Re: Darkroom Ventilation advice, please
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Luis-F-S
It’s not rocket science. Put an exhaust fan over the sink and put a filtered intake grill behind you on the opposite wall. That’s it!! Or you can loose sleep over the details.
Yes, but if unsafe chem is used then that design pointed by Angus it is the good one, not that difficut to build, and extremly effective.
It all depends on the chem we use, for common chem it's not necessary that optimal design, for some chem around we should do things in the optimal way, which is that design.
Re: Darkroom Ventilation advice, please
Do you all live in temperate climates?
It seems like the systems discussed here move a lot of air, and if you are drawing air in from outside and then exiting the "dirty" air back outside, how are you keeping the temperature in your darkroom anything other than the outside air temp? I think that would work fine up here in Northern Illinois, for about two months out of the year. Otherwise the darkroom would be freezing cold in winter and boiling hot in summer.
Best,
-Tim
Re: Darkroom Ventilation advice, please
I use inside air here in Illinois, but draw it outside.
I also use low pressure, low volume and safer chems.
Re: Darkroom Ventilation advice, please
My present (and best) darkroom was designed to solve the ventilation problem by leaving it out entirely. I use odourless developers, odourless stop bath, odourless fixer, odourless hypo-clear, and odourless archival washing with water. Some of this chemistry costs a bit more than the cheapest and nastiest but it's worth it. Instead of forced ventilation I installed a reverse cycle air-conditioner with a good filtration system. The air always smells good, no dust, and no boiling in summer and freezing in winter. And in the course of a 5 or 6 hour session the darkroom door gets opened and closed many times to take pictures out, call a colleague in for an opinion, take a coffee break, etc. No stale air for me, please.
https://live.staticflickr.com/5523/1...d505ac54_c.jpg
Re: Darkroom Ventilation advice, please
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Timmyjoe
Do you all live in temperate climates?
It seems like the systems discussed here move a lot of air, and if you are drawing air in from outside and then exiting the "dirty" air back outside, how are you keeping the temperature in your darkroom anything other than the outside air temp? I think that would work fine up here in Northern Illinois, for about two months out of the year. Otherwise the darkroom would be freezing cold in winter and boiling hot in summer.
Best,
-Tim
Yes, temperate. San Francisco temperature rarely deviate from around 60F. Longer term I want to set up a darkroom where the outside temp varies from 0 to 110F through the year. No idea how I would manage that, except the formats and trays would be for 8x10 not ULF sizes which makes a big difference.
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Re: Darkroom Ventilation advice, please
Re: Darkroom Ventilation advice, please
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Luis-F-S
It’s not rocket science. Put an exhaust fan over the sink and put a filtered intake grill behind you on the opposite wall. That’s it!! Or you can loose sleep over the details.
This is essentially what I have just finished installing in my home darkroom: a passive Doran double-louver above the door and opposite the sink and an exhaust system based on Edward's Engineering. The exhaust vents are slots at the back of the sink and pull the fumes quite efficiently; the exhaust fan is the same one used by Jon Edwards (from Grainger). If I had the money and space for it, I would have simply bought the whole thing from him (my sink was supplied by him). BTW - he is very knowledgeable about this and very helpful.
And - I once worked in a 'professional' darkroom with air blown in and what I got was mostly headaches.
Re: Darkroom Ventilation advice, please
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Andre Noble
Have a spare for when needed
3 Attachment(s)
Re: Darkroom Ventilation advice, please
My system actually does push air, but the air flow is quite directional not unlike laminar flow in a clean room. I have a powerful roof mounted blower that blows into my darkroom through two HEPA filtered ceiling vents at opposite ends of my 9"X20" space. I have a 12" dia. duct pipe positioned vertically over my stop/fix/chem. mix area in the middle of my 19" sink on the opposite wall from the two ceiling vents. This gives me fresh air at all times, a positive pressure in the room, and extremely efficient venting of fumes and odors. The air moves very quickly out the duct pipe. The positive pressure also efficiently eliminates the dust problem and the remote roof fan eliminates noise. I also have the fan on a rheostat for greater control over air flow. When not in use, I tape a cardboard to the duct vent in order to prevent random air currents from occurring.
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Re: Darkroom Ventilation advice, please
Nice DR, looks like it is institutional from the doors visible.