darkroom ventilation

[CPorter]

I'm not sure how extensive the remodeling will be, but I put an inline exhaust fan, as Barry suggested, in the attic and put ducts down to the wall along the trays - the fumes get pulled right off the trays and never near my face. I put my ducts in the wall, but they could be on the outside if you aren't modifying the wall.

can you post a picture?

[Ulrich Drolshagen]

can you post a picture?

May I help with this one?

[Jim Noel]

Two possible solutions.
1. if you have a window, make a plywood cover for the window and put the fan init blowing out.
2. Reverse the direction of the fan and make it blow into the darkroom. This will cause the fumes to blow away from you and out all the unseen cracks in the doors, walls, etc. Clean rooms have always used this type of positive ventilation.
I have used such a system in my 10x10 darkroom for more than 25 years.
3. A third solution which may help is to attach a length of dryer hose to the fan and place the intake near the sink. For this you willlikely need a squirrel cage fan.

[CPorter]

Two possible solutions.
1. if you have a window, make a plywood cover for the window and put the fan init blowing out.
2. Reverse the direction of the fan and make it blow into the darkroom. This will cause the fumes to blow away from you and out all the unseen cracks in the doors, walls, etc. Clean rooms have always used this type of positive ventilation.
I have used such a system in my 10x10 darkroom for more than 25 years.
3. A third solution which may help is to attach a length of dryer hose to the fan and place the intake near the sink. For this you willlikely need a squirrel cage fan.

I appreciate all the suggestions, the third option that you state here is going to be the most practical for me-----squirrel cage fan?

I googled it, I see what you mean-------can they be wired from a switch or do they just come with a power cord to be plugged into an outlet?

[macrorie]

I'm using a bathroom conversion right now with limited possibilities for customizing ventilation, but I once was able to build a darkroom on a first floor that allowed putting an exhaust vent near the floor under the wet bench and sink, so the fumes were pulled off the trays and downward, then exited through an easily strung clothes dryer vent hose in the basement. The fan was in the basement, so noise was not a problem, and I had a filtered, light-proof vent for the make-up air. It worked very well in terms of controlling fumes and dust.

[shutterclank]

a short term solution, get a respirator that will filter out the fumes.

[Discoman]

Buy a cheap range hood and mount it above the sink. You can duct it anywhere from there. The upshot, exhausting fumes where you need, extra light above the sink, plus the benefit of not having to rip out the light in the center of the room.

This is actually a really clever idea-add some basic sides to it and some possibility for a door on the front from some cheap material and you just essentially built a vent hood of the type labs use.
Range hoods are really cheap used, and you can remove the motor and attach a more powerful blower in the vent hose and box around it with a foam lined box-that will greatly quiet it down.

I need to vent my own darkroom, so thanks Rick A for this idea.

[Richard Jepsen]

I use a dry, non-vented DR located in our utility room. The room size is 6x11 ft with 8 ft ceilings. Ventilation is always recommended. However, switching to a water stop and TF-4 fix removed previous nasal irritations experienced with a conventional acid stop/fix. Other factors are my modest tray size, 8x10 or smaller and the need to move a print from the fix tray to a water hold tray located outside of the DR. So I am opening the door and exiting the DR every 5 to 10 min. I could also cover the developer tray but have not found that necessary.