Rinsing salt water out in chlorinated water?

[hackish 8]

Just out of personal interest I was reading some older technical articles. One was on the effect of saltwater contaminated webbing where they tested the degradation of the breaking strength.

The article was interesting and I learned a thing or two about wet nylon. However, in the summary they said that it was best to remove the AAD and rinse the rig as soon as possible and before it dries. One idea suggested was to dunk it in a pool but it acknowledged that chlorine attacks the spectra lines.

So I thought about this a little... There is chlorine in pool water and also in most drinking water. Has anyone ever considered what effect a drinking water type concentration would have on spectra line strength? I know I'm probably just nitpicking...

-Michael

[panic-button 0]

Public drinking water is ~4 ppm, swimming pools from ~4-8 ppm.

[phoenixlpr 0]

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So I thought about this a little... There is chlorine in pool water and also in most drinking water. Has anyone ever considered what effect a drinking water type concentration would have on spectra line strength? I know I'm probably just nitpicking...

Why don't you use rain water instead?

Don't eat spectra lines, your stomach acid might damage it.

[masterrig 1]

Distilled water!


Chuck

[hackish 8]

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Public drinking water is ~4 ppm, swimming pools from ~4-8 ppm.

Interesting. I guess the only thing public drinking water has less of is pee. :)

-Michael

[JayhawkJumper 0]

Swimming Pools gotta have more chlorine than that. Drinking water/bath water doesn't burn the hell out of your eyes when you open them under it.

[panic-button 0]

Most public water is between 1.25-2.0ppm. Federal standard is <4ppm. My daughter was a life guard at the public pool, they kept theirs at >12ppm due to toddlers in diapers...

[riggerrob 561]

How about filling your bath tub with (slightly) chlorinated tap water and letting it sit over night before rinsing your parachute?

Letting it sit over night will allow most of the chlorine to evaporate.

[NWFlyer 2]

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How about filling your bath tub with (slightly) chlorinated tap water and letting it sit over night before rinsing your parachute?

Letting it sit over night will allow most of the chlorine to evaporate.

But wouldn't the positive effect of that be balanced by the negative effect of allowing the salt water to stay on the canopy that much longer?

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

[swilson 0]

Someone please correct me if I am wrong, but salt water, in and of itself, shouldn't hurt nylon.

The problem is when a salt water saturated canopy (container, webbing, ...) dries. The salt crystallizes among the threads as it dries, and starts abrading them every time the fabric flexes, weakening the fabric.

I suspect that if you let it dry out (while your tub full of chlorinated tapwater is degassing), but minimize the handling while it is dry, i.e. don't jump it, it won't hurt anything.

Metal and electronics excluded of course.

[strop45 0]

Its reasonably easy to remove the chlorine from tap water. Just add sodium bisulphite. You can get this from a pet shop. Referred to as water conditioner, it is sold to remove the chlorine from tap water to make it safe for tropical fish.

IMHO the concentration of chlorine in tap water is so low that any dirt, grass, or other organic material on the canopy is likely to neutralize it.

The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits." -- Albert Einstein

[ZigZagMarquis 8]

Rob,

I've heard that getting Chlorine Bleach on a rig is "way bad".

The reason I say this is a few years back, a jumper showed up at the DZ with his rig that he had dropped in his wash room when returning home one day before packing it up and putting it away proper. Unfortunately, before doing so, either his wife or kids knocked an open container of bleach over and it spilled all over his rig. When he showed up at the DZ with it, it had the typical white spots all over it, container / harness, of something that has had bleach spilt on it. The rigger he showed it to grounded the container / harness.

Having said that though... I'm going to segway to owe of Chuck's posts, because I want to hear his 2 cents too...

[ZigZagMarquis 8]

... what I responded to Rob with not withstanding... and given that chlorinated tap water is no where near the concentration of bleach straight out of the bottle... I can't think of anyone using 100% distilled water to wash a container / harness? Usually tap water and a mild detergent (Woolite seems to be what everyone says), rinse very very well and hang to drip dry and make very sure the container is totally dry before packing.

So... having said that... besides going to the grocery store and buying out all the gallon jugs of distilled water they may have, where would one get enough distilled water to really wash a rig really well??

Heck, I've heard folks say if you want to wash your container / harness, disassemble it and take it down to the local car wash and use the high pressure wand gun thingy there. Okay, I'm not sure if I'd do that, but I have heard of it being done. I've also heard speak of washing a container / harness by putting it in a laundry bag and washing it in a big front loading washing machine. Again, I'm not sure I'd do that, but I've heard of that too.

[hackish 8]

Chlorine is known to attack the spectra lines. I can't remember what its effect is on nylon but I do remember seeing it in Poynter.

As someone else has explained the damage done by salt is from the crystals cutting the strands so by not moving it significantly you probably won't hurt it as you pick it up and lay it in the degassed tub.

I suppose you could probably remove the main and reserve and wash them separately in your distilled water. A rig is damn expensive so if you spend $50 on water cleaning it - so what?

-Michael

[ZigZagMarquis 8]

Yes, No, Maybe. I think you missed my points...

1) I've never known anyone to go to the trouble of washing a rig in distilled water. Just tap water, a mild detergent, rinsed very well and drip dried very well and seemingly nothing really "bad" happens.

2) If you get to a point where you think you need to "wash" your reserve... personally, if it were mine, I'd probably cuss a lot, get a new one and in the future make better decissions about where / when I jump (i.e. avoid the potential of dush'in my reserve in something "bad") since if you're to the point of using your reserve its your "last chance" and I'd rather trust it to an "un washed" reserve, but that's just me... others opinions will differ.

3) Washing a container shouldn't be that big a deal if done acceptably and dried out well before re-packing.

[hackish 8]

Sorry, I usually just click the "reply" on the top corner and then delete the user's name from the subject. My comments were not directed specifically at you.

I don't think rinsing a reserve would affect it's usefulness or reliability in any way provided your rigger does it properly. Although nylon loses some of its strength when wet it regains it again upon drying.

The whole discussion is entirely just that - I'm not in an area likely to see a salt contaminated rig anyway. I think Rob makes a good point about letting the water stand overnight. Of course that could make rinsing a rig a very lengthy process.

I also like the idea of neutralising the chlorine but I'd be scared about the effect of the aquarium chemical what exactly happens to the chlorine?

-Michael

[masterrig 1]

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... what I responded to Rob with not withstanding... and given that chlorinated tap water is no where near the concentration of bleach straight out of the bottle... I can't think of anyone using 100% distilled water to wash a container / harness? Usually tap water and a mild detergent (Woolite seems to be what everyone says), rinse very very well and hang to drip dry and make very sure the container is totally dry before packing.

So... having said that... besides going to the grocery store and buying out all the gallon jugs of distilled water they may have, where would one get enough distilled water to really wash a rig really well??

Heck, I've heard folks say if you want to wash your container / harness, disassemble it and take it down to the local car wash and use the high pressure wand gun thingy there. Okay, I'm not sure if I'd do that, but I have heard of it being done. I've also heard speak of washing a container / harness by putting it in a laundry bag and washing it in a big front loading washing machine. Again, I'm not sure I'd do that, but I've heard of that too.

The reason I said 'distilled water' was, there are no contaminates in that type water and It would be to me, the 'best' way to get salt residue out. I'm sure, good, clean, cold tap water would work, also. Bottled water suppliers will often sell large quantities of distilled water and a lower price than the hassle of all those gallon bottles. I've washed many harness-containers in tap water and mild detergent with no problem. I may run a harness-container through 3-4 rinses. It's a lot of work but, like the man said... rigs are expensive! As for taking a rig to a car wash... the first time I heard that I literally cringed! I have no idea what kind of soap that car wash might have. Out in this country, there are a lot of vehicles that are used in the oilfields. I know, I wouldn't do it. Hope, this helps.


Chuck

[ZigZagMarquis 8]

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As for taking a rig to a car wash... the first time I heard that I literally cringed! I have no idea what kind of soap that car wash might have. Out in this country, there are a lot of vehicles that are used in the oilfields. I know, I wouldn't do it. Hope, this helps.

Oh, I wouldn't do it either, just saying I've heard of folks doing that.

[masterrig 1]

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As for taking a rig to a car wash... the first time I heard that I literally cringed! I have no idea what kind of soap that car wash might have. Out in this country, there are a lot of vehicles that are used in the oilfields. I know, I wouldn't do it. Hope, this helps.

Oh, I wouldn't do it either, just saying I've heard of folks doing that.

I know what you're saying.


Chuck

[riggerrob 561]

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How about filling your bath tub with (slightly) chlorinated tap water and letting it sit over night before rinsing your parachute?

Letting it sit over night will allow most of the chlorine to evaporate.

But wouldn't the positive effect of that be balanced by the negative effect of allowing the salt water to stay on the canopy that much longer?

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If you leave it in a plastic bag overnight, the sea water will not evaporate, salt will hot crystallize and will not damage your canopy.
Salt water is only dangerous to canopies after it dries/crystallizes.

[pakker 0]

The standard procedure after saltwater jumps back when i was in the military was to soak them in a freshwater. Then we changed out the freshwater and did it again. We used regular springwater, but that was not chlorinated in the area we were(not US).