PDA

View Full Version : Clayton Odorless Fixer white precipitate?



Kirk Gittings
11-Jan-2014, 18:28
I've got a gallon of this with a white precipitate at the bottom of the jug. I haven't seen it before and I need to print tomorrow. This is all the fixer I have on hand. Is it still good? Thoughts?

Ari
11-Jan-2014, 19:09
It should still be good.
I would use it for prints, as any flecks will wash off.
If it were film you were developing, I'd say throw it out, as I wouldn't risk having one of those flecks stick to film.

vinny
11-Jan-2014, 19:36
I think freestyle told me to heat mine up. I never did it, just poured it thru a screened funnel.

sanking
11-Jan-2014, 20:36
I would warm the fixer in a water bath. The reason the chemicals are on the bottom is because the solution got cold and they went out of solution. If you just strain the solution you will loose some of the strength of the fixer. Perhaps not enough to notice, but the better course of action is to just heat it up.

Sandy

Kirk Gittings
11-Jan-2014, 22:13
Thanks all. Yes it is just being used for prints.

Yes Sandy it appears related to the cold. I hadn't thought of that. I'd had the heat turned down there and the fixer had not warmed back up when I was getting ready to mix it to working strength. Mixing it with warm water did the trick. I've never seen this issue with cold Kodak Rapid Fix.

Bruce Barlow
12-Jan-2014, 09:28
I've seen it in TF-4. Didn't know about warming it up to redissolve it, but a little thought reminiscent of high school chemistry should have led me there. But in the absence of common sense, thanks!!!

Toyon
12-Jan-2014, 17:48
Dump it.

Mark Sampson
12-Jan-2014, 18:39
I don't know Clayton odorless fixer. But if the precipitate is yellowish, and the liquid smells of sulfur, the fixer is 'sulfurized' and no good. (This precipitate will not dissolve.)
When I used TF-4, and stored it in my chilly basement darkroom, there was sometimes a white precipitate which would dissolve when warmed up to working temp. This was said to be normal, and prints made with this fixer processed normally and have lasted until now.