Chippa2014
Member
HI,
We currently have Leaf Eater devices connected to our down pipes.
To be frank, these devices seem to spill more water than they catch, and that's when they are clean with out leaf or debris in them.
They are the square design with the mesh inserted at an angle with a filter mesh device underneath.
If you have installed a similar type device Im keen on your feed back on its effectiveness and if you would recommend them.
Cheers
Chippa
cravenhaven
Member
I also have leafeater ultra leaf diverters and am continually annoyed to see a huge amount of the water coming straight out the front of the diverters because a leaf has got stuck on the grill or fingers. The other problems are:
1) As soon as a little bit of muck collects on the mesh water splashes over the front and they drip constantly
2) the seal on the bottom where the outlet to the downpipe is attached doesnt seal and so water drips from here as well.
I have been having a longish discussion with Dennis from Supdiverta and have purchased one of his units to try. He is well aware of all the problems with guttering and downpipes and designed the SupaDiverta specifically to overcome these problems.
What I really like about them is that they are totally enclosed so that the "overflow" and leaves etc can be controlled with a separate downpipe rather than just splashing out around the house.
http://www.supadiverta.com.au/
Allan
Morbo
Member
maybe you have too much flow/not enough downpipes? I got those old style leaf eaters, 5 downpipes on 100m2 house, no problems so far. Its like square funnels with a course mes at an angle and at the bottom fine mesh that gets all the sand
Chippa2014
Member
Thanks Cravenhaven, exactly what I was looking for.
Morbo, No doubt the current design sees the volume of water far exceeds the pipes capacity, however this isn't the main issue, it's the fact the water doesn't get into the pipe in the first place. With the bull nose veranda we have well over 200m2
I am looking to add at least 4 more down pipes, hence my enquiry, as I want all the water to go into a 100000lt concrete tank and not off the front of the leaf eater devices.
cravenhaven
Member
My house roof is also around the 200m2 size and has only 2 effective downpipes + 1 marginally effective one. In the really heavy downpours the 2 leafeaters appear to handle the flow provided no leaves are stuck on the grates. The trouble is that having leaf-free gutters is uncommon so there is frequently water splashing over the front of the leafeaters.
As Dennis explained to me, the trouble with the commonly available leaf guards is that the mesh angle is too low and the mesh design too simple. The problem is that the leaves stick to the mesh because of surface tension and can be difficult to move off.
I'm keen to see the effect of the Supadiverta but am unable to install it ATM due to other committments.
Allan
wlb
Member
I installed the original Leafeaters on our house in the suburbs about 20 years ago and found the same problem. When it rained heavily in autumn, large leaves from the nearby Liquid Amber tree got pinned to the sloping strainer by the water pressure and this caused the water to flow off the edge and be lost. Incidentally, the inner fine strainer is intended to be a mosquito barrier to stop them entering your tank. If you don't have a tank, then you remove it.
The company obviously recognised the problem and redesigned the strainer. The later design uses a fine mesh for the sloping strainer and dispenses with the internal one. I have the current design fitted at our present rural home, feeding a tank, and it works fine provided that you check it periodically and remove any material that accumulates across the bottom edge of the strainer. They also sell a conversion kit so you can convert an early type to the new type, in situ.
I've also found a way of using perforated Custom Orb Colorbond or zincalume as a leaf guard on the spouting. It's much cheaper and easier to fit to a corrugated iron roof than the various proprietary options.
Chippa2014
Member
Thanks for the responses folks.
I had the issue of leaves blocking the down pipes when I first purchased the place but soon fixed that and it is no longer a problem as I have installed the aluminium gutter guard which is very good.
The water from the gutters over flowing from the leaf eaters is the biggest issue. Once the new outlets are positioned, I'm considering upgrading to 100mm storm water pipes and not having any of the metal\mesh filters in place to see if that makes any difference to the effectiveness of the leaf eater devices....
I'll screen all water going into the tank at the outlet.... but then I need to consider first flush options.... its a vicious cycle 
Chippa2014 said:
I'm considering upgrading to 100mm storm water pipes and not having any of the metal\mesh filters in place to see if that makes any difference to the effectiveness of the leaf eater devices....
What is the point of retaining the Leaf Eaters if you take the mesh out?
But why take the mesh out and leave the Leaf Eater body with an air gap at the top, why not just refit the missing section of downpipe? If you harvest rainwater to tanks via a wet system, you need adequate head pressure but a FFD will further deplete the head already depleted by the unsealed Leaf Eater.
Morbo said:
if you take the mesh off the leaf eaters, the tank inlet filter has to get the leafes. It also seals the tank from the mozzies. And there has to be another filter at the tank outlet.
Most gunk entering an unfiltered wet system will be retained in the horizontal ground level pipe due to an inadequate flushing velocity up the vertical riser, resulting in sludge build up and the retained water sometimes becoming anaerobic. Fitting a leaf diverter to a downpipe diverts the larger debris...unless it is decomposing organic matter that will often bond to the mesh if the filter is not designed with control surfaces and sloped at a suitable angle.
Another reason a leaf diverter is fitted at a downpipe that supplies a wet system is to prevent mosquitoes accessing the water retained in the downpipe. This is a mandatory requirement in most northern parts of Australia but it should be a mandatory requirement in all areas.
Chippa2014
Member
Yep there would be a dirty big air gap alright. Good thing I am keeping the strainer in and only taking the mesh filter out
Didn't mean to confuse y'all with my previous post.
Chippa2014 said:
Good thing I am keeping the strainer in and only taking the mesh filter out.
Thanks. I overlooked the obvious intention.
There will still be a couple of issues though as I have mentioned. Do you get ReNew magazine, specifically issue 127? It has a RWH article with a diagram of a very simple wet system DIY sediment trap that works great.
Chippa2014
Member
Hi Diver,
The system is a charged system with plenty of first flush setups and debris removal.
The water going into the tank is free from sediment and rubbish, the primary issue is making sure it all get in there and not spurting out from the leaf eater itself
Cheers
Chippa2014
Member
sorry morbo I don't see how that is possible. The water level of the charged system has nothing to do with the water being ejected from the leaf eater.
There is a 3 mtr difference in the height of the water in the charged system to the base of the leaf eater unit.
Chippa2014
Member
zeemeeuw said:
So, is it possible to have a gutter-guard system, and sediment trap and first flush in horizontal part of the wet system -- and not use a leaf-eater altogether??
Hi Zeemeeuw,
The set up you have described is exactly what I have for the water tank I use for watering the veggie gardens.
When I use this water for drinking purposes, it goes to a filtration unit but to be honest, the water is clearer and purer that the stuff from the tap and in all honesty in my case, it tastes better.
Obviously I don't personally recommend this set up to people who are considering setting up rain water harvesting solution
In that regard I strongly endorse lots of filtration, the more the better
Cheers
Chippa2014 said:
HI,We currently have Leaf Eater devices connected to our down pipes.
To be frank, these devices seem to spill more water than they catch, and that's when they are clean with out leaf or debris in them.
They are the square design with the mesh inserted at an angle with a filter mesh device underneath.
If you have installed a similar type device Im keen on your feed back on its effectiveness and if you would recommend them.
My company is currently trialling a unique downpipe leaf diverter that is compact, high yield, very low maintenance and doesn't use mesh.
The filter is my own unique highly efficient surface effect design that allows the current prototypes to use 500 micron filtration rather than the standard 950 micron aperture mesh used in other commercial units. The fine filtration considerably improves water quality and the surface effect design sheds debris.
We are (somewhat) optimistic that it will be commercialised by the end of the year.
Chippa2014
Member
Hi Diver,
Keen to see the commercial product as next year we intend to "switch off" our town water and move to a tank solution.
Cheers
Chippa
Whitrock
Member
We have done a couple of houses on tank water and both have been a wet system.
All we have done is fall all pipes away from the house. At that low point have either a cap or a valve to empty all the lines. Our thinking is that most of the the crap will find its way to this point, and what doesn't will come out when we flush the system..normally two or three times a year.
No leaf guards.
Works for us.
Cheers
Whitrock said: Our thinking is that most of the the crap will find its way to this point, and what doesn't will come out when we flush the system..normally two or three times a year.
Organic matter left for months in a wet system pipe is not good, there are better methods, this is an old method but better than nothing.
For anyone who does employ this method, we have found that if the flush valve is left open so that air will circulate through the pipe, the crud on the pipe's wall will dry and separate in sheets within a few days. The next time it rains, you just leave the flush valve open for a short time and a lot of this additional crud will flush through.
Whenever the flush valve is left open, it is best covered with shade cloth or similar to prevent pest ingress.
Chippa2014 said:
Keen to see the commercial product as next year we intend to "switch off" our town water and move to a tank solution.
Unfortunately, I had to put development aside last August. The 500 micron filter surface worked great but I struck a problem when the unit was fitted further down a downpipe. This required an accumulator to arrest high velocity flow but that required additional height that resulted in unacceptable head loss.
When I finish with current projects, I will have another look at it. I have a few ideas but the filtration will need to increase to about 700 micron to accommodate the design parameters.
There are a lot of leaf removal products in the market lately. Even leaf removal services. Well in my own opinion we can all do it but the thing is there is no exact view or time where we can view if there are again leaf on our gutters. The best way to keep our gutters clean so that we can have a clean water out of it is to install a gutter guard. As it prevents the leafs and other debris from coming in the gutter.
You can choose it yourself here are the Top Gutter Guards.
Bushwalker
Member
roofmaster!
Looks like you're from Milwaukee in the USA.
How much is the freight for your gutter guards to send to Australia? LOL
You do know this is an AUSSIE forum?
And do you know that SPAM is not allowed here?
