Kodak Ektacolor RA (Part A Bleach/Fix Cloudy)

[spacegoose]

I bought a 10L kit of developer (a, b, c), bleach-fix (a, b), and stabilizer.

I was hoping to mix in 1L increments, but noticed today, "part a" of the bleach-fix (660 1629), formerly clear, is now cloudy with white particulate, bottle coating, and sediment. I used it once a few months ago to make a 1L solution and closed it tightly.

Part B still looks good (like brown bleach syrup). The unmixed developer solutions still look good too. All are within their expiration dates.

What to do about part a of bleach? I shook the bottle a bit which increased the particulate but did not seem to disturb or remove the sediment or bottle coating much.

Thanks,
Bill

[tgtaylor]

Here's what Kodak says:
Do not allow concentrate to freeze, as
precipitate may form.
Age, exposure to high temperature, or
oxidation can cause sulfurization of Part A
or of mixed replenisher. Severely
degraded bleach-fixes can produce a large
amount of white to yellow precipitate
(sulphur) and may have a hydrogen sulfide
odor. (i.e., rotten egg odor).

It's normal characteristics are:

Part A — Clear, colorless, slight
ammonia odor
Part B — Dark red-brown

You can kind all information on KodK chemistry, film, processing, etc., on the Kodak website.

Thomas

[Mark Sampson]

That bleach-fix part A is gone. Don't try and use it; just be glad that 25 gallons of mixed solution didn't sulfurize inside a 42" roller-transport processor (ask me how I know). The part A is probably similar to, if not identical to, b/w rapid fixer, which will degrade the same way. I don't know if you can use KRF as a substitute, though.

[spacegoose]

Can the left over part b be used for something other than part b to part a?

Part a looks like fix and part b looks like bleach, but they're both labeled bleach-fix.

[tgtaylor]

Part B is the bleach and it's probably still good. But you still need 142mL of A to 200mL of B. I wonder if you can substitute regular Kodak Rapid Fix for A? This is a good question to ask PE at apug. If you do, please post what he said.

Thomas

[EdSawyer]

I'd probably consider using C41 fix rather than Kodak Rapid Fix. Chances are it's more in line with use for color materials (pH balance maybe?)