How to prevent a worse-case scenario in the darkroom

I suppose that different places have different regulations, but the working premise I have seen and followed is that containers being used (eg. bottles of stock or concentrates) should be in a secondary container that could each safely hold ALL the contents of the things inside it. That also meant avoiding putting unfortunate combinations of materials together etc. - instead they would be grouped, or per material, in different secondary containers.

Concerning non-photographic materials, the lubricants-store on one site had the floor, walls and doorstep oil-proofed up to above the total height of the liquids permitted to be stored there, as well as being in robust containers already, though I think that is a basic regulation everywhere. Fortunately the UK has few (no?) serious earthquakes and that is potentially a completely other level of damage. Where I now live did have an earthquake a few years ago, but it was only around 3,1 and caused minimal problems.

If you shot wet plate you'd have some pretty nasty chemicals to get spilled

Not that any darkroom chemicals are exactly what you'd like to be breathing.
I must stop to ask if this is what you'd be actually most concerned about in the case of an earth quake?

seanE said:

Not that any darkroom chemicals are exactly what you'd like to be breathing.
I must stop to ask if this is what you'd be actually most concerned about in the case of an earth quake?

Click to expand...

Well of course, one would obviously be most worried about getting concrete-dust inside ones lenses. This is obvious isn't it!

More sensibly, before building destruction occurs, one has shelving, lighting and furniture failures -- it is this sort of situation that can be helped by storing chemicals in a secondary container on the floor. When the (tiny) earthquake occurred here, the only damage was a lamp-fitting which fell out of the ceiling due to me having used the wrong size fixing plugs and only two instead of four (and never getting round to making good the 'temporary' fitting). It was fine when the apartment was stationary, but the small acceleration due to the earthquake was enough to drop the whole thing leaving it hanging on the wire. Shelving holding relatively heavy chemistry might easily fail before anything else.

Another minor-earthquake related failure which could be a problem might be plumbing. For example, having your negatives or printing paper soaked when a water or heating pipe-joint breaks somewhere is a tricky problem, needing some thought as to location and robustness of cupboards or coverings. Instead of a trivial bit of water damage to a rug or sofa, one could lose irreplaceable materials although the building is barely damaged.

I use to use Glacial Acidic Acid but no more...nasty stuff. I once knew what chemicals would react adversely with each other but have forgotten what they were. It seems there were two that could give off cyanide gas but don't recall the chemicals. Probably the two worse chemicals I used was the Glacial Acidic Acid and Potassium Ferricyanide. I did use and mix Hydrochloric(or Sulfuric) Acid with Potassium Dichromate and Permanganate for tray cleaners.

seanE said:

If you shot wet plate you'd have some pretty nasty chemicals to get spilled

Click to expand...

yeah ... pretty bad stuff,
if the collodion didn't ignite from a spark of the bottle being shattered
the whole room would be filled with ether and if there was a spark
that might cause trouble, and when the then solid collodion celluloid flashed
( think movie house flire ) it gives off toxic fumes. and the fire would probably be hot enough
to liberate the cyanide from the fixer, if it hadn't already been liberated from being mixed with the developer.

not really the kind of photography i would hope to do in a region prone to earthquakes.

jnanian said:

yeah ... pretty bad stuff,
if the collodion didn't ignite from a spark of the bottle being shattered
the whole room would be filled with ether and if there was a spark
that might cause trouble, and when the then solid collodion celluloid flashed
( think movie house flire ) it gives off toxic fumes. and the fire would probably be hot enough
to liberate the cyanide from the fixer, if it hadn't already been liberated from being mixed with the developer.

not really the kind of photography i would hope to do in a region prone to earthquakes.

Click to expand...

It's a good thing I don't do wet plate! (although I am tempted by dry plate). The reality is though, for that type of work I think you really do need a dedicated wet/dry space that isn't contained inside a small apartment, such as I have. So for the most part I will continue to do conventional B&W photography, lith prints, and, if I can get myself sorted, cyanotypes and Van Dyke prints.

Just to be clear, Hydrochloric Acid (HCl) will not liberate Cyanide of any sort by itself. It must be mixed with a cyanide salt. It does not react with Ferricyanide though unless heated very strongly.

Cyanide releases no toxic gas in developers, it is toxic though. It releases toxic gas in acid solutions.

Most B&W and color chemistry is benign and non-flammable alone or mixed. Alternative chemistry is another story such as the cyanides mentioned above as well as the ether. I would not worry except for the mess it can make.

PE

Photo Engineer said:

Most B&W and color chemistry is benign and non-flammable alone or mixed. Alternative chemistry is another story such as the cyanides mentioned above as well as the ether. I would not worry except for the mess it can make.

PE

Click to expand...

Thanks PE - that's very reassuring!