Cleaning hard rubber tanks.

[Mike Té]

Does anyone have any ideas for cleaning Kodak hard rubber tanks. I've given my new-to-me tanks some generous scrubbing but I can still smell some left-over chemical residue from their years of long service. Any cleansing rinse that will do the job without melting the rubber?

 

[Mike Wilde]

dilute toilet bowl cleaner?

This is how I clean my Fujimoto roller transport when I have been a bad boy printing into the wee hours and not rinsed the thing a few times after draining it of the chems, and crawling off to a short night sleep.

The next day or so I get back and feed the develooper and blix tanks about 100-200ml of toilet bowl cleaner per 1L of liquid. I let the transport rev and heaters bring everything up to 35C, and leave it to wind its rollers for the day while I am off at the office. That night I will drain it, fill it with water, and give everything a rub with a nylon plastic 'scothcbrite' scouring pad, let it soak a few minutes, drain again, then pull the rollers, and wipe off any last cruddies with paper towel before leaving the works to dry out.

I know about Jobo process clean II, but have never got motivated to buy it.

 

[gordrob]

I have also used the Lysol Toilet Bowel Cleaner to remove chemical residue on equipment. If there is a tar build up from developer it softens it up so it can be rinsed away. It contains hydrochloric acid so be careful about getting it on our hands is you decide to try it. The nice thing about it is that it is not expensive and if it doesn't work in the darkroom you can use it for it's original purpose.
I also have used Photofinish Soft from Photographic Solutions. It is a multipurpose darkroom cleaner for use on all types of darkroom equipment. It took a lot of stains off of my sinks and stainless steel tanks without to nmuch effort.
Regards
Gord

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

I use the Oxy-Clean powder to clean my Nova slot processor. It isn't 100% effective, but it is the most harmless solution I can think of, and it does a good job without leaving a residue. I fill the slots with HOT water, and put 2 tbsp per slot of the powder into the slot. I let it sit for several hours, then dump and flush. For the Kodak deep tanks, I'd try about six scoops (tbsp) per 8x10 tank, given the fluid volume of those tanks.

 

[Mike Té]

Thanks for the ideas!