UKC

I clipped a loose glue in bolt today. Is it worth reporting to the local bolt fund? Will it still have a reasonable holding power?

The bolt only had a little but still noticeable play to wobble in hole. 4th bolt on Brean Dream

In reply to Kemics:
Bolts shouldn't wobble at all! Over time a slight wobble will get more pronounced and ultimately unsafe.

In reply to Kemics:

I would NOT trust a wobbly glue-in to hold anything, even body weight, but especially not a fall.

On an expansion bolt, a loose hangar may be safe, if the bolt is still solid -- but that's the only case where I'd trust anything that is loose/wobbly.

In reply to dagibbs:

It's especially worrying as if the bolt blows, I think a ground fall is likely. Who should I report this to? Is this something the BMC deals with?

In reply to Kemics:

I would try and contact who ever bolted / first climbed the route , failing that the local bolt fund may be able to help other wise sort it yourself !? You just need to abseil down from the top after buying a 24v battery sds drill , small brush , blow gun , the replacement bolt then fit according to the instructions ( petzl colinox resin bolt ) p,,s only undertake if confident ! Like you say I ground fall

In reply to Colza:

Should the bolt face up or down?
If the bolt faces down then someone coming off might apply a radial force to the bolt but if the bolt faces up then the force is always applied to the spine of the bolt and no rotation occurs.

In reply to Kemics:

Ive been and looked at this its the 3rd glue-in up an eco bolt, the bond between the rock and resin has gone and will need replacing. it defiantly should not be trusted to hold a lead fall. You need to get in contact with one of the local activists or bolt fund, to replace it, Its to far out of my area for me, i have enough to keep me to busy at swanage and portland.
But it good to take a interest of your sports route and don't forget to give your local bolt funds some money; bolts are not cheap.

In reply to Marti999:

Which route is it on?

In reply to John Alcock:
Eco anchors (the original DMM glue in ) are particularly prone to rotational forces de bonding the resin from the interior surface of the hole. Often compounded by the fact that the hole cleaning in days gone by was not noted as being as critical as it is today.
That said I have replaced several of these "loose" Eco bolts (loose as defined by placing a krab in the eye and using it to try and rotate the bolt with hand power) They are actually amazingly hard to remove even after parallel drilling and a lot of rotating with a crowbar through the eye.
However it would be wise to deal with this now as the bolt will become progressively less safe.
Note to Yorks guys every Eco in Dominatrix suffers from this problem to varying degrees....

Hi all,

This thread has been brought to my attention as the first ascentionist of the route Brean Dream. The route was equipped 19 years ago with SS316 resin bolts and Hilti C50 resin.

Agreed that the Eco should be replaced. In that regard I live in Hong Kong so this is not an easy weekend job although providing the materials is not a problem.

I am intending to visit Bristol in February next year and can bring my hydraulic bolt pull tester over to load test the bolt to failure so we have a radial test result. It's also an easy way of reusing the old hole.

I will re-bolt the line at the same time but use Hilti RE 500 as this is a true epoxy and a much better product than the C50. Noting that RE500 was not available then.

Thanks Kemics for notifying everyone of the issue.

Regards,

Francis

In reply to Kemics:

Not at all - but it may be a hazard!