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remember with any product you use you will also need to agitate with a brush then rinse it off

F-13 Gutter cleaner that Pressuretek sells is the best out there. It is not a butyl base cleaner, just attack the black streaks.

In a crunch use Krud Kutter at Lowes or HDepot but do not leave these on to long.

They will take the paint Competely off the gutters. Plus you may want to dilute KK some.

Now that is my .02

I dip my  brush in my mix roof cleaning mix and then brush it on ,  rinse  . 


KID

Thank you James for being the only one to come close to naming an actuall chemical. The reason these cleaners will eat the paint off the metal is that the black streaks burn into the oxidized part of the enamel. In order to clean them you must break down the oxidized part of the enamel......so what are they?? Solvents!! That's why citrus works, it eats paint. So do degreasers and butyl. We mix 1gallon of limolene and one gallon ethonal with 5lbs tsp and mix in a 55 gallon drum, then fill it with water. You now have 55 gallons of whatever you want to call it. Envirospec calls it ripper and sells a very similar package. So now that you have 55 gallons of gutter cleaner for about $40 or less here is how you will use it. Mix 1/2 gallon with 4 gallons water and scrub onto gutters with a soft bilevel truck wash brush. Always test first to make sure the enamel is not so oxidized that you will remove it. Never let it dry, have your ground man wet the gutters and rinse behind you. Rinse the windows as well to avoid chem drying on them. If it needs to be stronger add more of your mix to the bucket, or weaken it by adding water. Do not try it full strenghth!!! This solution will last 2 or more years in a sealed barrel. Citrus is different then limolene which is a by product of orange juice. Citrus cleaners are more damaging to the good enamel than necessary and will cause premature enamel loss after multible cleaners. This mix will not harm plants or wood.

Lori at PWP also sells a product called "White Lighning". It romoves the Streaks.

There are several good gutter cleaners out there, (I use Pressure Tek's F-13) but I don't do that many gutter brushing jobs but when I do that is what I use.

No matter what brand of gutter cleaner you use, don't put too much on the gutters at one time, keep the dwell time short and rinse so it does not take the paint off.

Good luck.

I have been using purple power. Mixed 50/50 with water. Brush it on and rinse it off. Have had good luck with this. I find it a Wal Mart in the auto area.

Baltimore MD Roof Cleaning 410-482-4367 wrote:

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Thank you James for being the only one to come close to naming an actuall chemical. The reason these cleaners will eat the paint off the metal is that the black streaks burn into the oxidized part of the enamel. In order to clean them you must break down the oxidized part of the enamel......so what are they?? Solvents!! That's why citrus works, it eats paint. So do degreasers and butyl. We mix 1gallon of limolene and one gallon ethonal with 5lbs tsp and mix in a 55 gallon drum, then fill it with water. You now have 55 gallons of whatever you want to call it. Envirospec calls it ripper and sells a very similar package. So now that you have 55 gallons of gutter cleaner for about $40 or less here is how you will use it. Mix 1/2 gallon with 4 gallons water and scrub onto gutters with a soft bilevel truck wash brush. Always test first to make sure the enamel is not so oxidized that you will remove it. Never let it dry, have your ground man wet the gutters and rinse behind you. Rinse the windows as well to avoid chem drying on them. If it needs to be stronger add more of your mix to the bucket, or weaken it by adding water. Do not try it full strenghth!!! This solution will last 2 or more years in a sealed barrel. Citrus is different then limolene which is a by product of orange juice. Citrus cleaners are more damaging to the good enamel than necessary and will cause premature enamel loss after multible cleaners. This mix will not harm plants or wood.

 

Thanks a lot for this one! I have been using F13 with great results but this would be a much better on the wallet and i would never have to wait for it!

 

Jason

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This is a great thread. It is threads like this that i like to read, thanks to all pro's that posted.