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.

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.

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

What is a "pop-up gutter downspout?"

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.

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

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.

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.

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