UKC

My girlfriend has just washed my climbing rope with detergent at 60c..in a washing machine. ..using ecover detergent is rope ok ..

In reply to philb:
No.

You need an new rope (and girlfriend) .

In reply to philb:
e.g. Tendon recommendation: http://www.mytendon.com/rope-washing
(My gf washed my kashmir pullovers with detergent at 60c...are still ok, for my son)

In reply to philb:

Has it shrunk ?

In reply to philb:

I regularly wash my caving rope in the washing machine. I chain it up and put it in a fine net bag and wash on 30 degrees for an hour (no detergent).

The melting point of your rope will be in excess of 200 degrees. Will 60c affect your rope? I don't know. I will ask those more knowledgeable than myself when I return to work, but I wouldn't bet that I'll get a straight committed answer.

I expect that if you contact the manufacturer they will suggest you buy another.

In reply to philb:

No matter all the conflicting and varying responses that you are sure to get, one thing is certain. If you no longer have 100% confidence in that rope then it's useless to you.

In reply to andyflem:

Spot on! The last thing a leader wants is any doubt about their gear. So I fully agree. .. if it were my rope it would be getting ditched.

As for ditching the girlfriend? Well... that depends on all sorts of other factors.

In reply to philb:

I'd be looking in the sales for a new rope.
Having lost the plastic dispensing cup from a box of non-bio washing powder I was using a desert spoon to dispense it and I left it in the box between uses, when I eventually reached the bottom of the box I noticed that the spoon was now pock marked and eroded deeply. So if this detergent can do this to a stainless steel spoon god knows what it can do to a nylon rope.

In reply to philb:

At least you already have a washing line now.

In reply to gethin_allen:

Maybe you didn't lose the plastic cup, maybe the washing powder has eaten it! :-O

No, of course it hasn't. The cardboard box is doing fine too no doubt. Your argument is somewhat fallacious. Nylon is not stainless steel, and contrary to what many may think stainless steel is not immune from corrosion. (Some grades more so than others.)

The OP's rope is probably fine, and he's probably going to be wanting to replace it anyway because 'probably' is probably not good enough.

In reply to deepsoup:

>" The OP's rope is probably fine, and he's probably going to be wanting to replace it anyway because 'probably' is probably not good enough."

being more serious, the ingredients of ecover powder detergents includes a bleaching agent and DuPont state in their materials compatibility info that chlorax and other chlorine based chemicals are not compatible with nylon products.

In reply to gethin_allen:
Yep, that is more serious - I'm not going to argue with that.