Without asking me, my wife decided to reorganize my ropes into the cabinet where we used to store the swimming pool chemicals. I wanted to solicit thoughts from the community on whether or not any rope damage might have taken place.

General facts:
1. There have been no chemical spills in the cabinet that I know about, nor were there any visible traces of any residue
2. The ropes were placed on a piece of plastic
3. Three of the ropes were in rope bags, but one was not
4. There was virtually no time elapsed after removing the chemicals before placing the ropes
5. Chemicals included muriatic acid, pool shock (both chlorine and non-chlorine), soda ash, algaecide, and "phos-free".

My thought was that they're probably fine, but I was planning to retire the unbagged rope just to be on the safe side. This was actually a "short rope" after having some previous edge damage, so no big loss.

Thoughts / discussion?

Here´s a list of chemical compatability http://www.coleparmer.com/Chemical-Resistance
Tell your wife you´ll die if she doesn´t buy you new ropes, at least you´ll know if she still loves you.

If you don't sense any odor in the closet and there were no spills that could have made direct contact with the ropes, chances are your ropes are probably fine. Acid fumes are pretty reactive, so you can expect them to react/be neutrualized in an open environment rather quickly. I would probably toss the uncovered rope and check the plastic bag to see if there is any sign of chemical exposure. If the bag is not damaged, then I don't think your ropes could have been harmed. It never hurts to be over cautious though...

You know if the mechanic told me the seat belt might be busted and it costs $200 to fix, I'd probably authorize it without thinking twice. I don't know why climbing ropes are any different. Maybe because I already expect a possibly huge bill from the mechanic...

Muriatic acid is concentrated Hydrochloric Acid, the fumes of that would eat through your rope and be virtually undetectable until its too late. I'd be dumping the open rope and washing the rope bags.

TE

Concentrated? I find that hard to believe if gym employees regularly use it to clean holds.

Muriatic acid is added into water (diluted) for hold cleaning, not used a full strength.

Muriatic acid is *not* "concentrated hydrochloric acid". In fact it is diluted hydrochloric acid. The stuff at Home Depot is about 20% HCl.

[Actually, if you really want to nit pick, muriatic acid is just an old, alternate name for hydrochloric acid. However, anytime you see it labeled as such in a hardware store, it is indeed diluted HCL.]

I can't imagine that there is really anything wrong with any of your ropes. you said that there is no visible contamination, none on the plastic, and the duration of time in the cupboard was very short. i'd say your ropes are just fine. but if you want to be careful, try using the exposed rope for TR purposes only. I would not throw away any of these ropes.

be easy on your wife. it was a fairly simple mistake for someone who does not understand the "care and feeding" of climbing ropes.

BTW, I just went back and read the last sentence of your previous post. if you don't want those ropes - I will take them. I will pay for mailing costs for the 3 ropes that were stored in bags. I rarely do lead climbing these days - just TR's. so they will work fine for me!!

cheers,
dT

I just went back and read the last sentence of your previous post. if you don't want those ropes - I will take them. I will pay for mailing costs for the 3 ropes that were stored in bags. I rarely do lead climbing these days - just TR's. so they will work fine for me!!

cheers,
dT

Here´s a list of chemical compatability http://www.coleparmer.com/Chemical-Resistance
Tell your wife you´ll die if she doesn´t buy you new ropes, at least you´ll know if she still loves you.