Do bug bombs destroy gear?

My wife set off bug bombs in the apartment without telling me and all my climbing gear was exposed. Should I be worried about all of the gear being ruined?

YER GONNA DIE!!!!!

No seriously though I'd love to know the answer to this as well. I have often wondered what kind of effect Deet has on climbing equipment.

Hmm that is a very interesting question. I would guess nylon or dynex/dynemma would be more affected than aluminum if at all, but I honestly have no idea.

If the bomb dumps powder or other substances directly on the gear, I"d worry. Otherwise if it's just gasses, I doubt if it's any worse than your rope 'breathing' the exhaust of the highway from the back of your truck as you head to the crags.

Found this in some canyoneering forum.

From the Sterling Rope website:

sterlingrope.com/2005/cli..…

"Many climbers have in the past worried about the effects of accidentally spilling bug repellent on their climbing ropes. The following is the result of preliminary testing of deet and other bug repellent chemicals.

Samples of nylon, polyester, and spectra were submitted for chemical resistance testing for DEET (N,dimethyl-m-toluamide). The three samples were immersed separately in CUTTER and OFF brand insect repellent for a period of twenty-four hours at room temperature. OFF? contains 95% Deet (N-dimethyl-m-toluamide) while CUTTER contains only 7% Deet and probably some oil based solvents as well. The results of the testing indicate no loss of strength as measured by tensile strength retention in any of the three samples.

There was one interesting anomaly that occurred only in the case of Nylon and the "CUTTER? brand insect repellent. As mentioned before there was no loss of strength for any of the samples but here there was a 25% increase in the elongation and a decrease in modulus. This basically means that a rope made entirely or mostly out of Nylon may become “rubbery� with a significant amount of exposure to CUTTE? or other insect repellents with large amounts of oil based solvents.

However, with regard to the chemical in question, DEET, there appears to be no effect on any of the physical properties of the three samples. Hence as CUTTER? contains only 7% DEET the change in the Nylon elongation and modulus must come from the other solvents in the product. It is suggested that if a rope has significant amounts of Nylon to use insect repellents with 95-100% Deet instead of ones with some Deet and large amounts of other oil based solvents.

Best regards,

Carlos Williams
Honeywell Performance Fibers "

Ty Morrison-Heath wrote:YER GONNA DIE!!!!! No seriously though I'd love to know the answer to this as well. I have often wondered what kind of effect Deet has on climbing equipment.

First of all, the bug bomb was not likely to be DEET. It is a bug killer, not a repellent.

Secondly, even a couple minutes of googling would inform you that DEET does not harm Spectra or nylon gear incl. climbing ropes. Blue Water soaked a rope overnight in 100% DEET and it was fine.

To the OP - the bomb is likely 99% petroleum distillates (harmless to gear) and a small amount of a phosphate insecticide. Also harmless.

Thanks for info Mike. Not that I'm in danger of having undeclared chemical warfare in my apartment any time soon, but the more you know eh?

Thanks for all the help. I'm glad it's not as bad as I originally feared.

thats useful to know as some people i know have been perpetrating the myth that deet wrecks climbing gear ...

Well, that was easily resolved. Most likely the unnamed bug bomb was this chemical, so most likely your gear is OK. On belay!