Cooling wash water for fiber based prints

In my old darkroom, the tap water was rarely so warm as to not be able to wash either film or prints. At my new house, it's all over the place. 85F in the summer and 45F in the winter (or "not-summer" here in Texas). Now, I'm strictly talking about wash water, I have no problems with ambient room temperature or with the chemicals.

This has been discussed before, but I wanted to revisit the problem. In a 2005 thread:

Nick Zentena said:

You can basically copy a keg chiller.

1) Picnic cooler
2) A copper coil placed inside the cooler
3) Fittings at both ends of the coil

Fill the cooler with ice water. The temp of the water coming out of the coil will depend on the flow rate. Run the water slow enough and it'll come out pretty close to freezing. Run it faster for less chilling. You'll need to add ice every so often.

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Paul Howell said:

I use a tub with ice to control the chemistry temp and I made a chiller for film wash using a 10 gallon bucket with copper tubing winding though the bucket which is filled with water and ice. Tap temp is 90 and 72 after cooling. 1 bag of ice will last for 8-10 mint which is long enough to wash film that has been treated by orbit bath.

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I have resorted to using the Ilford wash method for film, and that works well enough. Perhaps I should have gone to that anyway for other reasons. But I'm concerned about washing fiber based prints. I am going to install a water heater for the short winters. I plumbed for one when I built the current darkroom, so it's only cooling that I am interested in. I've looked around at the coil idea, and indeed found that copper coils for beer brewing are reasonably inexpensive.

So, how's this, or a similar application working out for you?

What tolerance for fiber based papers have you been able to get away with? (i.e., tray chems at X degrees and wash at ?)

I prefer to hold processing temperatures at 68-degrees F, but I allow my wash water to run at anywhere from 68-degrees to 75-degrees.

I'm washing Ilford Galerie, right now, at 76-degrees F. It's cold here right now and setting my thermostatic mixer at that temperature tends to balance out with the ambient temperature to make my trays sit at 68-degrees F.

In the summer I use a coiled hose sitting in an ice chest full of ice water to chill the running water. The hose I use is not copper. I'm fortunate to only have to chill it a few degrees. I control the temperature by adjusting the speed of the flow. You might be able to hit 68-degrees F using copper coil. Or you may need to live with higher temperatures and adjust all your times. But I think if you had to work with low 70's F temperatures you would be alright.

If you can get it to 68-degrees F, it will make your darkroom time more pleasant in the summer - that's for sure.

2005, time does fly. I still use a chiller to wash film, but even with rather warm water I have not felt a need to chill water for washing prints. For fiber I use an old rotary print washer, wash 5 mints, Orbit bath, wash 10 mints, or an Archival washer for an hour. It would take 4 or 5 bags of ice to keep water temps around 70 for even a short wash using Rrbit bath. So far I have not any issues with either RC or fiber.

Paul Howell

PDH said:

... even with rather warm water I have not felt a need to chill water for washing prints. ... So far I have not any issues with either RC or fiber. Paul Howell

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Thanks, Paul. I am thinking in that direction, I just wanted to hear others' experiences.

Bill: I'm not concerned with getting print wash water down to 68, but my tap water hit 90 at one point this past record-hot summer! I could live with 80 and my print trays are probably in the 70s in the summer anyway.

Thanks, again. Anyone else?

I have occasionally washed fiber based paper at 24C (75F) when I forgot to turn down the water thermostat after processing film at 24C. The emulsion can come up on the edges of some papers. If it were me, I'd look into some type of inline water cooler.