UKC

Hi all
So I was leaving the Roaches today and found that a can of odour-eater...

http://shopping.tdsplatform.com/repository/product/OdorEaters-Antiperspiran...

had decided to unload it's contents onto my rope and probably some gear though I'm not sure which.

What do you reckon?
Chop the affected end of the rope off?
Should I be worried about the gear?

Cheers
Jim

In reply to JimboWizbo:

contact the manufacturer and find out what's in it and then find out the chemical resistance of the effected climbing gear (nylon) if that was all that was effected. I somehow doubt its going to be good news.

In reply to JimboWizbo: Bugger

It seems that only the last couple of meters of rope got doused, so I'll chop that off.
Not sure about the gear though, maybe I'll hang off a few pieces to see if they rip

In reply to JimboWizbo:
Tolnaftate, isobutane, SD alcohol 40-B, sodium bicarbonate, isopropyl myristate, disteardimonium hectorite, 2-propenamide-co-2-propenoic acid sodium salt, fragrance

The most worrying is "Propenoic acid" Which is Acrylic acid

In reply to JimboWizbo:

Hang off with a 5:1 setup? (~5kN)

In reply to JimboWizbo:

Correct, although it's not acrylic acid that's in it, it's a copolymer of propenamide and the sodium salt of acrylic acid. I believe it's used to soak up water/sweat. Can't tell you the pH but I doubt it is highly acidic. That said, I'm not going to tell you to use a rope that may have been weakened in some way, if it's not a big deal to chop a bit of it off I'd say do it.

In reply to Taurig:

the stitching in slings and harnesses is I think some type of polyester cord and and many slings are dyneema basically if these got effected they will be weakened by different chemicals including alcohol.

In reply to JimboWizbo: I did an MSc project on the effects of chemical contaminants on slings (Dyneema and nylon) last year. The results are also relevant to nylon ropes. No chemical that I tested was found to significantly affect the tensile properties (peak load, elongation at break and work to rupture) of either Dyneema or nylon slings. I tested two soap cleaning solutions, unleaded petrol, DEET and liquid chalk (mostly alcohol). Obviously, other chemicals such as acids are KNOWN to cause significant degradation to nylon ropes.

Of the stuff that's in the odour eater, nothing jumps out and says 'this will definitely knacker your rope's strength'. However, the stuff may cause changes in the frictional and handling properties of the rope, meaning that knots may slide, belaying may be troublesome, or handling may simply be more difficult.

My advice would be to give the rope a thorough wash as per the manufacturer's instructions and get in touch with them asap. It may be that they're interested in testing it and will send you a new one (optimistic). A rope's pretty important, and if you don't trust it then it's no good.

In reply to Mr Fuller:
Plenty of stuff effects dyneema, it's not resistent to sulpheric or nitic acid at 70% also some Bases (as well as tonnes of other stuff). Its basically polyethylene (ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene) so looking up what chemicals thats not resistent to would be a starting point.

In reply to Mr Fuller:
Washing all gear you suspect may have been effected asap is good advice as exposure time is a major factor in chemical resistence.

In reply to JimboWizbo: Affected, affected, affected! Dear God, why does this one ALWAYS get people?

In reply to Oceanrower:
This is a climbing forum not a grammar class, I'm sure there is somewhere on the internet you can go and discuss this stuff without polluting threads with this drivel.

In reply to CurlyStevo:

Ooft, either 70% sulfuric or nitric acid, I'd be worrying about my skin after handling the rope rather than the rope itself! :O

In reply to CurlyStevo: I'm sorry that you feel that words don't matter, particularly when they have completely different meanings. Some of us, obviously, were slightly better educated than others.

In reply to Oceanrower:


I'm not a fan of bad spelling or grammar either but that's a little rude.

In reply to JH74: And the earlier comment wasn't?

In reply to Oceanrower: BTW. Just to make it clear, in an unrude way I hope, whilst bad spelling and grammar do annoy me I generally manage to ignore it.

Affect and effect, however, are completely different words and have no similarity in meaning at all. Yes, I do find that irritating.

Sorry.

P.s. I expect I got something wrong above. Please feel free to get your own back.