I know many may disagree. But I'll just relay some experiences I had. I worked
at a lab that had a number of different water processing setups.
So I brought some deionized triple filtered water home and used that to mix
developer. The results were terrible.
So I then brought home some reverse osmosis water and mixed some developer. The
results were terrible.
I brought home distilled water that I knew was really distilled and tested for
dissolved solids. The results were good.
I used filtered tap water and mixed developer and it matched the distilled
water results.
Now I'm aware of all the differences between the different purification
methods, and why some may not work as well as others, but I've been using tap
water ever since and I've checked the ppm of the tap water as reported by the
water company and contaminates are all very low. I asked some film processing
companies what water source they used and they all said tap water, filtered of
course.
If distilled water makes people feel that the results will be more consistent,
they should continue to use it. But, I've never seen any documentation as to
the real differences between quality tap water and distilled water for mixing
film developer. Now I will concede that in some locations, the water quality
may be less than other locations, and in that instance, distilled water may
have a slight edge.
If I was making a stock solution or concentrate that I was planning to keep for
a year, I might consider distilled water but I'm not sure it would be any
better than filtered tap water.
________________________________
From: pure-silver-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <pure-silver-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> on
behalf of Dana Myers <dana.myers@xxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, July 27, 2021 10:33 PM
To: pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [pure-silver] Re: HC-110
On 7/27/2021 7:13 PM, hksvk wrote:
Thanks, John. It looks a mess. Thinking I need to toss it.
I recently mixed-up a 5l batch of Xtol, from well-stored powder, using
"ZeroWater"
(counter-top DI cistern) as usual, in a clean stainless pot (that was washed in
the
dishwasher afterward). A few weeks later, I noted the appearance of sparkly
floaters
in the developer as seen through the brown glass bottles that have only ever
been
used to contain full-strength Xtol stock.
I noted this immediately before processing a roll of 100TMX, and, sure enough,
some of
those sparkly flakes were stuck to the emulsion, and Edwal cleaner wasn't
taking them off.
That's when I also noted floating junk in the remaining bottles.
I tossed the remaining stock, rinsed the bottles well, got a dedicated plastic
bucket
for mixing Xtol and made another batch. I note the first 100TMX I processed in
this
batch was a bit sharper than in the previous batch; more what I expect from
100TMX.
I can only speculate I contaminated the first batch, possibly with Jet Dry
residue on the
mixing pot, possibly with residue on the bottom of the funnel (since cleaned)
that I
used to fill the bottles, or ?
Anyway, if the develop makes you wonder if it's OK, it's probably not OK.
Dana K6JQ
On Jul 26, 2021, at 9:05 PM, John Stockdale
<jstoc@xxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:jstoc@xxxxxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
If it has been cold, maybe the components could not stay in solution. Sometimes
gentle warming can help crystals go back into solution.
However, if the color has changed, my guess is that some reaction has taken
place and that would not be reversible. When "Kodak" changed from the old
water-free formulation to something more conventional, there was discussion
about how long it would last. My guess is that it will still work but maybe a
bit weaker.