Check your freezers containing film!

[eli griggs]

I'm sure this has happened to others, but the four foot freezer I had kept some always frozen film in, apparently had a power outage of several days when it's power cord disconnected from the wall socket, about five years back, and though it only held a single package of meat, it was enough to stink the thing up.


I used Lysol to spray the insides to clear the odor, after a quick wipe down and I did no worry about few bricks of films, as they were, I thought, ok in their original packaging, inside sealed plastic freezer bags.

Boy, was I wrong!

I'm in the final stages of a photography vacation with my Rozeann, in a rented RV, with kitchen, and I did no notice anything wrong about the frozen film I pulled out to carry along.

There was no enough room in the RV freezer for the bags of film, so we placed it into the refrigerator, for the trip and to better cold to warm times if I use any of it.

It 'Thawed' over night in the fridge and suddenly, we have the awful smell of that freezer misadventure, in the paper film boxes, and it permiates in that fridge despite a change of gallon size resealable freezer bags when the smell was discovered.

Right now, I've resorted to putting all the film, inbb including a bulk roll of 35mm b&w, into a delicates washing bag, went crazy with Lysol Spray, out of the RV, with windows closed, and gave the film boxes a couple of good spraydowns, then, before the Spray dried, placed the bag into the top half of a large kitchen trash bag, which I also gently poured a box of baking soda, on the bottom of said trash bag.

The holed bag is fixed to the top inside of the trash bag and hanging, not in the fridge, but from an upper cabinet door handle, so it does no get powdered baking soda on the boxes.

Tomorrow, I'll place the films back into new bags, after deboxing them, and I hope the plastic rolls do no carry that order back into the fridge.

I want to get one shot of the film in it's box's as a reminder, so that's why I haven't removed the boxes yet.


Long story short, check your own long term freezers to be sure nothing has gone bad and tainted you film boxes as well, of you might just thaw out some really offensive orders of your own, in the future.

Cheers

 

[MattKing]

Sorry for your predicament.
FWIW, if I put anything photographic in my freezer or fridge, it first goes into something like a Tupperware or other air-tight container suitable for storing frozen foods.

 

[craigclu]

I had a close call and was able to move things to my neighbor's freezer in time..... Following that event, I bought one of these (likely many others to choose from) and like the piece of mind. Link is below photo....

Freezer Alarm

 

[mshchem]

I have the room for a full size refrigerator dedicated to film and paper. It's a good thing as I had a GFCI outlet go bad. I thought it might be the fridge, I switched off the circuit and replaced the outlet. It's worked perfectly since.

It doesn't take much to stink up a modern-day refrigerator with it's plastic liner

 

[ic-racer]

Reads like the film itself was OK?

30 years ago I had a small refrigerator dedicated just to film and paper but I stopped freezing or refrigerating B&W film about ten years ago. I had too many issues that may or may not have been from condensation. I even used a vacuum 'foodsaver'
The other problem was freezing did not prevent fogging of the paper and fast films anyway. So now I just keep film and paper on a shelf with my equipment and use it promptly.

 

[LimeyKeith]

Thanks for the heads up. I checked my fridge/freezer and sure enough there is no film in either - and hasn't been in 60 years of shooting film. Each to their own of course.

 

[pentaxuser]

Look on the bright side,Keith. Start a website with a picture of you as the hooded Robert de Nero in Raging Bull, and call yourself LimeyKeith the "raw meat" photographer, explaining why. You'll have millions of followers in a matter of a few weeks

pentaxuser

 

[LimeyKeith]

Look on the bright side,Keith. Start a website with a picture of you as the hooded Robert de Nero in Raging Bull, and call yourself LimeyKeith the "raw meat" photographer, explaining why. You'll have millions of followers in a matter of a few weeks

pentaxuser

You've totally lost me here Pete.

 

[Helge]

Double sealed bags with silica packets in the inner is good enough for me so far.
Always suck the air out of both bags and then seal.
I can’t imagine how any moisture would get through that.

 

[pentaxuser]

You've totally lost me here Pete.

Yes I am not surprised. The whimsical reply should have been addressed to the OP eli. You were the closest respondent so I picked up your name. My sincere apologies. The worrying thing was that all of this was done at about 4:10 pm while stone cold sober

There are two men in white coats at the door and a white van in the drive.The wife is talking to them earnestly pointing towards the room I am in. I hope everything is alright

By the way, I am not Pete as in Pentaxpete He is older but perfectly sane and not at all doddery unlike me. Better not to involve him

pentaxuser

 

[Sirius Glass]

Sorry to hear about your problem. My film freezer is my kitchen refrigerator/freezer and its plug is in a wall socket behind it so it would be hard to knock the plug out.

 

[Cholentpot]

Ziplock bags and tea tins. I learned my lesson a few times. While I'd like to leave my film out and shoot it until it's gone, that may take a while. Until then the fridge and freezer is where it's staying.

 

[eli griggs]

Ziplock bags and tea tins. I learned my lesson a few times. While I'd like to leave my film out and shoot it until it's gone, that may take a while. Until then the fridge and freezer is where it's staying.

Yes, this film was in gallon sized Ziplocks and hard plasticware but the order managed to pass anyway.

Very picky about anything I put in a freezer, and the odd thing is, they did no do the job well enough.

I guess I'm going to be shopping thrift shops for Tupperware to store frozen films in from now on.

I already have two or three that I store other stuff in, that does no need that level of protection, but I liked the clear plastic storages for instantly being able to see what's in them, without breaking a seal.

The film is fine, l just need to depackage the paper boxes and cello wrapping and, after checking the still closed film 'bags' for holes, clean them up with disenfect against any lingering bacteria, and the back in the freezer in Tupperware.

What aggravated me most was, I think, was the ruined boxes on the 20 roll brick of Verichrome Pan VP and the eight remaining rolls of Portra 200 VC.

The stuff in the hard plastic container is yet to be sorted but I thing all was 120 stuff and, I'd do have a number of black plastic film tubes I'll put the first two sets into and keep separated.

Cheers.

 

[LimeyKeith]

By the way, I am not Pete as in Pentaxpete He is older but perfectly sane and not at all doddery unlike me. Better not to involve him

pentaxuser

My sincere apologies. I must ensure my brain is switched on before operating mouth/fingers. Now I must go answer the door and see what the men in white coats want.

 

[Helge]

Yes, this film was in gallon sized Ziplocks and hard plasticware but the order managed to pass anyway.

Very picky about anything I put in a freezer, and the odd thing is, they did no do the job well enough.

I guess I'm going to be shopping thrift shops for Tupperware to store frozen films in from now on.

I already have two or three that I store other stuff in, that does no need that level of protection, but I liked the clear plastic storages for instantly being able to see what's in them, without breaking a seal.

The film is fine, l just need to depackage the paper boxes and cello wrapping and, after checking the still closed film 'bags' for holes, clean them up with disenfect against any lingering bacteria, and the back in the freezer in Tupperware.

What aggravated me most was, I think, was the ruined boxes on the 20 roll brick of Verichrome Pan VP and the eight remaining rolls of Portra 200 VC.

The stuff in the hard plastic container is yet to be sorted but I thing all was 120 stuff and, I'd do have a number of black plastic film tubes I'll put the first two sets into and keep separated.

Cheers.

Smaller bags is probably better because when you open them to snack you don’t let moist new air into a whole gallon back of film every time.

 

[Cholentpot]

Smaller bags is probably better because when you open them to snack you don’t let moist new air into a whole gallon back of film every time.

Snack.

Good analogy.

 

[eli griggs]

Smaller bags is probably better because when you open them to snack you don’t let moist new air into a whole gallon back of film every time.

Smaller freezer bags might have helped, but I always squeeze the excess air out of anything I put them into.

The films and chemicals I keep in the refrigerator, freezer, includes Glycine from Photoghttp://www.workshopsinmt.com/rapher's Forumalry
I've kept in the original packing and this inside plastic peanut butter jars, which has worked so well, that I have a brown Nalgene bottle which is years old, yet the last time I needed to stir-up some Ansco 130, it still made a good developer.

Pure white chemical still.


I also have a later bag that went slightly brown, that is stored in a pb jar, which is also some years old but still makes good Ansco 130.

A third, still unopened in black plastic package is also to hand and I expect it to be good as well.

The Films I've stored in Ziplock plastic containers in that freezer are also in dry condition, but I think I'll post to Freecycle to see if anyone has a vacuum sealing bag device they want gone, for future long term deep freezer storage, inside Tupperware.

Cheers and Godspeed to All!

 

[M Carter]

Wadded-up newspaper is remarkably good at sucking odors from things, and doesn't make a powdery mess. Change it a couple times a day for extra credit. Just take a box and fill it with wadded paper and stuff your film boxes in it, it may make a difference, though cardboard will really hang on to odors.

A dish of charcoal briquettes works as well as baking soda in your fridge, but when you swap them out, you can go ahead and use them on the grill vs. throwing out a box of soda. (Burning them removes any trapped odors well before you'd throw your dinner on the grill!)

 

[eli griggs]

Wadded-up newspaper is remarkably good at sucking odors from things, and doesn't make a powdery mess. Change it a couple times a day for extra credit. Just take a box and fill it with wadded paper and stuff your film boxes in it, it may make a difference, though cardboard will really hang on to odors.

A dish of charcoal briquettes works as well as baking soda in your fridge, but when you swap them out, you can go ahead and use them on the grill vs. throwing out a box of soda. (Burning them removes any trapped odors well before you'd throw your dinner on the grill!)

Great ideas, I'll give them a try before I hose down that deep chest freezer, and get it back in service for both film and food.

 

[benjiboy]

Most modern freezers will keep the contents frozen for about 48 hours if you don't open them in a power outage, I know this is true, because I had my house rewired in June this year, and the electricity was off for nearly that time, and all the freezer contents were O.K.

 

[NB23]

Look on the bright side,Keith. Start a website with a picture of you as the hooded Robert de Nero in Raging Bull, and call yourself LimeyKeith the "raw meat" photographer, explaining why. You'll have millions of followers in a matter of a few weeks

pentaxuser

Robert the Near’o

 

[eli griggs]

That's true enough, but the freezer I have sits forward of the wall by about eight inches and when working is basically silent or if it does make sounds, they're in the sweet spot in the audio range to which I'm deaf to and I generally do no wearing hearing aids on a daily basis, simply because I do no need them here.

I also have a small advantage in that I am a Vet and receive three different packages on a regular basis, each of which contain three or four freeze packs and after checking for any leaks, I store them in my freezer, refrigerator and it's freezer, which gives additional cold time.

My country uncle's second wife, whom I knew for many years, used large waxed milk and juice cartons, washed very clean and lined their chest freezers along their bottoms, opened wide and filled with clean well water, (that farm's well gave very good tasting water) and could go a week plus without power, which was no all that uncommon.

Do no confuse standing freezers powerless cold endurance time with that of a chest freezer, they are very different, especially if you are working out of that freezer!

Open a standing freezer and the space evacuates it's cold space into the rooms floor.


A chest freezer keeps it's cold air laying at the bottom of the freezer, unless you're fanning the top up and down and pushing it out, bit by bit.

By the way, I hope to be able to wash and hose down this freezer in a week or so, and return film to it's proper place.

 

[Helge]

Smaller freezer bags might have helped, but I always squeeze the excess air out of anything I put them into.

The films and chemicals I keep in the refrigerator, freezer, includes Glycine from Photoghttp://www.workshopsinmt.com/rapher's Forumalry
I've kept in the original packing and this inside plastic peanut butter jars, which has worked so well, that I have a brown Nalgene bottle which is years old, yet the last time I needed to stir-up some Ansco 130, it still made a good developer.

Pure white chemical still.


I also have a later bag that went slightly brown, that is stored in a pb jar, which is also some years old but still makes good Ansco 130.

A third, still unopened in black plastic package is also to hand and I expect it to be good as well.

The Films I've stored in Ziplock plastic containers in that freezer are also in dry condition, but I think I'll post to Freecycle to see if anyone has a vacuum sealing bag device they want gone, for future long term deep freezer storage, inside Tupperware.

Cheers and Godspeed to All!

Small square plastic containers with a vacuum lid and silica packs, would probably be better than bags.

Have been looking for a good one at Muji and online but nothing really obvious has popped up.
Tupperware is really not freezer safe with a good seal.

You are essentially freeze drying the film and bags works fine for that.
Trouble with them are that they can develop tiny leaks with much handling (hence I use two bags) and they are fiddly to open and close correctly.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

I had a close call and was able to move things to my neighbor's freezer in time..... Following that event, I bought one of these (likely many others to choose from) and like the piece of mind. Link is below photo....
View attachment 317195
Freezer Alarm

I just ordered this equipment. How did it work out? Any recommendations?