Dry darkroom?

[Oren Grad]

One thing I've wondered, are there any negative effects from having the prints sit in the the water holding tray for extended periods before going to final print washing and drying?

It's OK for FB prints. For RC prints, Ilford's advice is:

Prolonged immersion in water can cause edge penetration and print curl with resin coated papers: for this reason, avoid wet times longer than 15 minutes.

[jp]

I've seen RC prints curl after setting in the water too long. There is no benefit to a long wash with RC prints as the paper is coated on both sides. I hadn't noticed the curling until it was window matted and in a frame and the edges started to wrinkle. It's sort of a 3-d curl, unlike negative curling which is easily flattened out.

[Ken Lumbis]

Thanks for the info

[Jim Jones]

It's OK for FB prints. For RC prints, Ilford's advice is:

Prolonged immersion in water can cause edge penetration and print curl with resin coated papers: for this reason, avoid wet times longer than 15 minutes.

I've also seen this with Kodak RC paper.

Six of the seven darkrooms I've set up over many years had no running water, but they had walking water. I walked in with jugs of water and walked out with a large pail of waste water. Storing jugs of water in the darkroom provided a source at the same temperature as chemicals, tanks, and reels.

[Robbie Shymanski]

Aaron Siskind did most of his work in a "dry" darkroom. If it worked for him...

[Pawlowski6132]

What a pain in the ass. I don't think I would bother.

[redrockcoulee]

It is actually not that difficult and from my experiences using a room that you need to haul water in and out is easier than transforming a bathroom for each session. It took about 5 minutes of time and I washed the prints in the bathroom one floor down. Then our nephew came to stay with us while he completeted his 4th year plumbing apprenticeship. Needless to say I now have running water in my darkroom. It is better but when printing fibre or if I ever get around to making 11X14 or larger again I will still need to take the prints downstairs for washing.

[John Koehrer]

What a pain in the ass. I don't think I would bother.

nobody's makin' you!

[nolindan]

I have made dry darkrooms into temporarily wet darkrooms by running garden hose from either the laundry sink taps or from taps installed under a bathroom sink. If you bring in hot water you may need special hot-water hose. A 3/4" hose is adequate as a drain from the sink to the floor drain, a bucket and a sump pump work if you need to pump the waste uphill.

A big problem with turning spare bedrooms into darkrooms is protecting the floor from spills. I haven't found a good solution [er, sorry about that].

[kev curry]

Three things that make life easy in a dry darkroom are; a bucket to carry water, a print washer for negs and prints set up somewhere convenient like the bath tub and a good sized dish warmer to ensure stable temperatures, a lot less hassle than a tempering bath.