Page 3 of 3 FirstFirst 123
Results 21 to 30 of 30

Thread: Darkroom Ventilation advice, please

  1. #21

    Join Date
    Jul 2016
    Posts
    4,566

    Re: Darkroom Ventilation advice, please

    Quote Originally Posted by Luis-F-S View Post
    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.

  2. #22

    Join Date
    Jul 2019
    Posts
    38

    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

  3. #23
    Tin Can's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2011
    Posts
    22,383

    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.
    Tin Can

  4. #24
    Maris Rusis's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2006
    Location
    Noosa, Australia.
    Posts
    1,214

    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.
    Photography:first utterance. Sir John Herschel, 14 March 1839 at the Royal Society. "...Photography or the application of the Chemical rays of light to the purpose of pictorial representation,..".

  5. #25
    Angus Parker angusparker's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    San Francisco, USA
    Posts
    936

    Re: Darkroom Ventilation advice, please

    Quote Originally Posted by Timmyjoe View Post
    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.


    Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

  6. #26
    Beverly Hills, California
    Join Date
    Feb 2000
    Location
    Beverly Hills, CA
    Posts
    1,108

    Re: Darkroom Ventilation advice, please

    Stock up: They wont be available forever https://www.adorama.com/l/?searchinfo=darkroom+fan

  7. #27

    Join Date
    May 2007
    Location
    New York City & Pontremoli, Italy
    Posts
    883

    Re: Darkroom Ventilation advice, please

    Quote Originally Posted by Luis-F-S View Post
    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.

  8. #28

    Join Date
    Jan 2013
    Location
    Madisonville, LA
    Posts
    2,412

    Re: Darkroom Ventilation advice, please

    Quote Originally Posted by Andre Noble View Post
    Stock up: They wont be available forever https://www.adorama.com/l/?searchinfo=darkroom+fan
    Have a spare for when needed

  9. #29

    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.


    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	IMG_0134.jpg 
Views:	50 
Size:	62.3 KB 
ID:	195034 Click image for larger version. 

Name:	IMG_0140.jpg 
Views:	48 
Size:	47.1 KB 
ID:	195035 Click image for larger version. 

Name:	IMG_0142.jpg 
Views:	51 
Size:	58.0 KB 
ID:	195036

  10. #30
    Tin Can's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2011
    Posts
    22,383

    Re: Darkroom Ventilation advice, please

    Nice DR, looks like it is institutional from the doors visible.
    Tin Can

Similar Threads

  1. Ventilation Arm
    By Henry Yorke in forum Darkroom: Equipment
    Replies: 7
    Last Post: 30-Jan-2015, 17:30
  2. RED LED for safe lighing in drakroom
    By smithdoor in forum Darkroom: Film, Processing & Printing
    Replies: 22
    Last Post: 4-Oct-2013, 07:20
  3. Ventilation
    By Allen in Montreal in forum Darkroom: Equipment
    Replies: 19
    Last Post: 25-Jul-2013, 09:54
  4. Bad ventilation in darkroom
    By Yaakov Asher Sinclair in forum Darkroom: Film, Processing & Printing
    Replies: 24
    Last Post: 25-Jun-2002, 10:19
  5. darkroom ventilation
    By Raven Garrow in forum Darkroom: Film, Processing & Printing
    Replies: 9
    Last Post: 23-Jul-2000, 21:43

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •