Chemical Refrigeration?

[Rick Olson]

With the hot summer months upon us in the Northern Hemisphere, is it okay to store common photo chemistry in the refrigerator? By "common," I mean my TF-4 fixer stock/working solution and Pyrocat-HD chemistry. I read on the TF-4 fix bottle that the temperature should be kept away from high heat (85 degrees F). My ambient temperature for the fix now is 80 degrees F in my cabinet. Prior to developing, I would pull it out a few hours early to get it closer to a working temp.

Thanks,
Rick

 

[Ryuji]

I wouldn't refrigerate TF-4. It'll form thick precipitate (which you already see at room temp) and it'll be a pain to handle the solution after refrigeration. I did not design or manufacture TF-4 so I won't guarantee anything, but I would guess that TF-4 should keep reasonably well in absence of air at 85˚F. However, as a general rule, chemicals keep longer at a lower temperature.

Bulk chemicals are usually safe to refrigerate, as long as they are tightly sealed, and avoid condensation when opening them.

I store certain chemicals in fridge, but most of them are stored at ambient temp, which can get 85˚F when AC is off.

Incidentally, there is another archival, alkaline rapid fixer on market now, and it is free of sediment at the bottom of the concentrate solution.