Prusik help for Rope Access technician

[Bjørgvin]

Hello forum members!

First let me say that I am impressed with the skilled work you guys are doing. I dont think people understand before they are actually up in a tree with a chainsaw. I have been doing some minor tree work, but this topic is not directly aimed at this.

 

When I am off work in the offshore industry I do some work onshore. Lately its been alot of roof cleaning with a pressure washer. Roofs then gets a waterproof coating and a new layer of paint.

I have been using the industry standard Petzl ID and ASAP backup. The issue is that I am spending some time wrestling with the ID. Problem is that if the pitch of the roof is not steep, I am not putting that much weight on the ID. More leaning back on the ropes than hanging.

So decending means that I have to push away with my feet to get it to feed trough rope. And If I pull to much on the handle it goes into panic mode:sneaky2:

Ascending is a real pain. If I take a step and the rope gets slack its hard to pull a dirty moss covered rope through it. Usually I clip in my croll and walk up the roof grabbing the rope as I go.

Building a pulley system like rads does work, but suddenly I have 4 ropes in front of me..

 

I was thinking maybe some sort of prusik system could work both up and down the rope? It has to work on stationary rope, as I would not like a running rope over the roof ridge.

Could I use a "rope wrench" system but without the wrench? Remember I am not hanging on the ropes with all my weight.

I am using Singing Rock R44 ropes. Believe its 10.5 mm.

This is my first time experiment with none mechanical devices..

 

Edit: English is not my language. So please be kind:-)

[toxicity2182]

Is it a single rope you work from?

[Bjørgvin]

Yes it would be a single rope method.

Though there is a secondary rope as backup. But thats just a ASAP running problem free up and down as i go.

I might try a friction hitch with a micro pulley under. As a lot of my weight is on the roof itself, maybe a rope wrench is not needed to take some friction from the hitch. As that is my understanding of this product.

[DanClimbsTrees]

I've never worked single rope before but my understanding it that you need some kind of device in there to lessen the friction on the hitch if that makes sense.

 

I'm sure someone will be along shortly if I'm wrong.

 

Cheers,

Dan

[elliott EGD]

Hi Bjørgvin a prussic will do the job you describe . It mite not conform to rule in your industry i would recommend a knut found in the knot guide on this forum with a micro pully for tending be aware that toomuch load will make the prussic jamm and sick . I can say the rope wrench is fantastic piece of equipment may be worth getting

[Matt McAulay]

If your after some one with srt knowledge Ian flatters is the 1 to talk to. Type srt into a search on here he should pop up.

[TTP]

Have you tried the cinch? It can work under load so you don't need to take your weight off the device to move on it. Correct me if I'm wrong but should be fine single line as it was designed for belay. I use it on my lanyard and love it

[Bjørgvin]

Will look into the tips posted. Thanx.

And yes, a prusik is not industry legit as opposed to a ID. But this kind of work is really rated as fall protection jobs. Meaning that my backup rope with the running ASAP is enough as long as I can somehow stand on the roof. The "working rope" is for my own convenience. So I can lean back in the harness and relax as I work.

[Fredward]

A prussic would probably work fine but you might get into trouble IF you fell from the roof. Trango cinch might be work looking at as mentioned above, I believe it is safe to use in 'single leg' configuration.

[Bjørgvin]

Do you with legal issues? Or getting my weight of it? None of these two would be an issue.

As I mentioned, I use a fall protection system aswell. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjWbzhzJJLE]Using the ASAP on an inclined surface - YouTube[/ame]

The Trango looks like the same funtion of an ID or Grigri. May be hard to feed rope when its very dirty.