Madrock safeguard spring broke

[Jimdude]

The spring in my safeguard must have broke. I guess it’s just a lifeguard now. Anyone have this happen?

 

[Weldabeast]

i haven't had that happen and that sucks that it did.....and also why I always try to remind everybody to learn how to use the monster munter/regular munter. All u need is a carabineer and a friction hitch for a safety back up

 

[Jimdude]

I’m tying a loop below it and hooking it threw the carabiner while hunting and honestly, it doesn’t slide down at all. I don’t even know when it stopped working. I just happen to notice it one day while hooking it in to start my climb. I’ve gotten lazy and stopped using a an autoblock on the brake hand but I think I’m going to get back into that as a best practice thing.

 

[heretic]

The safeguard is the spring-less design, do you mean to say your lifeguard is now a safeguard? Or are you talking about a different spring? Like the one that retracts the handle?

 

[Jimdude]

Oh, I guess I have the names mixed up. I’m talking about the spring that makes the internal part bite the rope when not weighted. Now that piece is not spring loaded anymore.

 

[heretic]

It should be pretty easy to tell which device you have. The safeguards are black while the lifeguards are red. Although to be fair there were some experimental springless lifeguards in circulation before madrock officially came out with the safeguard.

The safeguard is intended to be used in rescue and rigging work (think raising/lowering weight, like injured people). It more closely matches our use case of rappelling out of trees.

The lifeguard however is meant to be a true belay device, hence it has a spring on the cam to leave it open until the device is under tension. This cam spring is absolutely critical for a rock climbing situation so that your belayer can freely let out slack without having to fumble with the device.

The reason I'm asking which device it is, is because if it's a safeguard, it should have never had a spring on it (perhaps it was just a bit stiff when it was new?). If it was a lifeguard there may be something seriously wrong with your device and you should probably retire it and get in touch with madrock.

 

[Jimdude]

It’s a black safeguard from EWO.

 

[Empostarr]

It’s a black safeguard from EWO.

The only spring that there should be is in the release lever. If that broke, it just doesn't return to it's normal closed position. If that's the case, it could be a safety concern if you forget to close it and accidentally hit it. If so, do like @heretic said and contact madrock.

 

[Jimdude]

The only spring that there should be is in the release lever. If that broke, it just doesn't return to it's normal closed position. If that's the case, it could be a safety concern if you forget to close it and accidentally hit it. If so, do like @heretic said and contact madrock.

Really? I thought when it was new, the metal part that the rope wraps around was spring loaded. Maybe it was just tight and stiff when new. While hooking in the other day, I noticed I could rotate it by hand (without rope in it) and I thought is was supposed to spring back to one side. So there is nothing wrong with it and I’m good to go? Thanks to all that chimed in. I feel a lot better about it now.

 

[Empostarr]

Really? I thought when it was new, the metal part that the rope wraps around was spring loaded. Maybe it was just tight and stiff when new. While hooking in the other day, I noticed I could rotate it by hand (without rope in it) and I thought is was supposed to spring back to one side. So there is nothing wrong with it and I’m good to go? Thanks to all that chimed in. I feel a lot better about it now.

Yup, the safeguard is a springless version of the lifeguard, which is why all us hunters want the safeguard. Without the spring it's less likely to loosen when un-weighted.