Working in a warm (very warm) darkroom

[Alan9940]

Now that the warmer weather is beginning to return to the desert southwest, I'm thinking that my silver printing days will end soon for the season. I've only had my darkroom setup for a few years now in my new home, but in past years I've relegated myself to printing pt/pd during the hot weather or not printing at all. I never liked the idea of not being able to work for a considerable part of the year. How long are we talking? My darkroom runs about 80 - 84F for, at least, 6 months of the year. Anyway, I'm curious if others face this same issue and what, if anything, has been done to continue working; specifically, silver printing.

Thank you.

[HT Finley]

In the southeast it gets hot, sticky, and totally miserable. But you just have to deal with it. When you're in your hot darkroom, be glad you're not on a work crew tarring a black roof or on bucket truck fixing the power lines so somebody can sit next to the air conditioner eating twinkies. There's guys that do that every day.

[Michael Clark]

I,am in southern California where the summers are hot but not to humid, I have a zone VI temperature compensating timer for printing which helps, but after the water temp rises above 80 deg. F I just print very early in the morning or print just really dense dark negs.Right now the dark room is in a extra bathroom in the house. With Roll film I can chill the chems down to a stable 75 F. with out to much of a problem with ice baths, with sheet film it is much harder.

[Doremus Scudder]

80°F with little humidity is not all that bad to work in. I do it all the time. Chemical temperature is not really an issue here either; prints just develop faster. Ideal is a Zone VI compensating developing timer that will adjust its "seconds" to be faster when the temperature is higher, but it's not absolutely necessary. I'd just note the ambient temperature in my printing record (e.g., 2.5 min. @ 82°F or the like) so I could make some kind of compensation if I wanted to reprint at a lower temperature.

If personal comfort is the issue then a small air-conditioning unit might be the ticket.

Best,

Doremus

[j.e.simmons]

When I lived in Florida, my water temperature out of the tap was a consistent 80F 10 months out of the year. Air temperature was at least 10 degrees higher with 90% humidity. I adjusted dilutions and times to deal with it and got consistent results.

[John Layton]

Had a "hot in the summer" darkroom a few years ago (no longer the case - such a relief!)...but was able to incorporate a small window-mount AC unit, with some extra black tape/blackout cloth baffling, but it worked great! My vent fan was mounted in an insulated "black out" panel above the AC unit - and I had no problems with vented air getting sucked back in, as the air disbursement/velocities were very different. At any rate...the top vent panel was on a separate hinge, mounted to an auxiliary flange I'd created for the window frame, which allowed me to swing it out of the way to let in some light and basically have half of a functioning window when needed/wanted.

[hendrik faure]

"my silver printing days will end..."

high level complaint

(looking out my window)

two weeks ago my darkroom was 15 degree Fahrenheit.
I depose some chemistry in the refrigerator to protect from freezing
Meanwhile dirty wet weather begins, often for months
:-)
hendrik

[Alan9940]

Thank you all for your responses. To be clear, I'm not concerned about my own comfort; the warmer darkroom temps really don't bother me as it is very dry here. I was interested to hear what folk's experience was developing prints in chemistry around 80F and it sounds as if it's not problem. As I have a Zone VI Compensating Timer, I'm planning to print right through the summer this year and see how it goes. It's nice to know that it's nothing to worry about...

@John Layton, yeah, back when I lived in Vermont a "warm darkroom" was never an issue; mostly I had to figure out how to keep working through the winter months because the ambient darkroom temp could be around 50F and the in-coming water line could freeze depending on the outside temp and wind. I miss Vermont a LOT, but I don't miss those long, cold winters. Oh, and mounting an A/C unit in my darkroom is not an option due to Home Owner Association rules.

[Gary Beasley]

The good “portable” ac units have two separate ducts that can go into a window or two to cool a room if you happen to have enough room for it and doesnt look like a window ac from the outside. If it was cleverly disguised do you think the HOA would get thier panties in a wad over that?

[Alan9940]

The good “portable” ac units have two separate ducts that can go into a window or two to cool a room if you happen to have enough room for it and doesnt look like a window ac from the outside. If it was cleverly disguised do you think the HOA would get thier panties in a wad over that?

Thanks for the suggestion, Gary. Yep, I looked into those units a couple years ago, but there is only one large window in the darkroom that has two panes sliding horizontally to open/close making it difficult, IMO, to mount the required hoses. Not impossible, but security of the window would be a consideration, too. I doubt the HOA would have a coronary because the setup in the window probably wouldn't be visible due to sunscreens; these screens are difficult to see through. All that said, I'm going to keep that option open.