Bottom Feeder method of keeping water warm....

[Paul Kierstead]

I recently did my very first batches of E-6 in a Jobo (24 sheets of 4x5); thanks to the support of the group, it worked out ok and I am looking forward to more. During the process I found one of the biggest pains is the little dance to keep a good lot of wash water at the right temp at hand. I tried a hot-pot, but it ran at about 51 degrees at minimum temp. I looked at aquarium heaters, but topped out at about 35 degrees. Can anyone recommend a easy and cheap (!) method of keeping a few liters of water at 38 degrees without fuss?

PK

[Colin Graham]

I've seen in five and dime stores an insertable heating element that is sort of hung on the rim of a pot, I wonder if this would work? Or is this the hot-pot you've already mentioned..

[Nick_3536]

My aquarium heater easily does 38C. It's not rated for that high but it's adjustable. But the simplest thing is to just fill a picnic cooler with warm water. If all you want is wash water I'd look for an insulated drink cooler. The kind with a tap on the front. Fill it with water at say 40C and put the lid on. The temp will drop some once it hits the cool plastic. You'll have to do a little testing to figure out how much. Then when you need wash water just draw it out via the tap.

www.coleman.com/coleman/colemancom/large.asp?productid=6251-748&prodname=36%20Quart%20Xtreme%20Cooler

Keep the lid closed and it'll keep the water warm for a long time. To give you an idea. I run C-41 one day. The next morning the water is still around 30C.

OTOH IIRC the E-6 wash step has a pretty wide temp range. I didn't think it needed very tight temp control. It's more then a few degrees each way.

[Nick_3536]

www.kodak.com/global/plugins/acrobat/en/service/Zmanuals/z119-3.pdf

6C range for first wash.

[jonathan smith]

Where I live I usually have to cool down rather than heat up water. I've found I can refrigerate water and mix it with tap water and the temperature is predictable. You could boil a pot of water, and figure out what proportion to mix it with tap water to get the temperature you want. Then change your wash water every few minutes. I hear that changing the wash water every few minutes is just as effective as a running water wash.

[John Flavell]

The Devteck, or Dev Tech, temperature control unit. We used them exclusively for our portable labs in the film days. Got them from National Graphic.