Ambient Water Temperature

Edwardv

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With the heat wave passing through Bowie, MD (17 miles from Washington DC) I decided to see what the ambient cold water temperature would be today, August 6, 2006. I used a Kodak mercury thermometer to check the cold water, the water was check three times about six hours apart, and the water ran for ten minutes to obtain a constant water temperature except for the last check, see note. Here are my results.

0920hrs local 83.25F 28.5C

1540hrs local 84.5F 29C

2140hrs local 89F 31.5C

Note: For the 2140hrs local check the ambient water temperature was 91F/32.25C for six minutes before settling at 89F/31.5C. I let the water run for an extra 5 minutes to see if the temperature would drop any more.

My darkroom is located in my basement, which is a walkout basement, the temperature was 78F at 2140hrs local. Had a dehumidifier running, which works wonders, and the vents for the AC were closed. I do not open the vents unless I am working in the darkroom.

For non-military personal

0920hrs is 9:20 am

1540hrs is 3:40 pm

2140hrs is 9:40 pm

local Eastern Standard Time (EST)
 

mikebarger

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My water was 83 tonight, had to get the chart out to figure out the time difference.

Hope it gets better, but it doesn't look like it will improve anytime soon.

Mike
 

AZLF

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In Tucson the water at my house comes out of the "cold" tap at 95* F during the hottest months of the summer (like now) and cools down to a breezy 82*F in the dead of winter. I've worked out a system for developing negatives in the kitchen sink using ice packs and a water bath to get down to 68*F. I don't know what I'm going to do yet when I get my darkroom up and running. Probably some variation of the same.

I've never developed film or paper at 80* plus F though as I recall it does nasty things to grain and contrast. Has someone here done so? And if so what was the result?
 

fschifano

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Here in Long Island, NY the water has been coming out of my basement tap at about 75 deg. F. Ambient temperature in the basement hovers around 80 deg. F. and there is no air conditioning.

I've been cooling down my stock film developer in the refrigerator, mxing that up with the coolest tap water and letting the whole thing settle at about 75 deg. F. before proceeding with development. If I keep the whole works in a water bath, the temperature is stable enough for a good and repeatable result. I'm using Ilford's chart to adjust the development time (find it here) and the data are very good. As for prints, I don't worry too much about the temperature. I haven't noticed any ill effects by processing papers at higher than "normal" temperatures. The only really noticeable difference is that development proceeds a lot more quickly. Since prints are developed to completion and by inspection, it's not a problem.
 
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Lee Shively

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High temperatures are normal for the running water around here. My mixed chemicals stay pretty close to 75 degrees due to air conditioning. I cool down my film developer with ice and use a hardening fixer for film. The hot wash doesn't affect the film. I don't even measure print developer temperatures anymore, I just use it. I managed to do okay before I had air conditioning and all the chemicals stayed warm. It was just miserable to work in a 90 degree darkroom.
 

Jim Jones

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I store chemicals and film wash water in the darkroom, and process at whatever temperature they are. Thermostat controlled heating and cooling (which I don't have) would let this work very well. Film and prints processed at temperatures up to 85 degrees seem to be fine with appropriate time compensation in the developer and carefull handling throughout the processing.
 

MurrayMinchin

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My cold water is 59 degrees. My darkroom is in the basement, and the electric baseboard heater kicks in almost every day (even in the summer) to keep it a comfy 72 degrees or so.

Please don't hate me

Murray
 

MurrayMinchin

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I should add that it's 53 degrees F (12 C) and raining right now, and that our water supply in the summer months is mainly fed by snow melt and a glacial fed river system.

Murray
 

ricksplace

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Cold water at 59F. Good old Lake Superior. Every day has been around 80F+ here for the last month or so, cools off to around 50-60F at night.
 

Kino

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MurrayMinchin said:
My cold water is 59 degrees. My darkroom is in the basement, and the electric baseboard heater kicks in almost every day (even in the summer) to keep it a comfy 72 degrees or so.

Please don't hate me

Murray
Click to expand...

Murray,

Say, is real estate very expensive up there?
 

Thomas Bertilsson

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I have developed negs in temperatures up to about 80*F in the chemicals, and they turned out fine. I think the most important factor is to keep all the chemicals and the water at the same temperature.

At 90*F water, I must say that would be a challenge. My darkroom is in a friend's basement, and he's about as cheap as they come. I'm in Minnesota, by the way. He heats his house to about 58*F in the winter, and doesn't use AC. He's saving a lot of energy, but his basement is around 100*F in the warmest of summer. I've been in there printing once in temperatures like that and I lasted about one hour. I gave up. The water was nice and cold, though, and I poured ice in the printing chemicals every once in a while to keep the temp down a little... The water is rarely coming out of the faucet any hotter than an extremely managable 70-72*F.

- Thom
 

Paul Howell

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Kodak published several formulas for tropical developers: DK 15 and I think tropical D 76. DK 15 was used with a hardening bath. I have used tropical D 76 at 95 degrees but later changed to Dinafine with and without the Kodak harding bath. I now use ice to chill my film rinse water to about 70 degrees. I vaguely recall that ANSCO and Dupont also developed tropical developers as well.

Yesterday my tap water at 3:00 was 97F later dropped to 92.
 
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