Fixer runied by heat spell?

tbm · Sep 27, 2007

I accidentally left a gallon of rapid fixer on my garage floor, outside of my darkroom, during a recent two-week hot spell during which the daily temperature was 100 degrees. Do those of you with vast experience with chemicals think there is a strong likelihood it is now ruined and/or have a method that you can share that will enable me to test its viability? Thanks in advance.

Terry

Sparky · Sep 27, 2007

I don't know that my knowledge is exactly VAST - but I really can't see how those kinds of temps would destroy fixer - ! As with all things - you should simply test. Take a clipping of film and put it in the fixer and see if it clears - I'm sure it will.

psvensson · Sep 27, 2007

I had a bottle of undiluted fixer go bad this summer. It was full of suspended solids, even when diluted, and smelled of rotten eggs. Presumably, the thiosulfate had decomposed into solid sulphur and sulfides. I think this the only way fixer goes bad, so those would be the signs.

eric · Sep 27, 2007

I was in the same heat spell as you were in and my darkroom (aka garage) was over 100 during the day. Fixer seems to be fine (Clayton Fix)

David A. Goldfarb · Sep 27, 2007

I've had developer go bad in a heat spell, but not fixer, but it's easy enough to test. See if it clears a film leader in a normal amount of time, and fix for twice the clearing time for most films, three times for T-Max.

Photo Engineer · Sep 27, 2007

Fixer becomes cloudy and smells of rotten eggs when it goes bad. If yours is clear and smells like 'fixer' then things are ok.

Of course, rapid fixer with hardener goes bad faster than that without due to the slightly lower pH.

As said above, test it.

PE

Fixer runied by heat spell?

tbm

Sparky

psvensson

eric

David A. Goldfarb

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Photo Engineer

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