It sounds doable to me. In this thread I share my experience tapping into my home's water supply. Just for 'piece of mind' I pressurized the house's water system with 40 psi compressed air and painted all the sweated joints with soap water to test for leaks before restoring the water supply to the house.
http://www.apug.org/forums/forum43/7...copper-me.html
An 8x10 foot space would make a very nice darkroom. My thoughts:
1. Ventilation - this is very important. If you don't have fresh air in the darkroom, you will tire far more quickly and be much less creative. The best approach to ventilation is to force air to flow INTO the darkroom. In photography, dust is your enemy The best way to manage dust is to force filtered air into the darkroom, and then allow it to exhaust on its own. If the air pressure inside the darkroom is slightly greater than the pressure outside, you won't have dust entering through the unavoidable spaces around receptacles, doors, etc. A related problem is noise - if the ambient noise level is too great, that also becomes a factor that leads to premature tiring. Most bathroom ventilator fans are too noisy. I found that Radio Shack has a 120v computer-style 'muffin fan' that is reasonably quiet and that works very well in a darkroom. And if you can mount the fan outside the darkroom and duct air in, it is totally silent. Other than the bathroom, what other spaces surround the 'closet' you are converting to a bathroom? Unless you are into sulfide toning, the airborne effluent from a darkroom aren't all that noxious and you may be able to get away with simply letting the air flow where it will. But if you are concerned, you could always put a simple vent to an attic, basement or even outdoors.
2. Plumbing - going through the wall adjacent to the shower should expose hot and cold water supply lines that you can tap into. Unless your house is fairly new, the piping will likely be copper. Copper pipe is traditionally soldered, but in some markets you can find compression fittings that can be used in retrofits. The extension into the darkroom can be copper, welded plastic (CPVC) or PEX (with compression fittings). Be aware that opening that wall may not expose drain lines. The drain from a shower is in the floor underneath the shower. If you can get access to the area under the bathroom, you should be able to tap into the shower drain. About the only scenario I can think of where opening the wall behind the shower would expose a drain is if that wall contains a vent from the shower drain - there should be a vent from the shower drain, but it doesn't have to be in the same wall as the supply lines.
3. Electrical - think about how many receptacles you think you will need, and then install twice that number. They are cheap to install when you are constructing the darkroom, but harder and more expensive to add later. And treat the darkroom like a bathroom - make sure that the receptacles are on a GFI. Your life may depend on it. Also, think about including a master switch that turns everything in the darkroom on or off at one time.
The darkroom space is in the northeast corner of the second story of the house. Above it is attic, below it is a guess bedroom with double closets (possible plumbing space). To the south is a bathroom; to the west is my project/hobby room.
I previously worked in my apartment's 5x7 foot walk-in with no water, no ventilation, and the only outlet was an adapter I put in the light socket in the ceiling. The biggest problem was that it was hot, there was no ventilation and no running water or drain. I don't have a problem with fumes from silver gelatin, but I would like to be covered for color and bleaching I guess. So I'm looking at putting in the bathroom ceiling fan, I can put in an A/C duct into the ceiling, and now yall have given me the idea to install a stud-space dark-vent from my hobby room into the darkroom. The bathroom ceiling fan would be the most expensive and the hardest since I would have to run wires. If I put a stud-space vent from the hobby room into the darkroom and run an A/C duct into the ceiling of the darkroom that may be sufficient.
Science is what we understand well enough to explain to a computer. Art is everything else we do.
--A=B by Petkovšek et. al.
I've done this several times now and it works well. Its nice to have your darkroom being constantly heated and cooled. Your stuff keeps better and its always comfortable to go in and start work.Originally Posted by BetterSense
As long as we're "perfecting" your darkroom, you might think about installing a remote fan that is mounted in the attic and sucks out of the darkroom. A little more expensive and a bit more trouble but the noise reduction would be nice. As with another poster, I'm pretty sensitive to fan noise as well.
You might also think about a combination shelf/hood over the sink. Its a great place to put the things you use frequently and a hood really helps control the fumes. Make it about 16" deep and about head high with the air extraction built into it. A trough turned upside down, if you will.
That might be a good way to go. I only thought about bathroom fan because it's kind of a similar application to a bathroom fan, but I know that I will almost never run a bathroom fan unless it's literally silent or I just need to clean fumes out temporarily. And actually, I suppose a darkroom fan can exhaust right into the attic without causing an problems. It doesn't seem like in really needs piped out; I have those tornado-style roof vents in my attic.As long as we're "perfecting" your darkroom, you might think about installing a remote fan that is mounted in the attic and sucks out of the darkroom. A little more expensive and a bit more trouble but the noise reduction would be nice.
Science is what we understand well enough to explain to a computer. Art is everything else we do.
--A=B by Petkovšek et. al.
Pulling air is always more efficient than pushing it. Using an attic-mounted or external
fan is a much better option - quieter, better fan life, better air exchange - but also
distinctly more expensive. I have a huge exterior mounted squirrel-cage fan on my
lab, and in a new bathroom a Panasonic attic-mounted one which I have to be careful
to remember to turn off because I can't even hear the thing running - and its around
350CFM.
I keep reading about ventilation at the sink. But realistically, you want your ventilation where your biggest fume release would be occuring. Which would be where your developing trays or print processor is going to be.
Which for someone with a nice long sink is in the sink. I'm writing about a "sink" that's essentially a big long (8 or 10') tray about a foot deep in front and 18-24" at the rear with a drain in the middle. A big sink containing trays with chemicals and a print or film washer.
If you are going to be wiring up for fans, you should install an outlet or a couple of outlets on your ceiling for safelights. Mine are on a switched outlet so I can turn them on/off from the wall. Other people like pull strings. But either way you need electricity for them. This should be easy/cheap to do while wiring up a fan.
Plenty of wall outlets is good too. You may need plenty of outlets. I have hooked initially up 2 enlargers and a timer, but have added a small lamp for dim working light while coating paper for alt process, and a hair dryer for drying alt process paper or testing drydown on silver paper. I also plug in an air cleaner sometimes too.
Louie Powell is right on about having positive pressure in your darkroom. With a fan sucking air out you will get dust-laden air drawn into the room every time you open the door. To get positive pressure in my darkroom I used a "room-to-room" fan I got from Grainger. Its air supply is filtered through a 12"x24" pleated furnace filter in a simple housing I made. The air supply is indoor air and hence heated. High on a wall above the sink I installed a light-tight passive vent through which the air can exit. On tying into a drain line be sure you have a p-trap somewhere between your sink drain and the drain line itself. Without this you will get sewer gasses coming up out of the sink drain. I disagree with the person who said you would need a vent to get the sink to drain properly. The US has incredibly(!) complex codes for vents. Other countries don't even require them--and their sinks somehow drain. If you do choose to have venting the easiest code-compliant type to install will be what is called an "island vent." Using such a vent eliminates the need to tie in to a vent line that goes up through the roof. A Studor vent will also work, and is easier still, although they are not code compliant in some jurisdictions. Me, I'd start with nothing and see whether there was a problem. Last, you might consider just working in a darkroom without running water. I worked as a professional photographer for some years in such a darkroom. I brought two-quart plastic juice pitchers in with the mixed chemicals for the trays. To avoid having to carry trays of chemicals out, which is tough to do without frequent spills, I dumped the trays into a plastic office waste basket at the end of each session. The print washer was in the laundry room. I developed film in the laundry room after loading it in the dark. Not elegant but I never missed running water at all while I was making prints. Let us know what you come up with and how it works for you. njb
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