Hi Stefanie
Small world - I met your Dad at Colourgenics in the late 80's - he was responsible for making their Refrema ranked number 1 in North America for two years standing by Fuji testing done back then.
The best labs would hire your dad to come in and do film tests with grey cards up and down a full rack , he would match the inside outside top and bottom in density by adjusting the flow to the tanks. Bit of a celebrity in the Lab world back then, I hope he is well, are you into photography?
Bob
I'd have to agree with Bob,Stefanie if your dad could keep the Refrema under control as Bob described he'd have to be a genius. The good thing about Refremas is the combination of burst and dip and dunk together, which when working well were beautiful.I started my journey with nitrogen burst using Kodak hard rubber tanks and a plenum attached to the bottom of a basket full of film holders,processing E3 transparencies.This system was used for some time but didn't produce the even development the company I worked for desired.Later we switched to E6 film and had custom built stainless steel tanks with the plenums attached in the bottom further down away from the basket allowing better evenness of development.Our problem seemed to be uneven agitation from the top to bottom of the film caused by the proximity of the plenum to the lower part of the basket.As the bubbles exited the plenum they were small and propelled strongly by the gas then slowed and expanded as the rose up the tank,causing uneven agitation.Eventually we acquired a Refrema and it solved a lot of our issues plus it's replenishment system was great as well.
Don