B&W chemnical storage

with this blistering heat at the moment, what is the best way to store B&W

developer, fixer and stop?

 

Should I keep them refridgerated or just at room temp (quiet warm at the moement)

 

Thanks

Paul , Unless you are going to be keeping them in the trunk of your car in the sun, I would think they would be OK. I keep mine inside my house ,and put the developer in the fridge ,just before I am going to develop my film. I can warm the developer up in the microwave with a couple of 20 sec. burst, to get it up to 68 degrees.It takes much longer to cool it down.I have never had a problem with my chemicals getting too warm, Light and oxygen are the real enemies.

Putting developer in the fridge for a few minutes might be OK but NEVER refrigerate developer or fix for long periods. The solids that you so carefully disolved into the water will "precipitate" back out. This can both weaken the developer and leave physical deposits that dry on your film, embedded into the emulsion forever. D-76 gets mixed at 125 degrees and color chems, which are much fussier than b&W, often get used around 100, so storage at those temps isn't going to hurt anything. If it's 100 degrees inside your house you have bigger problems than worrying about your developer. I would not advise microwaving developer to heat it up -- microwaves produce short bursts of very intense heat and do it in wierd ways. I would worry about what kind of chemical reaction that might cause in the developer and whether it's changing the way it performs. The standard way to heat of cool developer is with a water bath -- put it in your developing tank then set the tank in a tub of water at the temperature you want to get the developer to.

Store in cool glass bottles in the most cool place in your house. Do not refrigerate. Temps over 68 will shorten it`s life, but there is no solution except air conditioning. A cooler will help, but do not try to get it below 68. 75 is fine

Hi Paul.

 

The developers I use are made up in triethanolamine or propylene glycol, and aren't affected by heat, except that they become less viscous. A 100ml bottle of 510-Pyro will develop up to 100 rolls/8x10 sheets of film, and will last forever on the shelf, regardless of temperature. It is very comforting to know my developer is not oxidizing on the shelf, and that it will be waiting for me, at full potency, whenever I have the time to do some processing. It's very liberating. Good luck.

 

Jay