Hi, This is a great site! I hope someone can help me with this question. I'm building a B/W darkroom and was wondering if I should dig a dry well or if it would be ok to run my drains into my existing house drains, meaning into the septic tank. I am concerned about introducing the chemicals into my closed system. I could just haul the chemicals out and just use the sink for print drying. Any comments and ideas on the subject are appreciated. Thanks in advance! Duane

-- Duane Heller (dheller@ptd.net), June 17, 1999

Answers

I have a septic system, and I pour most chemicals down my drain, but I always take my old fix and old selenium toner to a local lab with a silver recovery unit. The heavy metals will build up in the septic tank. Most of the other stuff will oxidize rapidly enough not to be a problem. I believe Kodak offers a pamphlet about septic systems, so you should look for it on their site.

-- Ed Buffaloe (edbuffaloe@earthlink.net), June 17, 1999.

Duane,

Kodak used to say that home darkroom volumes are fine in a septic system. Now they say no, but it is more from being environmentaly kind WRT silver. The chemicals are handled by the septic system without much trouble. There is a web site, www.cherryvalley.com/terragreen/ that talks about this and also sells a bacteria mix to enhance the capabilities of your septic system to handle the chemistry.

You SHOULD recover the silver. The simple and easy way is to dump the spent fixer in a bucket with steel wool. It is parcipitate a silver sludge, the waste can go in the drain.

The better way is to pick up a "silver magnet". Porter's (www.porters.com) has them for about $35. They electrolytically remove the silver from the fixer. When the collector cartridge is full, you send it in and they recover the silver, and pay you for it. A replacement cartridge costs about $15.

-- Terry Carraway (TCarraway@compuserve.com), June 17, 1999.