best way to clean ropes?

[T33eco]

step 1: rinse washer detergent draw with very hot water to remove any detergent residue

step 2: put EMPTY washer on a hot/ hot rinse cycle to wash detergent away

step 3 : tie 2 ends of rope together and flake loose rope directly into machine

srep 3 : place nickwax tech wash or other rope specific cleaner (eg beal) in draw

step 4 : programe long cool (max 40) wash

step 5 : if desired add rope water-proofer (eg nikwax rope proof) to draw and re-wash following proofer instructions

step 6 : untangle rope and allow to air dry in cool atmosphere out of direct sunlight

 

enjoy clean (lighter in the rain if proofed) rope!

 

PS do not machine wash flip lines, this can lead to accelerated internal corrosion and accelerated flex cycling of where the wire exits the crimp/ crimps that can be hard to detect until.........pop!

 

Could not agree more surely adding regular waging powders is just asking for trouble ? Your / our lives are on the other end of our ropes

[treequip]

Could not agree more surely adding regular waging powders is just asking for trouble ? Your / our lives are on the other end of our ropes

 

Just out of interest, why is that?

 

I have used regular washing powder on my ropes for three decades and haven't had any trouble yet

[Joe Newton]

Just out of interest, why is that?

 

 

 

I have used regular washing powder on my ropes for three decades and haven't had any trouble yet

 

 

3 decades!? Buy a new one, tight wad!

[T33eco]

Treequip apparently the bio powders additives damage the core of the rope over time as they never truly get rinsed out same goes for the fibres in your chainsaw pants, Also why gortex and other waterproof membrane company's strongly advise non bio soaps ie gentle purer soaps .. Hope that makes sense I remember asking my loler guy same question few year back

[treequip]

Treequip apparently the bio powders additives damage the core of the rope over time as they never truly get rinsed out same goes for the fibres in your chainsaw pants, Also why gortex and other waterproof membrane company's strongly advise non bio soaps ie gentle purer soaps .. Hope that makes sense I remember asking my loler guy same question few year back

 

Apparently, so no science behind it then?

 

What do these additives do to the rope and if it is damaging them why don't the manufacturers warn us about this damage?

 

My ropes seldom see a second year, same with chainsaw pants

[Mark Bolam]

See, totally destroyed by evil washing powder....

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Arbtalk

[wicklamulla]

been climbing on the same rope the last few years, 40 degree wash in non bio a few times a year, comes out of the bendix dry enuf to climb on. no problems so far.

[T33eco]

Jeeeze just trying my hand at conversation ...

[Marc]

Jeeeze just trying my hand at conversation ...

 

Yep and so is treequip.

 

There was research done by Leeds university years ago on washing waterproofs in brand re commended products v super market conditioner http://furtech.typepad.com/care_maintenance/files/trail20proofing20story1.pdf

 

An interesting HSE report on en1891 ropes, seems to imply that dirty used ropes do not lose strength and can break at marginally higher loads than new rope. Also interesting is how damaging bird droppings can be to rope!

 

More modern event fabrics can be washed in normal detergent at 40c to maintain it performance, re proofing the dwr will be needed, the detergent wash will just remove the oils and dirt clogging the pores. eVent Fabrics – How to care for your eVent garment

 

Realistically I cannot see long term harm being done to rope using normal detergent, personally I use soap flakes where possible.

 

I only wash my rope in exceptional circumstances, a good climb in a torrential down pour tends to sort it out and that's guaranteed many times through out the year.

[Loler UK]

there has been some research into the effect of detergent, dirt and conditioner on ropes both published and in house by manufac's, All bar one (an in house one) that i have read conclude that detergents should not be used to wash ropes even if they found little strength/ performance loss as it is easily avoided and detergents chemical content vary and change all the time. Conditioner can have a beneficial effect but not if you use too much so maybe best avoided, washing was found in most cases to maintain the strength & performance of ropes providing mild synthetic cleaning products were used (such as nikwax)

 

dirt can decrease the strength of a rope especially dynamic strength, it also leads to increased wear rates, especially when using friction hitches the way we do in arb

 

marc what research is this? i assumed you meant the 364/2001 which investigated bird droppings & rust contamination but, unless my memory betrays me, it did not research dirt on ropes?

 

some people go through ropes real quick, either by damaging them with saws etc or through wear; my clients that wear ropes quickly often use no cambium/friction savers, work in the rain and don't wash their ropes, the correlation is stark in my opinion. I've taken some drty failed sections of the most popular 16s ropes without defects other than fraying caused by abrasion, these ropes were all in service for less than 2 years and when drop tested all had suffered significant dynamic strength loss, that said id kept these extreeme examples of rapid wear to one side because they were the fastest 2% that i examine.