Expired Fixer

[nickrapak]

I was recently clearing out my room, and found a packet of expired Kodak Fixer (the regular one, not the rapid one). It expired in 2005, and was kept dry. Is it worth mixing up, should I just toss it, or is there some test other than the standard "2x the clear time" test to see if it works?

 

[Kirk Keyes]

If the package doesn't look compromised or leaking, you should be fine. Mix it up, do a clearing test, and go from there.

 

[Mike Wilde]

Kodak Fixer is mostly just sodium thiosulfate chystals. They should never go 'off' if dry. Other agents such as likely metabisulfit preservatives for the mixed solution may have oxidized. So if you are worried, test it. See if it clears a fogged film leader when new, and how long it takes; if it clears then it is fine fresh.

See how long it takes to clear a film leader after a few weeks. If still cleared, and mostly in the same time, then keep using the fixer.

Re sue the fixer until the film leader takes twice as long to go clear as when the solution was new.

I use this method to judge exhaustion for fixers used with paper as well, still using film leaders as the test mechanism, if I have not been good about keeping track at how many shets I have put through a given fix bath. .

 

[Don Wallace]

I found some older Ilford fRapid Fixxer recently (liquid). How old, I have no idea, but there was a lot of it so I thought I would give it a go. I am too cautious to use it for film, but I thought for paper, what the hell, why not? How would I test to make sure it is doing what it should? I use an Edwal product to test fixer, the stuff where you put a few drops in the fixer and if you get a precipitate, the fixer is no good. But that probably wouldn't work with a new (even if outdated) fixer.

Any thoughts on this? If it is any help, there was no dust in the container, so I am figuring no more than a few years old.

 

[Kirk Keyes]

Same advice. Mix it up, do a clearing test, and go from there.

 

[Don Wallace]

Kirk, Ilford Rapid Fixer for paper is more dilute than for film. Would a film clearing test still work? My apologies if I seem a little thick.:confused:

 

[fschifano]

Yes, absolutely it will work. If you were to compare clearing times with fresh rapid fixer at film strength and at paper strength using the same type of film under the same temperature and agitation conditions, you'll likely find that the clearing times are not much different. The most obvious difference will be that the more dilute solution will exhaust more quickly, and that's not really a problem. I routinely use the same paper strength dilution of rapid fixer for both film and paper. So far so good. I've films and prints over 10 years old using this practice and they look fine to me.

 

[mts]

Should be fine. I am finishing using up some packages that are a lot older than yours. The ammonium thiosulfate (liquid) fixers do go bad however, when the liquid deteriorates to sulpher.

 

[fschifano]

Yes, they do; and when they do it is pretty obvious. The sulphur precipitates out and the concentrate becomes cloudy and begins to smell of sulphur. That doesn't mean it has lost all its fixing capacity, and it might be ok to use with non critical stuff like work prints, etc. I would not use it for anything important.