Darkroom sink or spill containment without faucet

kingbuzzie · Mar 23, 2022

So I'm looking to put a small darkroom area in house I am building (trying to build a house in 2022 is a nightmare btw). Is something like a econo sink allowed by code to drain without a faucet? I just want something to put the trays in to contain spills and there will already be a utility sink as a water source. I guess I could try to convince my significant other that the darkroom sink is good enough . Point is, seems excessive to have two sinks for a once a month or less hobby. I guess I could also just put a 5 gallon bucket under the drain? I don't want it to look trashy though, it would have to be at least in a cabinet.

beemermark · Mar 23, 2022

I have a stainless darkroom sink but I'm in SE NC and your in TX. 5' x 2' I think. Free if you pay shipping -. Or free to anyone willing to pick it up. Cheapest I see for a new one is $560.

mshchem · Mar 23, 2022

Large trays for placing under a home washing machine might help. Not really the right geometry but most have a plastic knock out for attaching dwv pipe for drain.

Every decade or so I'm offered a sink for free. Never where and when I needed it.

Used restaurant supply place might have something.

kingbuzzie · Mar 23, 2022

beemermark said:
I have a stainless darkroom sink but I'm in SE NC and your in TX. 5' x 2' I think. Free if you pay shipping -. Or free to anyone willing to pick it up. Cheapest I see for a new one is $560.

I'm actually not in TX anymore, we moved to Athens GA. But would the gas cost beat the shipping cost?! Where abouts are you?

MattKing · Mar 23, 2022

kingbuzzie said:
So I'm looking to put a small darkroom area in house I am building (trying to build a house in 2022 is a nightmare btw). Is something like a econo sink allowed by code to drain without a faucet? I just want something to put the trays in to contain spills and there will already be a utility sink as a water source. I guess I could try to convince my significant other that the darkroom sink is good enough . Point is, seems excessive to have two sinks for a once a month or less hobby. I guess I could also just put a 5 gallon bucket under the drain? I don't want it to look trashy though, it would have to be at least in a cabinet.

If something isn't actually hooked up to the plumbing, I'd be surprised if building codes come into play.
If you are using moderate sized trays, consider under bed storage bins to put your trays in.
Even a table with a lip all around and waterproof paint will work okay.
Having one end open and hanging partially over a laundry sink is an idea that makes a lot of sense too.

kingbuzzie · Mar 23, 2022

MattKing said:
If something isn't actually hooked up to the plumbing, I'd be surprised if building codes come into play.
If you are using moderate sized trays, consider under bed storage bins to put your trays in.
Even a table with a lip all around and waterproof paint will work okay.
Having one end open and hanging partially over a laundry sink is an idea that makes a lot of sense too.

all good tips

bdial · Mar 23, 2022

I don't think a faucet is a requirement to have a drain that's hooked into your drain/waste plumbing. I can think of some contexts in which that might be a normal thing, a spill tray for a washer, or water heater, or possibly a mop sink, for example.
However, if you do have a drain with no water supply, you'll want to make sure you put a cup or two of water in it every so often so that the trap stays full.
But to know for sure, you'd need to check your local plumbing codes.

plummerl · Mar 24, 2022

Our basement laundry room has a floor drain, which I'd guess is fairly common. This would be an example of a drain without a faucet. As mentioned, I regularly pour water down it just to keep the trap filled.

Alan9940 · Mar 24, 2022

My darkroom is a spare bedroom which contains a rather large stainless sink that isn't plumbed for either input or waste. I use it because I've owned it for 40 years and it's a convenient place to work when developing film or for print trays. I do have an 11x14 washer at one end of the sink and I built a "drain" out of PVC plumbing which slips over the output spout of the washer, feeds over the edge of the sink, and then has a straight run into a 5 gal pail. Water for the washer is fed from a next door bathroom. Since I don't run the washer very fast, I just watch the pail and dump when necessary. Not exactly convenient, but it works great.

grahamp · Mar 24, 2022

You can get wheeled bases designed for 5 gallon buckets, or use an RV waste unit with wheels, if you do not have a true drain. The trick is to a) check the waste before doing anything else, and b) have a waste bucket bigger than your fresh water supply. A very full bucket is a pain to move without slopping it, even with a top, so check often. I have a hand-primed siphon tube which is useful for draining tanks that comes in handy /in extremis/. This is all hard-won experience (and wet feet) from non-plumbed darkrooms over the years.

gone · Mar 25, 2022

beemermark said:
Cheapest I see for a new one is $560.

Go w/ the 5 gallon bucket. You can throw some paint on it, call it an art bucket, and tell the misses you're adding some nice art to the abode. She won't believe a word of it, but will think it's funny. Possibly. With women you never know, all bets are off as to what may or may not happen at any given second. Same w/ cats.

Don_ih · Mar 25, 2022

MattKing said:
If something isn't actually hooked up to the plumbing, I'd be surprised if building codes come into play.

If the building is occupied, building codes don't come into play at all.

If you have a laundry sink, you can use a garden hose to do some removable plumbing to get a faucet over to a plywood sink you build elsewhere. You could put a drain in that that also fed another garden hose that, if the elevation of your plywood sink was correct, could drain back into the laundry sink (you could drill a hole in the side of the laundry sink, just above the bottom, and glue in a screw-connector for the other end of the garden hose. A shut off could also be attached to that).

jay moussy · Mar 25, 2022

The drain could also go into one of these condensate pumps used on some heating systems - Little Giant is one of the brands, size of a shoe box.

I too have a laundry sink > garden hose > sink without proper drain, and am thinking of using such pump, although not sure about flow rate. EDIT if the elevation is low, most can do 1 gallon/minute, it looks like.

mrosenlof · Mar 25, 2022

20+ years ago, I had a plastics fabricator custom make a sink for my darkroom. It was just an open box, nothing fancy. I drilled a hole for it to drain into a utility sink that was plumbed on both input and output.

I've given some thought to hydroponic flood trays when/if I want to remodel.

Pieter12 · Mar 25, 2022

My darkroom has no plumbing. I bring in water in gallon jugs, lug out waste in the same. Prints sit in trays, rotating with fresh water. All film and archival washing is done outside, draining into the ground.

jeffreyg · Mar 25, 2022

My darkroom and suggestion is to make a sink with marine plywood. Paint it with polyester with a coloring agent that your wife approves of. Design it so it has removable covers and one or two bar style faucets. It can then be used for multipurposes. I guess if it is utility room the extra counter space will come in handy especially since there is more to making prints than using a sink.

http://www.jeffreyglasser.com/

http://www.sculptureandphotography.com/

Darkroom sink or spill containment without faucet

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