What do you guys do to keep your home developing water at a consistent temp?

I continue to live in Los Angeles, CA.

...but seriously...

I don't worry about it for printing.

I use water baths for color processing.

For b/w, to cool developer, I mix half the batch, measure the temp, then spike it with refrigerated water if it is far too hot. To warm it, I put it in an amber glass bottle and set it in a warm water bath. However, I normally can just use a time-temperature chart in this climate.

The ideal solution would be a climate-controlled 24 C workspace. One day.......

develop at ambient temperature of the incoming water, or room temperature. There are many charts available to assist in altering time based on temperature.
as long as the temp is somewhere betrween 65 and 85 degrees Fahrenheit, there is no problem.
This method has worked for me since the 1930's when people solved problems w/o buying expensive equipment.

dancqu said:

Stay out of the basement.

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For me, staying *in* the basement has been key. The part of the basement where I store my chemistry has stayed within a degree or two of 20C since I got restarted last summer. I haven't bothered with a tempering bath yet.

For washing, I adjust the water by touch and use a slow running faucet, dumping it from time to time. In summer, straight cold was fine, but that's rather chilly now (outside temps around 10F/-12C overnight).

For colour printing I use a heated Nova.
For B&W printing I adjust time depending upon what temperature the dev sits at in the unheated Nova.
For B&W film I mix the hot & cold taps until they run at 20.

I run about 60' of plastic tubing through a tub of water. It's fairly easy to keep the water bath at the right temp and the water comes out the other end at the same temp as the bath. I keep a thermometer in the bath and once in a while I'll need to add a litttle hot or throw in a couple ice cubes.

I don't like trying to adjust the hot and cold taps as the temp varies a lot unless I stay there and monitor it. I'm also either too cheap or too poor to invest in a temp control mixing valve.

Dave

I do E6, so temps are a bit critical.
My chemicals are kept in a wood cradle reinforced styro cooler with a PWM controlled quartz immersion heater. So no problems there.
The rinse water (and I use a lot) was a problem. The first attempt at running drained my hot water heater by the end of the process.
Needless to say, I wasn't a happy camper.
Resetting the temp each time was an immense PITA. Besides, it screwed up my times.

Fortunately, I also am an all-grain home brewer. One of my mash tuns in a 10 gallon Rubbermaid (Gott) orange round cooler. On the bottom I have a Zymico fitting replacing the supplied push to get a drink valve that normally comes with said cooler.
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I fill the tun I mean cooler before the session with 10 gallons of the correct temp water. I then pour it into a 1200 ml graduated cylinder which is the correct volume for my Patterson tank and rinse away. No problems in several years.

The only problem is I keep the cooler around to do my one a year Smoked Imperial Porter. So the cooler has a definite smokey aroma when I use it.
So far it has not impacted my process, just my desire for a brew wnen I get done developing film.
cheers.

BTW, first post here. I was referred by the Photogrrapers Formulary to this site.
So Hi y'all!

I did an unconventional plumbing. Hot supply goes to hot faucet as normal. It also goes to cold faucet with an adjustable valve to control the mixing. Turn on the cold and I get the preset mix of hot and cold through the cold faucet.

There is always cold water to start in the hot supply so ther is a wait and water heaters are never precise.
A commercial property would have a hot circulating pump.

An expensive auto mix valve is possible, but very expensive.

Depending on the season, keep a tray of ice cubes or hot water and add small amounts as necessary.

Developing it the most critical. Let the film and tank come to 20 before adding developer or you warm the developer or cool it depending if the tank was hot or cold. Most people ignore this step, but it is important.

Use the Ilford wash sequence and a jug at 20 will be all the wash water you need.

I don't worry about it until the temperature gets high enough that the development time is too short for comfort. In that case I measure out my developer and put it in the freezer for a few minutes, then let it sit until it reaches about 70F, which is usually stable enough for the amount of time necessary.

This will of course fail if the ambient temperature is too high, in which case I just wait to do the processing until it's not so hot.

For C-41 I use a warm water bath. The time you need to hold the target temperature is short enough to make it pretty easy to control just by adding more warm water.

glbeas said:

Intellifaucet. Nuff said.

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Yep, Intellifaucet.

My ambient cold temp never rises above 67F - verified by monitoring temps for a couple of summers before I ordered. Therefore had Hass Mfg set my permanent default to 68F. (An option when ordering.) If my ambient cold had been a higher maximum, I would have had the default set higher to match, then standardized on that temp for all my processing.

Ken

I usually develop at 27C simply because thats the ambient temperature here in New Delhi. Since development is all about temp control I'm wondering whether I should buy a chiller....but before I buy the chiller I'm thinking of exploring the idea of stand development - it may work well for my climate.