When I was at college we had a hand-line of D76, which was maintained and replenished when the densitometer said it needed replenishment.
The first place I worked had a hand-line to, it was three 120 length ceramic containers, one dev one fix and one wash all standing in a sink. The dev was microphen I recall. The dev had a heater in the top, when it got to 25 degrees C, it was switched off and stirred with a wooden broom handle that over the years dissolved in the dev, the replenishment was done by eye. I mean when a certain amount of dev had carried over and evaporated, replenisher was added to keep the level up. It sounds like a recipe for disaster, but the system never failed, if it did it was always down to operator error, not bad dev or wood fibres clinging to the film.
So I'm wondering, I have tanks, racks and spirals I acquired from a colour hand-line many years ago, will I be making more trouble for myself trying to maintain a hand-line with only a handful of films per month. Anyone running a hand-line successfully with home through put?
Kevin.