Darkroom Set up help needed! Surprise for my husband

DarkroomWife

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I have a very basic understanding of darkroom development but have decided to undertake the task of setting up a space for my husband to dedicate to this hobby. He has lived and breathed photography and darkroom development since a teen, however he has never had a dedicate space just for him. Often having to set up a temporary space in our bathrooms or workplace!
I have bought a small shopping container which I am having fitted out, which will run on solar however I’m aware that the rinsing process uses a lot of water and this container will be ‘off-grid’. Is there a way of reusing the uses water with a pump and filtration system? I’m also unsure about disposal of the harmful chemicals.

If anyone has done something like this before I would love to hear from you.

also any tips about great features to add to this project - would be lovely to hear! It’s currently a blank canvas!

Thank you in advance
 

Pieter12

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My darkroom is in my garage with no running water or drainage. I bring in filtered water in gallon jugs. Washing film and prints takes place in a utility sink outside the garage, draining into a bucket or sometimes directly into the ground. Used chemistry is stored in jugs and picked up every few months by the city’s hazardous waste program. Make sure the structure you intend to use has some sort of ventilation.
 

eli griggs

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Insulation must be first, the space has to be workable, and comfortable Fall, Spring and mild Summers, but you need to watch for too thickly insolated walls, which will limit internal space availability.


Secondly, the building MUST need to be secured to the earth, by do it yourself, concrete piers if able, not by a hill that water or debris can strike/pile up against the storage container, or winds lift it up off supports.

Equally importantly, elevated over all and pinned at 18 inches from and above the Earth to the door threshold so no flash flooding or snow fall, of moderate depth can prevent usage.

To help with drainage, both from nature and darkroom washing, make sure your "OUT" drain pipe is protected from critters taking home inside the vent or plants growing up and the drainage is able to run away from the darkroom, by digging and installing a trench filled with water rounded pebbles, in a square/rectangle surround of the building and external power supply which leads flowing water away from the site and not toward any other infrastructure, on property or off.

(For chemistry that needs disposal of, a plastic industrial barrel with a screened and rain protective cover, where you can allow the water portions of developers, fixers, etc to evaporate, before gathering the dry residue and disposing of it.)

Third is to make all electricals, boxes, etc, join up to a free standing, roofed, bulletin board, before a single line takes power into the building's electrical system.

I believe it is more safe to do this than hang the boxes and junctures onto a metal shipping container, only allowing safety outlets to run inside.

That's my personal starting up advice.

P.S., water usage can be done completely for film developing and black & white papers, by getting him to use the Ilford Methods for both.
 
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Pieter12

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Back to your original plan, will the solar panels supply enough power for an enlarger, timer and safe lights? Will there be some sort of battery storage for cloudy, dark days or if he wants to work into the night? Also, if he is developing film in the winter, it is nice to have an electric kettle to warm water, and a frozen bottle of water to cool down water so he can work within a 5-10º range of 68º.

Room temperature control is good, too. My garage is insulated so doesn't get too hot. A fan helps on warmer days, but can blow dust around. I have an oil-filled radiator for chilly days. A ceramic and other similar electric heaters produce light that would most probably fog paper. If the weather is too cold or too hot, I skip darkroom work altogether.

As far as drainage is concerned, there is an alternate I have looked into but never followed though--an RV water tank on wheels that would fit under the sink and could be taken out and drained as necessary.
 
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xkaes

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A shipping container???

All I can say is "It's the thought that counts!"

Move what's in one of the rooms in the house OUT to the shipping container -- and turn that EMPTY room into a darkroom -- with insulation, drainage, ventilation, plumbing, electricity, heating, cooling, etc. etc.
 

eli griggs

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Oil filled radiators are great in the darkroom because you can quickly dry water-wet towels, reels, tanks, racks,l keep a kettle hot or use the convection to dry film and prints.

Just be sure your heater's light is well covered with a red or amber 'filter,' as it is bright.
 
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ags2mikon

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You are a very understanding wife. You are a treasure! I have a darkroom in my motorhome and water usage in a motorhome has to be closely monitored or you can't shower or use the toilet. I use the Ilford wash method for my film and only use RC papers in the motorhome. A 20 litre jug of water is enough for a session. I have holding tanks to catch the wash water and I save the spent chemistry and bring it back to my main darkroom.
Check your local regulations for waste disposal. Mine told me to just evaporate the water off and discard it into the solid landfill trash. I live on the topside of the world so it may be different where you reside.
 

fiddle

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I have my darkroom in my non attached garage.

Heat / Ac - have a little heater, and a portable a/c vented out.
Water - I have a water hose spigot plumbed to my sink. When I use the darkroom, I connect my water hose to this spigot and turn it on, I have water.
(whenever I need to warm up water, I use a sous vide i have in a container and heat water as I need)
Sewer - I have the sink runoff going out the back of the garage to a 50 gallon drum. Whenever I finish a few sessions, i empty out the drum to a smaller bucket and carry it inside and dispose in my basement laundry sink.

Its a small space but works, would have been way too much to plumb the garage to my house.
Electrical was already in my garage, depending where the container is, cant be very hard to run a circuit to the container outside.
 

runswithsizzers

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Australia is a big country with a lot variation in climatic conditions. If you are lucky enough to live in a very mild climate, your heating and cooling requirements might not be a significant factor, but otherwise...

When you say, "...which will run on solar..." I wonder if your electrical / solar contractor has been advised to design the system to provide heat and cooling, day or night? I imagine it might be quite challenging to power even a small air conditioner with solar panels and batteries unless the solar system is very robust. On the other hand, if your climate is cold, but sunny, it might not be too difficult to heat with solar hot water. Heat pumps can provide either cooling or heating from the same unit, and may be somewhat more efficient than an air conditioner, but I imagine are still going to require a significant amount of electricity.

If you can solve the heating and cooling problem, then water might not be such a big challenge. Can you run a garden hose from the house or an outdoor faucet? And waste could run into a dry well (if rinse water) or diverted a holding tank (if chemicals)?

I salute your courage, and wish you success!
 

MattKing

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Welcome to Photrio.
If as a result of this thread you receive any unwanted and unsolicited marriage proposals from other potential husbands, try to be understanding .
Do you know or does your husband know other local darkroom owners who can assist? If so, their knowledge about locally available or accessible equipment and supplies will be really helpful.
 

eli griggs

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A

A small windmill from an alternator might be worth considering as a second power generator of electricity for battery banking.

Popular Mechanics will have several proven, past articles showing how easily the basic build can be.
 

Sirius Glass

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Welcome to Photrio!

I have a dry darkroom for the enlarger and drum print dryer, that was a bedroom. The wet darkroom is my master bathroom, where a put a board across the two sinks and place four trays. The bathtub holds the print washer.

That is a very nice thing that you are doing for your husband.
 

mshchem

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Not sure what size your shipping container is. My first concern would be HVAC, and ventilation. Chemicals can be stored for disposal.
 

koraks

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DarkroomWife said:
I have bought a small shopping container which I am having fitted out, which will run on solar however I’m aware that the rinsing process uses a lot of water and this container will be ‘off-grid’.
Click to expand...

Wow, that's a great idea! I agree with what others have said about HVAC and insulation; a shipping container can easily turn into a freezer or an oven. Overall power use is also a thing to take into consideration; a darkroom does not necessarily consume much power on average, but it tends to draw peak currents. Some kind of battery system will be needed, and even then, it may be challenging to supply everything from the solar panels - especially if any heating (of space or water) needs to be done.

Water usage does not necessarily have to be astronomical. As @eli griggs mentioned, the "lford method" of washing film and paper is quite economical and a few gallons of water would suffice for a modest evening of darkroom printing. To an extent, re-use is possible; for instance, the cleanest water from the final wash cycle(s) could be used for the first wash cycle of the next batch of paper/film. However, a quantity of 'virgin' water is required for each batch of paper or film.

In all honesty, if there's any way at all you can run power, water and plumbing from your home to the container, it would make things a whole lot easier altogether.

There was a somewhat similar question not too long ago: https://www.photrio.com/forum/threa...outbuilding-with-poor-climate-control.206383/
It may be worthwhile scrolling through the posts in that thread.
 

Rick A

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Maybe this could help you with setting up your "con-ex" dark space.

This US Army Portable Darkroom is For Sale for $2,500

Live near Hillsborough, North Carolina and have space in your backyard for a darkroom? Someone's selling a sweet US Army portable darkroom for $2,500. The
petapixel.com
 

guangong

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Another guy as lucky in choosing a wife as I was. My wife not only never complained about photography expenditures, she often insisted that I buy camera, lens, whatever.
I used a small room without running water for several years by using jugs and buckets.
I agree with a previous suggestion: clear a room for darkroom equipment in the house and store contents in container. I could even see one side devoted to darkroom and other side to other activities, depending upon the size of the room. Long ago I cut down on space needed for trays by using a Nova print developer (Don’t know if these are still available new).
 

xkaes

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guangong said:
I agree with a previous suggestion: clear a room for darkroom equipment in the house and store contents in container.
Click to expand...

For a minute I was thinking I was a lone wolf in the wilderness. Seems like a 1000% easier solution.
 

xkaes

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They're not that good in medium humidity either, but more importantly, you need enough flow-through ventilation -- unlike an A/C unit.
 

cliveh

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mshchem said:
Not sure what size your shipping container is. My first concern would be HVAC, and ventilation. Chemicals can be stored for disposal.
Click to expand...

She said it was a shopping container. Perhaps some sort of trolley.
 

xkaes

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A solar-powered shopping cart. Sounds like a winner to me.
 

pbromaghin

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If you don't have a room to spare and don't want to spend way too much money, use buckets for fresh and waste water and do the rinsing in the laundry or bath room. Safe lights, enlarger lights and a few LED room lights will require very little power. I didn't want to do any plumbing or electrical mods to my house so that is what I did. The biggest challenge by far will be climate control.
 
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