Decon Experiences

[Scott McCrea]

Share your experiences with decontaminating your gear. Did you learn something that might help others? What works well? What doesn't?

I have spent a lot of time in the past few days cleaning gear. There is no way around it, it is hard work. I started by spraying stuff with the garden hose. That got the majority of the mud off. Then I hit it with my low-power, home-grade pressure wahser. That worked well. It got stuff significantly cleaner that the hose did. Then I threw everything that could stand it in the washing machine with normal detergent. Came out sparkling. The rest of the stuff, hardware mostly, I'm running thru the dishwasher with no soap. Here's what it looks like:



I recommend doing this when the wife is not home. And don't forget to delete the pics from the camera.

In the dishwasher, I put vertical gear, slings, seat harness, biners, ascenders (w/ cams open), knee pads, helmet, survey book, padding from Swaygo pack, etc. We'll see how it all comes out...

[graveleye]

You're either very brave or insane. My wife would kill me!

[Scott McCrea]

You're either very brave or insane. My wife would kill me!

Don't tell her.

[Scott McCrea]

The dishwasher just stopped. I'm not impressed. Maybe it's the lack of soap, but stuff didn't get very clean. Most of it looks about the same as when it went in. Maybe it needs to be soaked in a bucket of soapy water, rinsed and then run thru the dishwasher?

Any suggestions for a fairly inert dishwasher soap? Like Woolite for dishwashers?

Now, to get that stuff out before the wife gets home.

[PYoungbaer]

Scott,

Get a caver wife. Mine of 37 plus years started me in caving. She tolerates gear in the kitchen all the time, since some of it is hers.

Your techniques look good. Dishwasher works for the hardware/helmets. If we had confirmation (we don't) that simply hot temperatures kill the fungus, detergent wouldn't matter. I use woolite on my harness, etc. in a tub.

Cave lamps and cameras are another thing. As most of the shots I've taken recently have been to document bats, I've switched to disposable cameras. Lamps I scrub with a toothbrush and soak the fabric.

We heat primarily with wood (bein' Vahmontahs), and have a great wooden drying rack. It's always got webbing, lamps, etc. hanging from it. Weather permitting, don't forget the sun and it's UV rays for deconning appropriate materials.

In the washing machine, I add the 10% bleach solution about 5 minutes after the wash cycle begins, plus an extra rinse cycle.

I bleach both my rubber and leather boots. The Brits and their Wellies maybe knew something. I've got a PEET boot dryer (about $30), which works great.

The back of my car (Subaru Forester) has a rubber liner insert to separate items from the carpet. I've lined that with a tarp for double protection. I also double bag everything coming out of the cave. We've got a separate deconned/bleached gear tub that only carries deconned stuff to the cave.

A question: what's this SWAYGO you keep obsessing about?

Peter Youngbaer
NSS 16161
WNS Liaison

[cavergirl]

Weather permitting, don't forget the sun and it's UV rays for deconning appropriate materials.

Any idea how long the stuff would have to be in the sun for the UV to decon? and aren't some forms of plastics and nylon degraded by sunlight/UV?

[NZcaver]

Any idea how long the stuff would have to be in the sun for the UV to decon? and aren't some forms of plastics and nylon degraded by sunlight/UV?

I don't know the answer to your first question, but I can't imagine it would need to be longer than a couple of hours. To answer your second question, check out the UV stabilization topic.

[Squirrel Girl]

I followed a link on another topic starting at completely non-WNS related forum and found THIS!
Not cheap, but, boy is it relevant to the WNS topic!
Click image to go to website.

[mgmills]

You're either very brave or insane. My wife would kill me!

I am the wife in my home and it sounds like an OK idea to me as long as everything has been hosed down well before putting it in the dishwasher.

Reminds me of years ago when I lived in a neighborhood. A neighbor's kid saw me hosing down my caving clothes on the driveway and came to see what I was doing. He said, "My mom would kill me if I got my clothes that muddy."

[tncaver]

If your house is on a sewer system then it probably doesn't matter. But if your house is on a septic tank, accumulated
debris (like dirt) can stop up the drain lines, and/or fill up the septic tank. Bleach can also kill the bacteria in the septic
system that eat the sludge. So, if you are on a septic system, it is probably best to wash caving clothes at a commercial
establishment.

[InTucky]

My wife would killlllllllllllllllllllll me, no questions asked. I take all my stuff to the giant washer at the local laundry mat.

p.s. Are those the wonderwear knee pads scott?

[Scott McCrea]

p.s. Are those the wonderwear knee pads scott?

No. Those are Pat Pads. Made by Pat Sims. He is VAcaver here on Cavechat. Not sure if he is still making them, but I like 'em.

[icave]

Man, that photo is the cover of a newsletter if I've ever seen one!

[NZcaver]

I usually avoid cross-posting, but the information I just added to the WNS nylon decontamination discussion is also relevant here.

So paraphrasing my other post... when helping with WNS surveys in the northeast a year ago, I used Lysol and/or chlorine dioxide to decontaminate some of my gear. Both were recommended by some of the cave/bat biology people. One northeast caver and bat researcher concocts his own chlorine dioxide, which is apparently quite effective against the WNS fusarium/fungus, and is safe for your gear and for humans to ingest (mmmm, yummy). The EPA also says it's effective against anthrax, but it can be a little tricky (and potentially explosive) to concoct.

Apart from my caving in Hawaii (no bats and no mud), my standard cleaning still involves a combination of subjecting my gear to the high pressure hose at a DIY car wash and/or scrubbing and soaking in a plastic tub. I also usually machine wash my suit and clothing. In actual or potential WNS areas, the additional chemical treatment comes after the standard cleaning - and in some cases also immediately before entering a cave.

There was a related discussion a few years ago about gear cleaning with lots of good information, which later spawned a discussion about contamination of the cave from a dirty cave suit. Amazingly, some of us regularly cleaned our gear even before WNS was on the radar. Imagine that!

[VACaver]

You're either very brave or insane. My wife would kill me!

Don't tell her.

Scott,

I've printed out a copy of your gear in the dishwasher. Please send me one new Swaygo pack or your wife will get it in the mail !