Ventilation and Disposal

[Nikanon]

My dad is making me find how i can dispose of my chemicals properly and also to figure out a means of ventilation for my darkroom , does anyone have an suggestions on something that wont cost me a fortune?

 

[coops]

I just built my first darkroom and am a newby, but will share what I know for what its worth. I purchased a $100 ac unit from Homedepot for my room, which is 8x8 with an 8 ft ceiling. Cools well here in Florida and blows a fair amount of air around. I got a used lighttight variable speed exhaust fan and louvre for a total of $80 from the LF forum. I put my Ilford fixer right under the exhaust after getting a little lightheaded in there dor several hours. Seems to have done the trick.
Regarding chemicals, I believe that developer can be flushed, fixer cannot. I use water as a stop, but I think most stop baths should not be fushed. I save used fixer in old water bottles and take them to my local landfill every month or so and hand it over to them. I wrote Photographic fixer on the bottle so these guys know what it is.
Hope this helps.

 

[Nikanon]

I cant really afford anything like that , ill need to work with what i have, i cant go out and buy anything

 

[David Brown]

Both of these topics have been discussed at length on this forum and other sites. A search will come up with a wealth of info and opinions.

 

[removed account4]

get a ceiling exhaust fan ( like a bathroom fan ) and install it.
as for disposal of photochemicals ..

when you do your search on silver recovery you will find
a whole bunch of opinions from " its toxic waste" to "it does no harm"
it is best to remember that in internet forums everyone seems to believe they are an expert.

it is best to find out what the regulations are where you live.

 

[Sirius Glass]

My dry darkroom [the enlarger, paper cutter and print dryer] are in a former bedroom.

The wet darkroom is in the bathroom which has a exhaust fan. I put up a board with cloth to cover the window. I cover the door on the outside with a blackout cloth. I put a board across the sink. Rinse prints in the bathtub. Dry film in the shower stall.

Steve

 

[Rick Levine]

I have been a photographer for nearly 45 years and to this date have not had any ill effects from processing and printing my own negs. For a good portion of that time I was a news photographer which means very heavy use of the darkroom. Unless you are using the more exotic chemicals for instance platinum or mixing a lot of powdered chemicals. you should be safe without any special equipment for ventilation.

When I was much younger and had a darkroom in my parent’s bathroom I still didn't use any special ventilation. The only thing you might want to consider is saving your fixer and finding out if there is a local recycling center that will take it. I live in a rural area and have a septic system and dump all of my chemicals down the drain except the fixer. Actually I do dump the fixer but I am fortunate to have a silver recovery unit that I run the fixer through first then dump it down the drain. Before I started this procedure I did check with various sources to verify that this was safe, however. Believe me, if it won’t hurt a septic system it surely won’t hurt a city system, again depending on the volume.

One thing I might suggest is using a low or non odor fixer like F6. This you'll have to mix from scratch and you should have some ventilation for that. I used it in my previous darkroom because I planned on selling the house and when I left there was no lingering odor that indicated that it was a darkroom, other than the black painted walls. LOL. I did have an exhaust fan an louver on the opposite wall but if you mix it outside or maybe in a large room like a basement you should be fine.

I’m attaching a copy of the fixer formula.