Darkroom water temp control

[Cletus]

So here in Dallas, where summertime cold water temps rarely drop below 30deg, kinda makes an investment in a temptrol unit moot. In the winter/fall months, the cold temp drops below 20, but that's still only 4 or 5 months at the most, where I don't have to trundle buckets of ice cubes from the kitchen to the darkroom.

I keep thinking maybe one of these little aquarium chillers or drinking water chillers (from an office type water cooler maybe) could be installed in the cold water line. The models I've seen run between $100-200 usually, and can be plugged into a standard household 120V receptacle. Sounds ideal to me, I'm just not sure this would actually work.

Does anyone else living in hot climates do anything like this? I'm not sure whether the drinking water/aquarium cooler idea would support enough flow for darkroom water requirements. Obviously, the chiller would be mounted upstream of a water temp-troller of some kind.

Any comments? What are using in your darkroom?

[Drew Wiley]

If its just a tempering bath, it's easier to do it the other way : put one or two of those blue ice things in there and then offset it with a drip line of slightly warmer water. Cheap and reusable.

[bigdog]

http://www.largeformatphotography.in...hlight=chiller

http://www.apug.org/forums/forum43/1...ed-prints.html

[Nathan Potter]

I'm in Austin TX. and my tap water reached a record 88 F last summer.

While not ideal because of low flow, I have installed a Peltier cooler module (800 Watt version) that I got cheap from a discount/surplus house in CA. It needs to be driven by about 16 VDC so I ebayed a Harrison DC supply that runs off 220 VAC. Dumb because I had to put a 220 volt line to the darkroom (expensive even with DYI). The whole mess cost too much but I was really sick of the ice cube deal and marginal control. The Peltier unit control is really stabile even though I use it open loop (no feedback control). Generally I can control temperature up to a flow of about 2 liters per minute but even then I'll do processing at 75 to 80 degrees F in the heat of the summer.

Cursed place to live for a true Canadian and New Englander.

Nate Potter, Austin TX.

[Nathan Potter]

Bigdog, a chiller is a good solution and I had been seeking out a decently inexpensive one earlier. But one of the companies I consult with has had a lot of trouble with a variety of industrial chillers especially those acquired through the used market (ebay, etc.). That knowledge kinda scared me off but maybe that was a mistake. Most chillers use a compressor with refrigeration coils and have active temperature control. The trick is to afford one with decent capacity.

One possible source I turned up recently in TX. was an auction site for discarded hospital gear. They occasionally have chillers listed. Last time the starting price was $30.00.

Nate Potter, Austin TX.

[BetterSense]

I live in Dallas. It's actually easier in the warm months. I just bring a pitcher of ice water into the darkroom and use it to mix my film developer. I use slightly warmer rinse water, slightly warmer fix, and wash at ambient...warmer water washes better anyway. I do all my paper developer at ambient, even if that's 28C.

In the winter, I microwave the pitcher instead. But it's pretty annoying developing paper in ice water.

[Paul Hoyt]

Sometimes you just get lucky. I bought a Delta water chiller that was from a "going out of business" commercial darkroom. It was $60.00 and it fit into my Jeep. When it gets hot and the water temp of cold water is 75 to 80 degrees, it is nice to mix "chilled" water with "warm" water and make 68 degree water jackets for film and print processing.

[Doremus Scudder]

When I lived in San Antonio, I had the same problem during the summer months (I used to say that the four seasons in TX are Dec., Jan., Feb. and summer...)

If your situation was like mine, i.e., too warm tap water, but working in an air-conditioned room, then the following may be easier for you than getting a chiller.

When developing film, I simply used refrigerated water to mix with tap water to make room temperature water for mixing/diluting chemicals. I then processed at ambient temperature.

If you keep your room temperature under 80°F, then you can just use a time/temperature adjustment scale like the one attached to find the correct processing time for whatever ambient temperature you happen to have at the time.

For the wash just slowly warm the film to tap water temp and wash with running tap water followed by a same-temperature distilled water/photo-flo rinse (especially if your water is as hard as San Antonio water). You'll likely have to warm up the distilled water a bit. I just had it the wash water stream while washing.

For printing, again, I just used refrigerated to mix processing chems to room temp as above and then processed at room temperature. No worries about going directly to a warmer wash with prints, so running tap water for the wash.

No such problems now with my fresh mountain spring water in both Oregon and Vienna!

Hope this helps,

Doremus

[rdenney]

When I lived in San Antonio, I had the same problem during the summer months (I used to say that the four seasons in TX are Dec., Jan., Feb. and summer...)

I've had darkrooms in both San Antonio and Dallas. I would challenge your statement above--I've experienced 95-degree temps in San Antonio in February. I've also experirence 22-degree temps in January, so you never know what you'll get.

When I did color work in College Station, we had a chiller and it was nice to have. In San Antonio, I didn't have that so I did what Doremus did and just built my technique around the warmer temperatures. If the tap water was hotter than 78, I put the fillm in a box and waited for cooler days. The warmer water will soften the emulsion so care is required. But it worked.

A chiller can be salvaged from any regular commercial water drinking fountain, if you can find one of those. That's what we used in College Station, and it was far less expensive than anything purpose-built for photography.

Rick "who doesn't have that problem with his own well in Virginia" Denney

[Drew Wiley]

Move here. It's ususally about 60 degrees all summer long!