jobo reels washed with bleach

[vedmak]

Recently, I've gotten 2 reels from one of the APUG members, I suspect they might have been cleaned with bleach, they are 1500 series white plastic, the question is can I use those with my slide film, and how do I make sure to wash them so that they are clean?

 

[Ian Grant]

Bleach washes off easily, I like to soak my reels in biological washing powder every few months then scrub them with an old tooth brush, then wash and rinse well.

Ian

 

[hrst]

Hypoclorite bleach is even suggested for cleaning large laboratory tanks to prevent biological growth, of course with a precaution that tanks etc. must be rinsed well before (to avoid any dangerous gas) and after (to avoid contamination of processing solutions). There's absolutely no problem if you just wash and rinse them well in warm water.

 

[Athiril]

Careful wioth the hypochlorite... it eats everything off a film!

When I have something stubborn or feel like a good clean, a dilution of HCl acid wash, rinse, then a dilution of sodium or potassium hydroxide, then thorough wash/rinse.

I've had stuff stuk to my glass beakers I had to get off with hot strong HCl before.

 

[patrickjames]

That is how I clean my JOBO reels as well. A soak in bleach for a while then a soak in water and rinse off. Nothing to worry about.

I am curious what that biological washing powder Ian uses is.

 

[vedmak]

thank you all for your insights, I try to avoid using any other chems with my jobo tanks, with the exception of 90% alcohol. will try bleach now if needed.

 

[phaedrus]

When my Jobo reels get too silvered, I put them in the dishwasher at 50°C. They're a bit lighter after that. The only problem I've had with residues is when I didn't rinse the wetting agent out of the tanks properly. Gives a very foamy developer the next time, bubbles showed on the film. I've had no problem running b&w and C41 processes consecutively with just a thorough rinse in between.

 

[EricNelson]

Back when Jobo still had a facility in Michigan w/tech support, repair, etc, they would tell me emphatically never to use bleach in the processor because it makes the plastic brittle.
At the time they were talking specifically about cleaning the tempering bath of my CPP2 which tends to grow algae if the water isn't removed frequently, but one could extrapolate that to mean not to use it on the reels or drums either. I still have a Paterson tank and reel set from when I was a kid and back then I used bleach to clean the reels. Now when I look at that reel I can see bits of plastic flaking off.

There are processor and tray cleaners, and a home remedy which are much better suited to cleaning Jobos and or plastic reels.
What I use is the old school bichromate/sulphuric acid processor cleaner for trays and reels. These seem to be no longer manufactured by Kodak and Edwal so you'd have to make it yourself. They last forever-ish as you just put the dilute solution back into the bottle.

Edwal does make a non-bichromate cleaner.

There is a brand called Photofinish Cleaner.
I don't have any experience with Photofinish or the new formulation of Edwal's cleaner.

Mohr still seems to offer as part of their processor packages their developer/activator cleaner which is the bichromate based formula. Perhaps they will sell the cleaner alone.

As far as cleaning out the water bath of a Jobo, they made a cleaner at one time but I don't know if that is still available. I just use liquid toilet bowl cleaner without bleach and hot water, let the pump run and circulate the mix overnight and with a little brush cleaning I've gotten rid of the algae.
Eric