HC-110 Bottle Failure

[Denis K]

In the past I have been a staunch advocate of the long shelf life of HC-110 and still am. As others have said, I think the shelf life of HC-110 is such that it will outlive the shelf. However, yesterday I went into a storage room where I have been keeping my photo-chemicals and was moving a few bottles around to make room for something else. I picked up a fairly old 16 oz. Kodak bottle of HC-110 and noticed that right around the bottom rim of the bottle there was kind of a pinch. I picked up the bottle to see what was causing it and upon feeling it I could detect a small drop of HC-110 concentrate. In short, I had a leak.

I immediately decanted the remaining concentrate into an amber glass container and washed out the Kodak bottle to see what had caused the leak. The leak was on the bottom rim where a fold pinch had formed. It looks like the fold was caused by a pressure differential caused by a temperature shift in my storage room. Kodak has constructed these containers in such a way that the other portions of the bottle are very rigid, making the bottom rim the weak spot. The fold crack appeared 90 degrees away from what appears like a forming seam where two halves of a mold come together. I noticed that the opposite side of the rim was a similarly constructed and is certainly the thinest plastic in the entire container. HC-110 is not my usual developer, so this bottle is quite old. The date code is 9927 which would be the 27th week of 1999.

So, if I was you and you have a bottle of HC-110 setting around, I would take a close look at it and see if anything looks amiss. I'm thinking about sending my empty bottle to Kodak, but the Hazmat considerations have me debating whether that is a good thing to do. Perhaps I'll email them and ask if they would like to take a look at it. I'm sure they will just tell me that I shouldn't keep it that long.

Denis K

 

[Nicholas Lindan]

Had the same thing happen - it was one of the silver cubical bottles.

I think a contributing factor is the silvered plastic used was very impermeable; as the developer consumed the oxygen in the air space, the bottle collapsed. As noted, the design had a point where stress was concentrated and the plastic was thin so the bottle gave way at this point.

 

[Denis K]

Nicholas, Sounds like it might be a common problem as mine is a silver one as well. I wonder if the Glycol interacts with the plastic over time. It's glass for me from here on out.

Kodak should redesign the bottle to allow some other portion of the bottle to give when the oxygen gets absorbed.

Denis K

 

[2F/2F]

Interesting that two people have had it happen so far in this thread. I have never had this happen. I have also never used the silver bottles. I keep my HC concentrate in amber glass bottles now, but still use the Kodak bottles for storing all sorts of chemicals.

 

[Nicholas Lindan]

The bottle has been long since redesigned. HC110 is now shipped in a bottle reminiscent of the Michelin Man. I don't think the plastic was attacked by the chemistry - it was just a bad bottle design and a bad materials choice.

 

[trexx]

pnce again proving hc-110 out lives it storage bottle or shelf

 

[Denis K]

The bottle has been long since redesigned. HC110 is now shipped in a bottle reminiscent of the Michelin Man.

In case there is any misunderstanding the bottle I had a problem with is the same one as on the Covington Innovations page for HC-110.

See picture of the bottle here: http://www.covingtoninnovations.com/hc110/

The leak would have been at the point at the very bottom of the picture.

 

[john_s]

I've had the screw cap of Kodak Photo-Flo come apart.

I know, I should be taking more pictures and using the chems faster.

 

[DWThomas]

For a couple of years now I've been decanting my HC110 into a series of 2 and 4 ounce "Nalgene" bottles from a camping supply store. They are not amber, but they are in the dark 99.999% of the time. That means only one working bottle has any significant air in it. I suppose one other accidental good fortune is that my dark room is in the basement and not tied to any exterior walls, as such, it stays on the cool side, but varies very little in temperature. Anyway, I've had no problems, and the stuff stays "good to the last drop."

DaveT

 

[Terence]

Plastic bottles age poorly where a yield stress has been applied, like at bends, etc., and especially if exposed to warm temperatures. I researched this after I had a gallon bottle of cooking oil that committed suicide in the cabinet above my stove. Frickin' disaster to clean up.

 

[Nicholas Lindan]

For a couple of years now I've been decanting my HC110 into a series of 2 and 4 ounce "Nalgene" bottles

I use Nalgene for all my liquids these days.

There are a few surplus lab supply dealers on ebay that sell the bottles by the 12pk/case at very reasonable prices. Ditto Kimwipes.