Another bottle question

[Bill Banks]

How do people recommend getting plastic bottles REALLY clean? I've recently bought a job lot of old darkroom stuff. The bottles look and smell (!) fine, but I'd like to be sure, especially before using them for developer.

Bill

 

[Luseboy]

You are probably fine to be honest with you. If they smell fine, then you've got nothing to worry about. If you really want to get them clean though, I'd use some comet mixed with some water and just pour some in, put on the cap, and shake!

 

[Bill Banks]

Thank you! I guess Comet is a brand name for something in the USA. Is it a detergent or a bleach or something?

B

 

[bdial]

Comet is a brand of scouring powder sold in the U.S, the sort of stuff with bleach and fine abrasive for cleaning sinks.
It would work, but dish soap and some scrubbing would work well too. I would avoid scouring powders myself out of concern that it could leave behind some residue.

 

[Rick A]

The best thing I've found for cleaning bottles is denture cleaning tablets. Fill the bottle with cool water, drop two tabs in and leave over night. Dump and rinse, leaves the bottle minty fresh. I used to clean my slot processor with them, gets all the gunk out.

 

[Monito]

I emptied any crystal rattling around the bottom, rinsed the bottle with water a couple of times, put about 20% full and shook vigorously, put about 80% full and shook vigorously, rinsed again, and then filled with hot water 100% full and let stand for a few hours. Then rinsed and shook and rinsed and dried.

 

[mwdake]

Thank you! I guess Comet is a brand name for something in the USA. Is it a detergent or a bleach or something?

Vim scouring powder is the equivalent in the UK.

 

[Maris]

I use a trick from my days as an analytical chemist. Wash the bottles with a little bit what you are going to store in them. After this the only contaminant in my developer bottle is developer; fixer in fixer, etc.

 

[barzune]

Bottles for chemistry

Use beer bottles, the dark-brown kind with Crown caps.

Wash them in hot dishwater, which will also loosen the label, and invest in a capping machine at any home-brewing supply store. Fill to capacity with developer stock, a squirt of butane, and cap it.

If you then have a fridge for your darkroom, the mix should last awhile, and most beer bottles nowadays are screw-top, so you can re-cap the bottle after use. Just add a squirt of butane each time. It takes a lot to contaminate glass, residue can be scrubbed out with birdshot, the bottle can be recycled if it gets too grungy, and it's easy to find replacements.

It's just a matter of finding something to do with the original contents.:munch:

 

[Martin Aislabie]

I use standard PET plastic bottles for developer, both Film & Paper

The sort of things Coke, Mineral Water and Flavored Waters come in.

Most even come with a nice molded seal in the cap

I pre-fill bottles with inert gas from Tetenal Protectan (Silverprint & Ag Photographic sell it) before decanting the developer into the bottle

I use 0.5L Bottles, as it is the volume of Dev I often use

ID11 & Ilford Multigrade Dev both last a long time in the PET Bottles

I find it preferable to use Plastic Bottles over Glass ones, its not unknown that I accidentally drop one, now and again

YMMV

Martin

 

[Monito]

Another thought, but not from experience. Might it not be possible to scrub the inside of bottles with cleaned sand? Wash the sand to remove the finest silt and any dirt.

 

[Gerald C Koch]

Sand will scratch plastic and even glass. I use a small amount of uncooked rice with a small amount of water and vigorous shaking to remove deposits.

 

[jp498]

I use mostly gatorade and juice bottles. They are like the soda bottles, but have a bigger opening, which makes pouring easier. The larger cap is also handy to write on with a crayon or sharpie as to the contents, such as "film fixer". If the bottle is mostly full, you can squeeze it a little to reduce the capacity of the bottle so it's full. (soft drink bottles works equally well in this regard). I let them sit overnight with water in them for a while to dissolve any odor prior to use.

If you re-use a food bottle, label the contents on the cap, remove the beverage label so it is not mistaken as beverage, store it locked in the darkroom, not a living space, etc.. Standard safety for liquid chemicals regardless of the container.

Dayquil/Nyquil or one of their equivalents also come with a nice plastic graduated cup marked off 5,7.5,10,15,20 ml. This is handy for measuring concentrates.