Summit County is not your typical place to live. It’s high elevation, 9,000 -11,000 feet, with intense weather conditions. It’s baked by the sun and buried by the snow. That needs to be taken into consideration with anything that has to endure the elements. Our homes need to outlast the abuse. One way we have improved our home is by the addition of a rain chain.
Gutters and Downspouts
We only have 2 sections of gutters on our house so snow will slide off the roof more easily and we will have fewer places for ice dams to form. Instead of downspouts, those gutters have rain chains. Downspouts can freeze up. Preventing that requires heat tape, basically a wire that you plug in. It gets warm and melts the ice giving the water a channel to run through. It works okay but it requires electricity. If you don’t have heat tape already, you may have to add an outside outlet and possibly a breaker.
A Rain Chain instead of a Downspout
A rain chain takes the place of the downspout. It does freeze up but instead of ice blocking the down spout, the water can still flow over the ice to the ground. Before the ice gets too thick, just take a broom or stick and gently knock the rain chain a couple of times breaking the ice free. We think it’s a great alternative.
Rain Chains are Decorative & Functional
Not only are rain chains functional and environmentally friendly, they are decorative. They come in a variety of styles. One is sure to fit your style. We bought ours online. The website said the cup style splash less than the other varieties. Since our front chain was next to our deck, we decided to go for the cup style. It still does splash a little. I think the more the water that is flowing down it the less splashing happens.
So far we are happy with our decision to get rain chains. Time will tell how they weather.
Great work. Very helpful and informative.
Concrete Red Deer
Not only are they functional, but they look cool too!
Rain chains are so underrated! We never see them a whole lot.. Copper rain chains are always one of the top choices. Nice article!
I bought a cheap rain chain from an online catalog about 7 years ago. I don’t know what it’s made of but it looks like copper and hasn’t tarnished. Everyone loves it. The only problem, since it’s a cheaper version, it wasn’t quite long enough to reach the ground.