belay device failure

[ivan]

Jumars freak me out when they HAVEN'T been dropped.

 

i like how the bottom of mine has been chewed to shit by fifi'ng to it when cleaning funky aid climbs

[billcoe]

A real Jumar, not an ascender of some sort? Jumars freak me out when they HAVEN'T been dropped.

 

Well you'd be real freaked to start with when Ivan pulls out the rope with a core shot and you are expected to just ignore the white patch and rap 600' off the deck then as well I'd bet LOL!

[Choada_Boy]

Some of you dirt asses have used your ATCs until they were quite worn through from friction. Own it. That's the most probably failure mode, other than human stupidity.

[stevetimetravlr]

a dropped carabiner is not super susceptible to failure...basically it does not experience microfracturing...

I was referring to this sweeping generalization.

[counterfeitfake]

Some of you dirt asses have used your ATCs until they were quite worn through from friction. Own it. That's the most probably failure mode, other than human stupidity.

 

So you have heard of an ATC failing?

[Choada_Boy]

Nope. Just trying to say that an ATC wearing through is the most probable failure mode, other than human stupidity.

[JoeR]

Supposedly there have been cases of heavily worn devices cutting through or otherwise damaging a rope under load, particularly 1st gen Reverso's.

 

I am too lazy to back this up with any solid evidence, so there ya go.

[Gunkiemike]

Consider this:

Someone drops their belay device, and asks the question, "Do I need to buy a new one?" Typical response is, "Isn't your LIFE worth $25?"

 

So most people consider the cost/benefit ratio and "buy the argument" and go buy a new one and retire the old one. So it never gets used again. Ever. So we never learn if it would have failed or not.

 

Now, occasionally, someone will NOT replace the dropped device. Did it eventually fail? Or did he/she just get lucky all these years? We'll never know that either.

 

I know it doesn't exactly answer your question, but I'd posit that that's the way it goes the majority of the time. YMMV.

 

I've caught some pretty high factor leader falls on my belay device (that I picked up on the ground under a popular gumbie-thon multipitch route). Not disasters so far.

[sobo]

Consider this:

Someone drops their belay device, and asks the question, "Do I need to buy a new one?" Typical response is, "Isn't your LIFE worth $25?"

 

So most people consider the cost/benefit ratio and "buy the argument" and go buy a new one and retire the old one. So it never gets used again. Ever. So we never learn if it would have failed or not.

 

Now, occasionally, someone will NOT replace the dropped device. Did it eventually fail? Or did he/she just get lucky all these years? We'll never know that either.

 

I know it doesn't exactly answer your question, but I'd posit that that's the way it goes the majority of the time. YMMV.

I've caught some pretty high factor leader falls on my belay device (that I picked up on the ground under a popular gumbie-thon multipitch route). Not disasters so far.

"so far" being the operative words...