Surface Tension
Advantage Gutter Guard® Employs Surface Tension To Handle Even The Heaviest Downpours In Kansas City.
Advantage Gutter Guard® is a solid gutter guard that can handle 3 X the volume of an average Kansas City rain.
The success of its design is credited to surface tension and liquid adhesion. AKA: waters ability to defy gravity.
Advantage Gutter Guard ® versatile design is engineered to work on any pitch roof, from flat to very steep.
Surface Tension – How Water Defies Gravity
Surface tension: “The property of the surface of a liquid that allows it to resist an external force, due to the cohesive nature of its molecules.” – USGS.gov.
In other words, water wants to stick together (cohesion) and to the surface it is in contact with (adhesion) – so much so that it can resist external forces such as gravity.
Everyday Surface Tension
We experience surface tension on a daily basis.
Think about the frustrating experience when you spill a glass of water on the counter. Instead of all the water falling off the edge of the counter directly to the ground, it follows the edge of the counter top around and runs down the face of your cabinets into your drawers and behind your cabinet doors.
That’s surface tension in a nutshell.
But, what does surface tension have to do with gutter protection? First, let’s explore what gutter protection looks like without surface tension.
Gutter Protection Without Surface Tension
Many leaf filters, guards and screens forget to employ surface tension in their design.
Therefore, they have to create holes in the top of their products to allow water in.
The problem is, these holes also allow small debris in. Remember, a single tree can drop a tremendous amount of seeds, pollen, sap and needles – more than enough to slip into, or block the holes and clog your gutters and the leaf filter or screen itself.
This means the homeowner has to clean not just his gutters, but his gutter screens too!
Some leaf filters try to side-step this problem by having a micro-mesh screen – too small for anything but dirt and water to enter.
While doing an excellent job of keeping debris out of the gutter, the micro-mesh has a different problem. Pollen, tree sap, oak tassels and other sticky debris gets trapped on the micro mesh and covers the micro-perforations.
Think of a micro-mesh leaf filter like a furnace filter – the filter keeps dirt from circulating through the house. Eventually that same dirt eventually clogs the filter and chokes the furnace. Now clogged, the furnace filter is no longer able to move air. It must be replaced or cleaned to perform its purpose again.
Just like that furnace filter, maintenance is required with a gutter filter since huge amounts of sticky debris fall from trees.
The result of a clogged gutter filter is that rainwater has no way to enter the gutters. This can force thousands of gallons of water to flow over your gutters, down the face of your soffit, fascia and siding ending up in a pool around your foundation.
Clearly, a solid gutter cover is needed to prevent these problems.
But, ‘How does water get into your gutter if you have a solid gutter cover that is not a screen?’
How Does Surface Tension Work With Gutter Protection?
Water wants to stick to the surface it is already on (adhesion). So when water falls from the sky onto the roof – it’s found its surface! As it rolls down the roof and combines with other water molecules (cohesion), it views the gutter guard as an extension of the roof. As a collective group the water molecules clings to the guard (adhesion).
You might expect the water to encounter the steep curve towards the gutter and give into gravity by flowing off the edge of the cover.
This is where the trick comes in.
Due to surface tension – water has a strong desire to adhere to a surface, therefore, it continues to adhere to the guard – defying gravity – until it meets the gutter.
Really, this is not so different from the way water responds to your kitchen counter and cabinets.
Why Surface Tension is an Advantage for Gutter Guards
The curve of Advantage Gutter Guard® was designed to maximize surface tension. This allows the water to defy gravity and cling onto the gutter guard (adhesion) until it is introduced to its next surface – your gutter.
Surface Tension Gives Advantage Gutter Guard® Two Advantages:
1. Using surface tension, the Advantage Gutter Guard® is able to be completely solid. A solid surface means no debris can penetrate through the top of the guard.
2. In developing the best angle for surface tension, the Advantage Gutter Guard® designers were able to extend the guard past the front edge of the gutter – creating an angled, tiny entrance that only water with its gravity-defying properties can find. This nose forward design is advantageous because it ensures that debris is deflected away from the gutter. Your gutters will not clog, guaranteed!
Ready For A Gutter Guard That Works?
Tired of leaf filters, screens and covers that have holes and leave you cleaning them out in addition to your gutters?
If you’re ready for a permanent solution, the Advantage Gutter Guard® has a lifetime guarantee that your gutters will never clog again. It also has a company behind it that has helped thousands of happy customers.
Give Advantage Gutter Guard® a chance and get an estimate from Gutter Cover KC. The Gutter Cover KC professional you meet has the goal to “keep water where it belongs”. They will perform a thorough 21-point inspection to make sure that clogged gutters will never cause damage to your home again.
Still having a hard time believing in surface tension? Check out our reviews and BBB reputation. The proof is in the pudding!