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stevied_gw

Rainchains in Florida?

stevied
18 years ago

I also posted this message in the irrigation and Florida Gardeneing forums, but thought I'd post it here as well...

We are replacing the gutters on our house. We currently have a pop-up gutter downspout drainage system with corrugated piping buried in our front yard. One of our existing downspouts is located in a place we do not like, from an aesthetic point of view, yet we are pretty much stuck with this location for our new downspout. Our gutter contractor suggested installing a rainchain instead, since they are more aesthetically pleasing.

We live in Florida and I am concerned that a rainchain may not work very well if we should ever experience a hurricane. Although we are in north central Florida, we could still be hit with 100 mph winds during a hurricane.

What do you think? Will a rainchain or raincups hold up, or would it tear down our new gutters during high winds? Could I use one in combination with our existing pop-up gutter drainage system? They use rainchains/raincups in Japan, and I suspect the Japanese experience high winds once in awhile. Is it worth the risk? Opinions appreciated.

Comments (10)

  • DonPylant
    18 years ago

    You would not install a rain chain in an area where winds would be high. They would not work well in this exposure as rain would blow off and seem as you had no downspout at all! If you could add an additional downspout further away, you could experiment with a temporary partition to regulate how much of a typical rain would empty down the rain chain spout at your needed location until you perfected it.

    The more the exposure to wind, the larger the cup size needed, and the more expensive the chain. Typically, you wouldn't expect a rain chain to handle what a normal downspout would.

  • stevied
    Original Author
    18 years ago

    Don, thanks for the response. I would really appreciate a few more opinions on this, even if it is only to confirm what Don's point.

  • nachodaddy
    18 years ago

    As usual, Don hit it tight on the head. Rain chains and wind, not good.

    If you want to clean up the gutter's lines, how about wrapping them on three sides with cedar. I have seen cedar fencing (usually 6 to eight inches in width) used. You can stain it or paint it.

    Michael

  • bahamababe
    18 years ago

    What is a "pop-up gutter downspout?"

  • stevied
    Original Author
    18 years ago

    I have large plastic pipes attached to the ends of my gutter downspouts. The pipes are buried and carry the water well away from the house. They re-emrege at the surface near the street. The pipe cover on the end of the pipe where it re-emerges is a "pop up", meaning the cover completely covers the pipe, so no debris can get in it when it isn't raning. However, when it rains, the pressure from the water in the pipe pops up the cover a little bit so that the water can flow out. When the rain storm finishes, the cover drops back down on to the pipe.

  • jeepster
    18 years ago

    Can you take them down during high winds and replace them with temp downspouts or maybe weigh or anchor the bottom.

  • bungalow_mikee
    18 years ago

    Stevie,
    If you can afford it, a copper rain gutters are available in several styles. I have an older style home and many gutters do
    not look appropriate. There is a gorgeous one that is rounded.
    With the brackets and down spouts available it can look like something out of H.G. Wells/ Jules Verne book.
    Very nice... can go well with Japanese teahouse, craftmans bungalow, anything really.

    I have not purchased a system but still looking into it.

  • stevied
    Original Author
    18 years ago

    We decided not to use a rainchain and went with a regular downspout instead. It is unsightly, but we didn't want to risk water runoff problems during hurricanes. We will cover up the downspout with something, perhaps a tall bush or a trellis.

  • Herb
    18 years ago

    Stevie - Downspouts can be a lot less conspicuous if you paint them the same color as the wall or background that they're attached to -

    Click for an example

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