# Temp controll



## ahelg (Jan 8, 2007)

I'm planning a darkroom and I'm concerned about temperature controll. Now I should be able to get a radiator relatively cheap which has a temperature control on it so that it turns itself off and on automaticly to keep the room on a steady temperature with a digital dial which lets me select this temperature. My question is, will it be enough to keep the room at a good temperature? If I have my chemicles standing in trays, etc, wont the chemicles take on the same temperature as the room?

Also there's the concern of water temperature from my tap.would one of these be good enough to controll the temperature?
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/con...867&is=REG&addedTroughType=categoryNavigation


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## ThomThomsk (Jan 9, 2007)

ahelg said:


> I'm planning a darkroom and I'm concerned about temperature controll. Now I should be able to get a radiator relatively cheap which has a temperature control on it so that it turns itself off and on automaticly to keep the room on a steady temperature with a digital dial which lets me select this temperature. My question is, will it be enough to keep the room at a good temperature? If I have my chemicles standing in trays, etc, wont the chemicles take on the same temperature as the room?



My 'darkroom' is in my attic. I have one of those oil-fillied electric radiators, which helps a bit, but I also need to stand my tray of developer in a bigger tray of warm water or the temperature drops too fast. It doesn't seem to make much of a difference whether my paper developer is at 20 degrees or 23, or even 25.

Film is a different matter, and you really need to keep things at 20 degrees. I do this by developing film in the kitchen, not the attic, by keeping some water at room temperature so that it is ready for mixing chemicals, and by having a large bowl of water at 20 degrees in which I stand the developing tank - it keeps its temperature steady for a long time, and makes everything much easier to control. I also check the developer temperature half way through development and adjust the time if I need to, using the chart on the Ilford website, but I'm usually within half a degree anyway.

Thom


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## Philip Weir (Jan 9, 2007)

I initially wondered what you were getting at, heating up your darkroom, then I noticed where you live. Fortunately I live in Sydney Australia, and have never even considered heating up the darkroom.  Emigrate and make life easy.  I must admit though, that for processing film I have all my chemistry in tanks in a water jacket controlled by a fish tank heater, which keeps the chemistry at at a constant temperature winter and summer.


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## Majik Imaje (Feb 23, 2007)

and use  a thermometer well and two hoses coming off the bottom of the unit. and a water bath is essential for keeping temps extremly accurate and it is simple to achieve with 1/4 degree accuracy.

http://majikimaje.com/drkrm15.jpg


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