My Corrosive Sweat....

[pj]

I just had a rude awakening today and wonder if anyone else has seen this happen. I have used a Fritzke Box for my Mitchell System for about 10 or more years. I always used to run my gear through the washing machine on gentle cycle after any caving trip to the Guads. Since we got a new washing machine that has a vertical tub, I decided not to put the chest harness/box through the machine for fear of damaging the washing machine. I may not have washed the harness by hand, either, foolish me....

Today I took out my vertical gear since a local newspaper writer wanted to do an article on me. When I found my chest harness, I was stunned to see that a number of places on the anodized aluminum plate had corroded to the point where I could scratch it off with my fingernail! Needless to say, I am retiring the system which I regret deeply. The Fritzke Box gave me years of superb service and always worked like a charm.

I took the box down to a local steel manufacturing place and they said they thought it was my sweat that had caused the corrosion. My last trip was four days in Lech and needless to say, I sweat a lot in there. If I didn't wash it out, that could indeed be the culprit.

Has anyone else had corrosion issues like this before? In all the years I had the box, it has never corroded even the slightest, despite areas of the anodizing having worn off. My CMI extruded aluminum ascenders weren't affected, but they probably weren't exposed to as much sweat since they were only hand held, not right up against my body, absorbing sweat like the harness.

Thanks for your replies,

Peter Jones
Shot in the Dark Cave Photography

[adleedy]

not to change the subject, but what excactly is a Fritzke Box, ive never heard of or seen one before

[Evan G]

Hey Peter its Evan (red mug man ),

I noticed that my Fritzke Box did the same thing in Lech, but it was one of the orginal apline boxes that was uncoated. Also with a Blum Box that was uncoated, but the corrosion I just cleaned off. Then after that I painted with the base plate with a rubberize paint. I used my old Blum for years after that.

[Evan G]

not to change the subject, but what excactly is a Fritzke Box, ive never heard of or seen one before

Here adleedy is a Fritzke Box:

http://storrick.cnchost.com/VerticalDevicesPage/Misc/ChestBoxPages/Box631.html

It is an old school chest box, personally I thought it was one of the best made.

If anyone has a Fritzke Box out that they want to sell, please PM me

[Scott McCrea]

Peter,

Aluminum corrosion is apparently more aggressive in the Guads. Bill Storage said in his article about Aging Carabiners, that a biner left in Carlsbad corroded much faster than biners in Appalachia. Depending on the severity and type of corrosion, strength can be significantly lessened. However, I would be surprised if merely missing one cleaning caused more than cosmetic damage. Could you post a picture of the corrosion?

[pj]

Thanks to all for your responses. Evan, last time I saw you was when you made it up Boulder Falls in 3 minutes. You probably still hold the record....

The Fritzke Box was designed and manufactured by Mark Fritzke. They were precision machined to minute tolerances, making them just about bombproof and very easy to open or close with only two fingers. I think several other designs, including the new PMI Double Chest Roller, took advantage of Mark's design. I believe about 100 of them were made originally, each numbered, mine being A096. Admittedly, the PMI version is somewhat of an improvement over the original design. It will be my new chest harness roller of choice.

But I digress.



You can see from the image that the top of the bar is corroded to the point of flaking off. If you look closely above the screw link, you can see that there is corrosion beneath the anodizing as well. It's only a matter of time before that corrodes through.



Here you can see pronounced corrosion beneath the webbing. This corroborates the idea that it was my corrosive sweat since the places where it is most severe are those where the contact with sweaty, salted webbing was most intense. It all seems to make sense...


I think this was indeed from only one exposure in the Guads. I've been caving there for 38 years and NEVER have experienced anything like this before. Again, the only difference is that I did NOT wash the harness (although I did the other stuff) this one time. What a lesson learned...

The moral of the story is, wash your gear after heavy, sweaty usage!

Peter

[Scott McCrea]

Ah, looks like the exfoliation type of corrosion, described in the article I linked previously.

How long was it sitting around like that?

It does make sense. Since corrosion has an electrical component and water will conduct electricity, the damp webbing held the moisture on the aluminum. And, the salt in the sweat increased the electrical conductivity of the moisture. Add a bit of time and you have a perfect storm of corrosion.

To add to your moral of the story, at least dry your software (webbing, harness, etc) that touches aluminum. Probably most common in chest boxes/harnesses. Washing it is even better.

Thanks for sharing, Peter! Interesting stuff.

BTW, I'd still use it.

[adleedy]

so would it not be possible to clean the corrosion off and have the piece powdercoated or painted?

[Evan G]

Evan, last time I saw you was when you made it up Boulder Falls in 3 minutes. You probably still hold the record....

That brought back memories, I had to go fast the person ahead of me took 45 mins to do Boulder Falls. Your brother was not to happy about that.

Actually the last time I saw you was on the Underground Mysteries crew. God the PC crew had me running in and out of Lechy, I did 22 trips into the cave that expedition. Remember the rope I rigged for you acrossed Boulder Falls, then dropped the rope down the otherside of Boulder. I thought the Photo Ledge was on the otherside of Boulder Falls, Oops!

Back to the thread:

Admittedly, the PMI version is somewhat of an improvement over the original design. It will be my new chest harness roller of choice.

Ha, I see you just want an excuse to get the PMI. I almost did buy one but I found a blum box, but do I think I going to get a PMI an compare them side by side. I like the PMI since I mostly use a floating cam Mitchell system and it does remind me of the Fritzke.

Your Fritzke has seen better days. You mite get a few more years out it, but I know your luck Peter! Get a new PMI!

[pj]

Evan: It was actually an hour and half and I was livid, but that's another story.....

The F Box could probably be used for a few more years, but my fear of heights is assuaged only by full faith in the quality of my gear and belief in my own abilities. I've gone many places I never thought I'd go back when my fears got the best of me. The corrosion on this thing is deep enough that it would give me some serious doubts. I'd rather spend a few sheckels and live to tell about it.

Peter

[Evan G]

I'd rather spend a few sheckels and live to tell about it.

Good point! I fully understand.

Keep in touch,
Evan