Darkroom drainage question...

Film Photography & Darkroom discussion

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Bill Ballard
Posts: 12
Joined: Sat Apr 26, 2008 6:29 pm

Darkroom drainage question...

Post by Bill Ballard »

Hi all -

I'm setting up a 'temporary' darkroom, which I hope will evolve into a 'long-term' use darkroom, which I hope will be a stepping stone to a permamnent facility.

It will be on one side of a partially finished four-car garage. Ventilation and electrical are already in place; plumbing isn't. I've worked out a satisfactory solution for plumbing as far as getting water into the darkroom goes; my problem is getting waste water out.

The floor is concrete and there is a 'sort-of' drain in place. It's basically a hole in the floor, filled with soil. I'm not to keen on using this as a drain as it is, nor am I keen on the cost of setting up a full scale drainage system.

Short of using one or more large buckets, I'm not coming up with anything. I figure the vast majority of waste water will come from film/print washing and general darkroom clean-up. Film and prints can be washed elsewhere, so most of the waste water to be drained will likely come from simple clean-up when a printing session finished.

However, having a drainage or capture/storage/disposal system in place in the preferred option. I'm open to any suggestions.

Thanks!


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