Vertical caving terminology and methods > General hardware
A device for cleaning muddy ropes. The most basic devices are just a tube with bristles inside, or two scrubbing brushes with their bristles held together. The rope is pulled backwards and forwards through it while being held underwater, preferably in flowing water to wash the mud away. Slightly better devices can be clipped to a hosepipe so that they do not need to be held underwater. The most elaborate devices are usually custom built at caving club huts. They may use a large scrubbing surface, with the rope fed around pulleys so that it crosses the scrubbing surface several times. A hosepipe then brings water to a sprinkler at the top. Typically, the door then has another scrubbing surface, so that when closed, the rope is held between the two scrubbing surfaces. Pulling the rope through once or twice is enough to remove all surface mud. However, some mud will remain ingrained in the fibres. Ropes can also be put into a chain sinnet and washed with a standard clothing washing machine (preferably in a mesh laundry bag) at temperatures as low as the washing machine will go. Detergent must not be used, but very mild soaps designed for ropes can be used. Soaps and detergents are largely pointless for caving ropes anyway, since most cave mud does not contain any significant quantity of fat or oil (though surface soil contains both), and soaps are surfactants that are designed to allow fat and oil to be dissolved. Mud acts like sandpaper, so SRT on muddy ropes wear out equipment much faster, and forces mud into the rope's sheath, wearing out the rope faster too. The cleaner a rope is when it is rigged on a pitch, the less damage it will receive when it is in use. Power hosing (pressure washing) ropes is often discouraged, with the idea being that the high pressure at the jet can damage the rope fibres, it will force dirt further into the rope, and it can alter the position of the cores. However, this is not backed up by testing, and the conclusion is that pressure washing ropes is probably no worse than actually using them normally. Still, it might get you some untrusting looks, and more extensive research is needed before claiming that it is harmless.
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