trace chemicals and their effects

[Jordan.K]

Sometimes I have wondered if it is ok to use those clorox disinfecting wipes around my work area or whether old dried up fixer dust would have an effect on washed but drying negatives or prints. I am not referring to cleaning my negatives or film holders with clorox, but using such chemicals to clean off the enlarging deck or my desk where I spread out my prints and negatives. Anyone with any insight into this let me know your thoughts.

 

[Ian Grant]

Go for it, the dissolve chlorine evaporates, but I'd wipe with a cloth soaked in plain water after

Ian

 

[greybeard]

Unfortunately, Clorox isn't only dissolved chlorine--it is sodium hypochlorite which will eventually leave a residue of sodium chloride (i.e., table salt). There should be no problem if it is rinsed away with plain water, but otherwise you will be creating a certain amount of fine, corrosive dust which will not be good anything that can rust (like parts of your enlarger).

Cleaning up with plain water is usually good enough, but if you want something more aggressive and don't want to rinse afterwards Windex is probably a better choice. It contains a trifling amount of surfactant and dye, but the water, ammonia, and probably alcohol in it will all evaporate cleanly.