pH meter questions

I bought a cheap Hanna pH meter and hope to use it for the pool and some darkroom work, such as checking developer pH;I have two questions:
1.Can I calibrate it mixing 5g of Borax in 1 liter of water and assume this to be at pH9.2?
2.In the past I've stored the tip in a strong solution of KCl potassium chloride but the crystals 'grew' all over the meter and the container, making a mess and I lost valuable chemicals.Would a strong solution of Na Cl achieve the same purpose without making the mess?

(1) I calibrate my ebay pH meters in 5g/L Borax as one solution, they seem to be OK within 0.1pH with other known solutions, eg, Xtol.
(2)See Fledarmus:http://www.chemicalforums.com/index.php?topic=50263.0
I assume it is easier to clean up the electrode from creeping KCl than correct for drift with NaCl, I never tried it(the NaCl).

Ralph, I have been using the Hanna pHep range of meters for around 20 years. I have found that the life of the electrode in these meters, can be lengthened by using the Hanna storage solution.
https://www.hannainst.com.au/product/HI70300L/Storage+Solution+460ml

Not being that great in chemistry, I was very much in the dark about what exactly was the best way to store the electrode. A chemist friend regularly made a storage solution for me, increasing the life of the electrode from about 2 years to around 3 years.

I then started using the Hanna storage solution, electrode life went to around 5 years. I am currently still running a pHep 3 Hanna pocket meter. It is around 10 years old, I think it is just starting to fail. Last week when I used it after calibration, it started wandering all over the place, this was with fresh batteries. The perfect excuse to upgrade to the pHep 4 meter. This is by far, the longest I have had one of the Hanna pocket pH meters work.

Previously I used Hanna pH 7 (HI 7007), but with my current pHep 3 and the unit before it, I switched to the Hanna storage solution (HI 70300L) and apart from dropping my prior meter onto the floor, electrode first, I have no reason to believe it wouldn’t have had an extended electrode life like my current pHep 3 Hanna meter.

Mick.

You can simply wash the electrode with distilled water, refill with a KCl 3.5M solution and wet it with the appropriate maintenance solution. A saturated KCl (3.5M) solution is suggested by manufactures. It's the same solution that fills the electrode.

As far as I understand the electrode should be stored in the same solution as the electrolyte solution inside the electrode. For many (but not all) electrodes this is 3M KCl. I think it is not a good idea to replace KCl by NaCl here, because the sodium will diffuse inside the electrode.

I guess a one point calibration with borax is good if you want to measure solutions in this range (e.g. developer).

Depending on the electrode manufacturer the KCl solution can be either 3M or 3.5M, just check instructions.

It can also be saturated AgCl with 3(.5)M KCl depending on the construction of the pH electrode.
So definitely: check instruction!

Buffers I use:
6.86- sold for or with ebay pH meters
9.2- 5g/L Borax
11.6- 50g/L sodium carbonate anh. https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/sodium_carbonate#section=Decomposition
I always use two, taking into account the expected pH of the solution to be measured.