By Tom Scalisi | Updated Sep 5, 2023 1:44 PM
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If you don’t have gutter guards to prevent clogs from fallen leaves, cleaning your gutters is a necessary (and messy) job. Leaves and debris that pile up in your gutters can cause water to spill over the brim, creating foundation and drainage issues. Melted snow can also freeze and create ice dams that will cause leaks inside the home.
To avoid these issues, you need the best gutter cleaners to ensure your gutters are clear from debris. We tested every gutter cleaner on this list, including one tool that surpassed all our tests, to provide firsthand experience and advice on choosing the best one for your needs.
Photo: Tom Scalisi for Bob Vila
There’s only one good way to test gutter cleaners: Clean some gutters. I used each of these tools to clean sections of gutters on my own home. I hooked up each tool to its appropriate power source (garden hose, pressure washer, or vacuum) or used the manual tools from atop a ladder. While testing each tool, I recorded scores using a scoring rubric to make the comparisons as fair as possible. Scores included categories such as how well the tool cleared debris, how easy it was to use, and whether it was a good value for the price.
With all those factors in mind, I set out to test some of the best gutter-cleaning tools on the market. The following tools all passed my test while also excelling in one particular area or another.
Anyone who plans to remove their gutter clutter with a manual leaf remover will want to give the Gutter Tool a look. This plastic device screws onto the end of an extension pole or broomstick and allows you to drag the debris to one central location for removal.
I found the Gutter Tool to be one of the easiest gutter cleaner tools to set up and use. It’s lightweight but durable, making it easy to manipulate, yet hardy. I felt the spoon did a good job of pulling the debris to where my ladder was located. Whenever I reached a bracket, I found it easy to flip the tool over to use the scoop and push it under the bracket.
The only downsides I found were that it doesn’t come with an extension pole and that it doesn’t actually remove the debris; it collects it in one spot, so I had to remove it myself. However, it’s sturdy and ensures that you’re able to reach and gather nearly anything in the gutter, which potentially means less time moving a ladder. I’d suggest an extension pole to go with it, however.
Get The Gutter Tool gutter cleaner at Amazon.
Orbit’s telescoping gutter cleaning wand is quite possibly the simplest approach to gutter cleaning, requiring nothing more than a garden hose. This wand has a telescoping section that extends from 40 to 70 inches, allowing you to reach lower gutters, like those on ranch or Cape-style homes, from the ground. It also features a built-in nozzle and an adjustable arm, both of which you can set to the correct angle.
When testing the Orbit, I found it to be the simplest gutter-cleaning tool. Cleaning the gutters on my Cape-style home required simply extending the pole and hooking up a garden hose. Adjusting the head and nozzle were both very easy, and the shut-off valve does a good job of controlling the pressure. My only concerns were that it’s not useful for higher gutters and that its effectiveness will rely on the home’s water pressure.
I’ve used the Orbit telescoping gutter cleaning wand for other purposes since writing this review—for washing my cars and trucks as well as an RV roof. It can even be used for watering plants if the pressure remains low enough. It’s extremely handy to have around.
Get the Orbit gutter cleaner at Amazon or Ace Hardware.
The Amerimax Home Products 8300 Gutter Getter scoop offers a budget-friendly option for cleaning out gutters without cleaning out your bank account. This plastic scoop features a flexible tip that improves its fit in the gutter as well as a high handle to keep hands out.
The Gutter Getter scoop is easy to use. It can hold a lot of debris at one time, and I found that pinching the sides of the scoop together helped minimize spilling when removing it from the gutter. I liked that the tip conformed to fit the gutter but was also sturdy enough to chip away some of the buildup. It can be a little awkward to use at first, and it definitely requires a ladder, but I found it to be an excellent value for the price.
Note: This is another tool that I’ve found quite handy to keep around. I’ve used it for spreading salt on the walkway in the winter, removing debris from crevices around the house, and cleaning up peaches that fell from the tree in my front yard and were rotting on the ground. And, if the scoop should break, it’s cheap enough to replace.
Get the Amerimax Home Products gutter cleaner at Amazon, Lowe’s, or The Home Depot.
DIYers can make the most of their wet/dry vacuum with this gutter-cleaning kit from Craftsman. This four-piece kit comes with two 18-inch extension wands, a hooked gutter nozzle, and a blower nozzle for concentrating the shop vac’s blower volume. It will fit a wet/dry vac with a 2.5-inch outlet, so it’s compatible with most shop vac extensions to reach a bit higher than the kit alone allows.
This kit from Craftsman was one of my favorite surprises in testing. I hooked it up to a 5.5-horsepower wet/dry vac’s exhaust and found that it was incredibly effective at blowing leaves and debris out of the gutter, especially with the restrictive nozzle that comes in the kit. It was a little clumsy to use, and it might not be suitable for use on a ladder (not with a powerful vacuum, at least), but it was very easy to set up. It also felt like it could serve other purposes, such as vacuuming in vents or other nooks where a standard vacuum won’t reach.
One note to add: While it’s designed to work on the exhaust port of the vacuum, technically, this attachment can work with the vacuum port as well. It can suck up all of the leaves and debris, helping keep the mess to a minimum. I’ve found this to actually be the more practical use, and the sections are far less likely to come apart.
Get the Craftsman gutter cleaner at Amazon or Ace Hardware.
The Sun Joe SPX-SRL9 Sky Lance has everything necessary to turn almost any pressure washer into a gutter-cleaning machine. This kit comes with three wands that attach to each other with double O-rings and male and female threads. It also comes with its own trigger gun as well as a shoulder strap, a 30-degree nozzle, and two angled adapters. It can operate as a 3-foot wand, 6-foot wand, or 9-foot wand—whichever height you require.
The Sun Joe is rated for use with pressure washer outputs between 1,800 and 4,000 psi. The user just has to remove the pressure washer’s existing gun from its hose and attach the Sun Joe in its place.
I’ve tested quite a few gutter cleaners, and the Sun Joe is certainly the highest quality. The wands have a heavy-duty build and the threaded attachments are a rarity (most just use quarter-inch quick connects). While the design makes this pressure washer attachment sturdy, it also leads to quite a heavy tool that might be unwieldy for some users (mainly when all three sections of the wand are connected). However, it comes with a shoulder strap and does a great job of cleaning the gutters thanks to the 30-degree nozzle and angle adapters.
Get the Sun Joe gutter cleaner at Amazon, Lowe’s, The Home Depot, or Walmart.
The Worx WA4096 Leafjet Blower GutterPro attachment might be a great choice for folks who’d prefer to blow their leaves out of their gutters than spray or climb. It comes with four extension tubes, an angled elbow that serves as the nozzle, and a universal adapter that fits all leaf blower brands with nozzles up to 5 inches.
The Worx Leafjet kit’s extension tubes attach by screwing and locking together, helping prevent them from blowing off. The same is true for the elbow nozzle, so users don’t have to worry about the end of their gutter cleaner popping off and landing on the roof. The entire set allows for up to 11 feet of reach.
The Worx solves the biggest issue I’ve found with blower attachments: They blow off. Rather than use duct tape like I have in the past, I could screw these tubes together and lock them in so they could take all of the pressure my leaf blower could produce without coming loose. The universal adapter is a little flimsy to deal with, as it’s a nylon boot that cinches down on the leaf blower, but it does the trick. However, I found I had to hold the leaf blower in one hand and the extension tubes in the other; this was somewhat awkward and did tire my shoulders after a while.
Get the Worx gutter cleaner at Amazon, Lowe’s, The Home Depot, or Target.
The AgiiMan gutter-cleaning kit comes with everything necessary to achieve squeaky-clean gutters (other than the pressure washer). This kit includes several extension rods and tips, each equipped with leakproof O-rings. This kit fits quarter-inch quick-connect pressure washers, and the company says it can handle up to 4,000 psi.
I found the AgiiMan gutter cleaning tool kit to be one of the most effective gutter cleaning kits in this test. It came with several wands and four nozzles, and it snapped to my pressure washer without an issue. It was easy to manipulate into the gutter and had plenty of power.
While the kit says it can handle up to 4,000 psi, I believe it would become difficult to control and might eventually fail with that much pressure. I found 1,700 psi to be more than enough. The downside is that it requires a pressure washer, and the bearings can make keeping it aligned a bit of a challenge (it tends to twist if you touch the gutter). However, it’s lightweight compared to some other pressure-washer attachments, which could make it worth considering for folks with light-duty pressure washers and limited strength.
Get the AgiiMan gutter cleaner at Amazon.
The Ridge Washer gutter cleaner is a pressure washer attachment that provides two jets of water for cleaning gutters. This unit comes with two nozzles that face away from each other. Inside the nozzles are rotary jets, which produce a twisting stream of water in either direction. In theory, this can lift the leaves and debris and push them out of the gutter.
In reality, I didn’t find it effective for leaves. It was fine for washing dirt and grit, but when it came to leaves, it either didn’t kick them up at all or simply piled them up instead of blowing them out of the gutter. It’s also quite heavy, so I’d be concerned a component might snap from heavy pressure.
With our recommendations described above, it’s time to dig into the finer points of gutter cleaning. This section explains the most important considerations to keep in mind while shopping for the best gutter cleaner.
Before cleaning gutters, it’s worth assessing their condition. If the gutters have seen better days, it might be better to replace them. Certain issues are fixable, like leaks and loose brackets. Dents and holes could be a different story.
A dent in your gutter can lead to a backup very quickly, as it will affect the slope of the gutter, if only for a very small space. This change in pitch will collect dirt and debris, creating a dam that obstructs flow. While clearing that dam will help, the fix is temporary and a backup will likely recur.
Holes will drip in wet weather and can cause damage to your foundation over time. You can use a sealant to patch the hole, but replacing the gutter might be a better option for large holes.
DIYers who prefer to stay on the ground while cleaning need to consider the attachment’s length. Whether it’s a shop vac kit, garden hose attachment, or pressure washer wand, the device must reach over and into the gutters to be effective.
For gutter claws, length is still worth paying attention to. Most of these claws come as stand-alone attachments, requiring the separate purchase of an extendable pole. It’s important to choose a pole that will reach a manageable distance without being awkward while on a ladder. A painter’s pole (available on Amazon) or broomstick will help.
Certain types of products won’t work without additional necessary equipment. For instance, pressure washer kits require a pressure washer. To blow leaves out of a gutter with a wet/dry vac kit, unsurprisingly, a wet/dry vac is necessary.
General must-haves include gloves, eye protection, a garden hose, and a garbage bag for debris. For blowing your leaves out of a gutter, it’s a good idea to keep a rake handy as well.
Keep in mind that regardless of the gutter cleaner, you’ll probably still need a ladder at some point. It’s entirely possible for a branch or large obstruction to lodge itself in a gutter, so it’s not always feasible to clean them from the ground.
Before choosing a gutter-cleaning product, understand that these products may not all be easy to work with. Using any type of wand, be it for a pressure washer or a leaf blower, does require a bit of skill and dexterity.
These products can be somewhat physically demanding as well. It can wear on you to hold a vacuum blower or pressure washer gun at a height and angle that reaches your gutters while the water pressure or airflow pushes the wand backward.
Beyond that, choose a product that is easy to set up. For claw-type gutter cleaners, a simple screw-on attachment method is best. For vacuum and blower attachments, find a product that attaches easily and securely to avoid it falling or blowing off while in use. Most pressure washers use quick-fit fittings, so look for an attachment that snaps in easily.
Gutter cleaning is a potentially dangerous project, as there’s an increased risk of injury anytime you climb a ladder. Manufacturers offer different gutter cleaners designed to lessen the risk. Below are the most common and reliable types of products for cleaning your gutters.
This has been a solid primer on the best gutter cleaners, but you might still have some questions. This section is a collection of the most frequently asked questions about the best gutter cleaners, along with the corresponding answers. For more specific information, you can reach out to your kit manufacturer’s customer service department or check out these wacky tricks for cleaning gutters.
There are plenty of options for cleaning gutters without a ladder. You can choose from a pressure washer kit, a wet/dry vacuum kit, or some claw kits.
Setting your pressure washer to 1,700 psi should do the trick. While you might find some stubborn grime needs a little extra attention, pressure higher than 1,700 psi usually isn’t necessary.
The tools recommended here will clear clogged gutters by either spraying them with high-pressure water, air, or a manual claw. Armed with one of these tools and some helpful tips, you shouldn’t have a problem cleaning your gutters.
Bob Vila has been America’s Handyman since 1979. As the host of beloved and groundbreaking TV series, including This Old House and Bob Vila’s Home Again, he popularized and became synonymous with “do it yourself” home improvement.
Over the course of his decades-long career, Bob Vila has helped millions of people build, renovate, repair, and live better each day—a tradition that continues today with expert yet accessible home advice. The Bob Vila team distills need-to-know information into project tutorials, maintenance guides, tool 101s, and more. These home and garden experts then thoroughly research, vet, and recommend products that support homeowners, renters, DIYers, and professionals in their to-do lists.
Tom Scalisi is a full-time DIY and construction writer for many of the largest websites in the industry, including BobVila.com, This Old House, Family Handyman, and Forbes. He also owns and operates a pest control blog, RiddaBugs.com. He spent years working in the trades and industrial maintenance, including cleaning his fair share of gutters.
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