UKC

I have recently been employed as the route setter at my local climbing wall, and have had a small heart attack at the state of the holds.

To say that they are dirty is an understatement. It is difficult to actually tell the colour of the holds!! The red ones look beige, the green ones look white etc etc...

The old way for the wall to clean them was with industrial toilet cleaner, which apart from destroying your hands, doesn't actually work!!

Anyone know of any good cleaners to use or any advice on how to get them clean? (No access to a dishwasher)

Cheers

Nick

In reply to nick_hart:
Warm water and a scrubbing brush should do it, if they are really bad leave the holds to soak for a while

In reply to Graham T: get a solution of water and vinergar and lemon, then use it warm and rub the holds very holds

In reply to nick_hart:
Pressure washer. You can get through loads of holds in no time.

In reply to nick_hart:

boulderuk stick there holds in an old shopping trolley and hit them with a jet washer. Seems to work. Heard people using the dish washer but don't know how.
p

In reply to mac_climb:

I'd add a little surfactant (washing up liquid). The acid will dissolve the chalk and the surfactant should remove any grease.
It may be a little slow on very chalky holds. Soaking for too long could start to attack any metal parts, but this should only be cosmetic.
Rinse very well after to remove all traces of acid and surfactant.

In reply to nick_hart:

Awesome walls in liverpool put their holds in a dishwasher. Presume they don't put detergent in, but I don't know for sure.

In reply to nick_hart:
A jetwasher is what most manufacturers seem to recommend. It works and is relatively quick, but a wet job that no one ever wants to do! We put the holds on old bread crates in the showers to clean them, then leave them outside to air dry.
Some people use dishwashers but I've heared mixed reports. Obviously it takes X minutes per cycle, plus I've heard it can make holds greasy although having never used one myself I'm not the best person to comment.

In reply to nick_hart: At the Foundry we use a jetwasher. If they are really bad you may need to wire brush the boot rubber to get it off.

In reply to nick_hart:

A jet washer is best. A dish washer will work, but it fades the colour of the holds.

A good way to keep the holds from flying all over the place while you are spraying them is to get a board with holes every 6 inches, stick T-nuts on one side of the board, 150mm bolts through the other side, and presto, you have a way to keep the holds from trying to escape Paint the board with some sandy paint and that will help keep them from spinning.

In my experience, it's much easier to get the whole hold clean this way, as opposed to sticking them in a trolley.