Ropes in the washing machine - what have I done wrong ?

[sarabande]

encouraged by the remorseless approach of Spring on Exmoor (two dandelions in flower) I put a loose halyard in a pillow case, and then into a cool wash with a bit of Ecover.

The machine went through the short cycle with a bit of grumbling on the spin section, but when I opened the bag, the rope was tangled, knotted, bended, hitched, entangled, and generally woven into an amorphous lump. But a lot cleaner than when it went in.


Clearly, I have failed to do something to prevent this fibrous failure. Is there a particular prayer, a small libation, even a minor human sacrifice which much be made to the Goddess Irritata (she's the sister to Annoia, BTW) before pressing the ON button again with the next load ?

I have sought in vain a British Standard to give the right technique; should the rope be coiled, wrapped tightly or loose, would extra boaty bits in the washer help smooth the spin cycle ?

TIA

 

[agurney]

encouraged by the remorseless approach of Spring on Exmoor (two dandelions in flower) I put a loose halyard in a pillow case, and then into a cool wash with a bit of Ecover.

The machine went through the short cycle with a bit of grumbling on the spin section, but when I opened the bag, the rope was tangled, knotted, bended, hitched, entangled, and generally woven into an amorphous lump. But a lot cleaner than when it went in.


Clearly, I have failed to do something to prevent this fibrous failure. Is there a particular prayer, a small libation, even a minor human sacrifice which much be made to the Goddess Irritata (she's the sister to Annoia, BTW) before pressing the ON button again with the next load ?

I have sought in vain a British Standard to give the right technique; should the rope be coiled, wrapped tightly or loose, would extra boaty bits in the washer help smooth the spin cycle ?

TIA

just rinse, don't spin

 

[Tranona]

In my experience does not matter what you do it still comes out tangled, but worse if you let it spin. Good excuse to crack open a beer and quietly sort it out.

 

[alahol2]

Lay them on the ground in a fairly loose coil then seize the coil 4 or 5 times with 'small stuff'. As others have said, don't spin; as much for the safety of the machine as for the rope.

 

[ridgy]

Wait till you do what most people do and put all the halyards in together with no pillow case. Then you'll have a tangle.

 

[William_H]

I found just dipping a few times ina bucket of water and detergent followed by a rinse in clean water gets a lot of dirt out. Just hang to dry good luck olewill

 

[Deleted member 36384]

just rinse, don't spin

+1

I used the anti crease setting as well because the machine had it. I didn't coil the rope before it went in the machine, just ran it through my hands (to make sure there were no knots) into a pile on the floor and then picked up the pile and dumped it in. To drip dry I looped it over a fence rail in big lazy loops. No pillow case either, the snap shackle was encased in a section of pipe insulation foam tube held with cable ties.

 

[Tam Lin]

A local rigger told me to use the dishwasher, haven't tried it! Can't see SWMBO approving!

 

[sailorman]

encouraged by the remorseless approach of Spring on Exmoor (two dandelions in flower) I put a loose halyard in a pillow case, and then into a cool wash with a bit of Ecover.

The machine went through the short cycle with a bit of grumbling on the spin section, but when I opened the bag, the rope was tangled, knotted, bended, hitched, entangled, and generally woven into an amorphous lump. But a lot cleaner than when it went in.


Clearly, I have failed to do something to prevent this fibrous failure. Is there a particular prayer, a small libation, even a minor human sacrifice which much be made to the Goddess Irritata (she's the sister to Annoia, BTW) before pressing the ON button again with the next load ?

I have sought in vain a British Standard to give the right technique; should the rope be coiled, wrapped tightly or loose, would extra boaty bits in the washer help smooth the spin cycle ?

TIA

I just put the rope in the machine still made off as i stow it aboard. no bag just straight in with powder & softener, on a 30 or 40 deg wash with high water level. job done.
clean,soft ropes with some tangles that drop out easily.
i have even done wire/rope halliards too

 

[bert49uk]

I just put the rope in the machine still made off as i stow it aboard. no bag just straight in with powder & softener, on a 30 or 40 deg wash with high water level. job done.
clean,soft ropes with some tangles that drop out easily.
i have even done wire/rope halliards too

+1 but i use spin never had them get too tangled

 

[reeac]

A local rigger told me to use the dishwasher, haven't tried it! Can't see SWMBO approving!

I would have thought that any dishwasher cycle and detergent would be far too fierce.

 

[MoodySabre]

I quite enjoy undoing a tangle

 

[FullCircle]

My Nan did knitting by the fire. I unravel halyards and sheets.
Very therapeutic.

 

[[70521]]

encouraged by the remorseless approach of Spring on Exmoor (two dandelions in flower) I put a loose halyard in a pillow case, and then into a cool wash with a bit of Ecover.

We are a tad further south and have three dandelions in flower.

I did not use the pillow case and spun at 1600 RPM.

 

[Vara]

A local rigger told me to use the dishwasher, haven't tried it! Can't see SWMBO approving!

no, no, no...dish washer detergents are far to aggressive for ropes.

Washing machine on low temp with non aggressive cleaner such as Stergene (or other wool wash detergent) much better.

 

[chinita]

A local rigger told me to use the dishwasher, haven't tried it! Can't see SWMBO approving!

Hang on for her to go shoe shopping or something, that is what I do. Gives me hours and hours to listen to loud music, strip winches on the kitchen table, lie on the sofa with the dog, fart and loads of other manly stuff.

 

[JohnGC]

In the days when we climbed we used the washing machine to clean our 150m ropes.

To prevent tangles we "knitted" the ropes first. This holds the rope in a loose knot which washes well but can be undone easily.
Do it with large loops and then loosely tie the ends together before washing.

http://www.animatedknots.com/chains...ge=LogoGrog.jpg&Website=www.animatedknots.com

 

[KellysEye]

An idea, what about coiling the halyard etc and tieing it with cable ties to hold it in place.

 

[Georgio]

just rinse, don't spin

I don't understand why the spin would cause the ropes to tangle? I would have thought it was the washing cycle that did the tangling. However I'm sure not doing the spin will keep the long-haired boss happier so that's a good tip.

 

[oldbilbo]

Can't quite understand why the OP is washing his lines. Surely it would be cheaper to by some new ones ( Trago Mills? Mole Valley Farmers? eBay? ) than to fork out for a new washing machine....