

 

 

Edit added another link. Rain Harvesting 80/100mm Leaf Eater Ultra Rain Head - Bunnings New Zealand

 

 

 

What is the current leaf diverter you have? 
What's the approximate roof area this down pipe is handling.

 

I would also be looking to see if there is any other restriction in the pipe up to the diverter. I'm a little surprised that a reduction to 80mm is causing this much of a problem.


pih

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  #3203255 5-Mar-2024 09:19
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wellygary
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  #3203257 5-Mar-2024 09:22
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Why not look at an "open top" leaf guard like this one , so that if the flow gets to much it spills at that site rather than backing up in the pipe

 

Edit: SNAP

 

https://www.mico.co.nz/rain-water-irrigation/spouting-downpipe/rain-water-accessories/leaf-eater-advanced-rain-head-dual-fit-80-100mm

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Bung
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  #3203264 5-Mar-2024 09:40
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I think leaf guard filters all have an opening to spit the leaves out. I'd hope most leaves would be washed out at the start.


MikeAqua
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  #3203311 5-Mar-2024 12:11
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Thinking out loud here ...

 

Can you split the down pipe into two leaf diverters and back.

 

You would need two 1 x 100mm to 2 x 80mm splitters (if such a thing exists).





Mike


Bung
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  #3203319 5-Mar-2024 12:25
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They might exist but the cost would probably be more than a BA leaf diverter.


johno1234
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  #3203325 5-Mar-2024 12:29
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I was looking at Marley leaf diverters for our 80mm downpipes. The variation in prices was from $69 to over $200 !!! Including the garage we have 9 downpipes so that's getting expensive.

 

 


sir1963
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  #3203353 5-Mar-2024 13:12
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cshwone:

 

Get rid of the leaf diverter and use gutter guards along the guttering?

 

 

 

 

Gutter guards are a complete waste of money.

 

The dirt from the roof gets into the gutters and so do seeds, so eventually you will have grass and other plants growing in your gutters that are difficult and time consuming to clear.

 

The "mesh" system that gets riveted onto your roof makes this impossible, sure it stops the leaves, but now what ...?


Dynamike
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  #3203357 5-Mar-2024 13:25
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Remove that Marley Curve (it’s acting like a funnel in your downpipe) and replace it with a Rain Harvesting Leaf Eater Plus.

 

https://www.mitre10.co.nz/shop/rain-harvesting-leaf-eater-plus-rain-head/p/372709


neb

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  #3203400 5-Mar-2024 15:17
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Bung:

It's the section of 80mm above the rain head that is the obstruction. There is a 100mm rain head but for some reason the Australians send a 100/80mm outlet model to NZ. Regarding trying to divert some flow to a 2nd outlet have you been up a ladder when it is raining to see if there's capacity in the gutter to do that? You could just transfer to overflow to along the gutter.

 

 

Yeah, there's easily enough capacity. The second downpipe is 1-2m from the first one, it was put in as a backup in case one of the two gets blocked with debris or whatever.

 

 

When I checked when it was put in a year or two back you just couldn't get 100mm leaf catchers/diverters here, everything was 80mm or 65mm. There were one or two that relied on water dropping out of the downpipe onto a mesh screen but the feedback I got on those was that they tended to clog up, and even when not clogged would splash a lot of water out the sides when leaves got stuck on them, with the water pressure holding them in place.

 

 

The 80mm kludge was based on a lot of research which indicated it was the least bad compromise.

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