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  #1  
Old 5th January 2020, 08:24 PM
Terry S Terry S is offline
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Default Removing sulphur deposits from fixer bottle

The title says it all really.

I have just finished my last one litre (decanted from a five litre container) bottle of fixer.

It's lasted me well and the purposely bought bottles have done their job.

Not wanting to just throw the one bottle out, for they were not cheap when adding on p & p, I wondered how to clean the encrusted sulphur deposits which seem quite thick.

I have tried a hot soap and water soak so far, to no avail. A search recommends dried rice or sodium sulphite, the latter of which I have, but no quantity is given. So can anyone advise about SS, or any other solution?

I'll buy some more bottles if really needed but I am a habitual recycler.

Terry S

Last edited by Terry S; 5th January 2020 at 08:29 PM.
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  #2  
Old 5th January 2020, 10:03 PM
John King John King is offline
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The deposits will be reasonably thick and quite brittle. If the bottles are plastic you could try rapping the sides and bottom of the bottles with something like a screwdriver handle the rinsing out the resulting debris.

I have in the past managed to clean out other containers with a strong solution of household bleach, it may be worth a try. I used a 50/50 mix and left the bottles for 2-3 days.
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Old 5th January 2020, 10:40 PM
Mike O'Pray Mike O'Pray is offline
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Other than bleach in a Nova slot I have never tried to clean out any fixer deposits elsewhere. All I can say is that even bleach took several days and a stiff bottle brush to scour the bottom of the slot. Your bottle might be easier than a Nova slot or more difficult.

John's 50/50 is pretty strong. My dilution was nowhere near that strong.

This will sound like the joke: How do you get from A to B? Answer avoiding starting at A

More seriously unless the bottles are worth salvaging you might want to consider the equivalent of wine-bags. There are various re-usable wine-bag containers on sale to the homebrew market that might be worth considering

I currently still use actual wine-bags that were on sale in supermarkets but the type of dispensers have now been changed by those making the wine-bags and removing the dispensers, cleaning them and re-using is now next to impossible

However it would seem that those sold to the homebrew market for wine storage are re-usable so it may be that purchasing those is the way to go

Mike
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Old 6th January 2020, 01:15 AM
Svend Svend is offline
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Hi Terry,
I asked this question a while back and got the same good advice to use bleach. Worked great, but took a good long soak with 100% bleach sol'n to do the job. You can read the thread here:
http://www.film-and-darkroom-user.or...ad.php?t=12334

A bit of straight-up bleach and some patience and you should be good.
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Svend
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  #5  
Old 6th January 2020, 03:23 PM
Terry S Terry S is offline
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Thanks for all the comments peeps, and it seems that good old straight bleach is recommended once more.

So far, I have had the bottle half filled with a Sodium Sulphite solution overnight and quite a bit of the sulphur has come off after a good shake. It was only last night I did it, but I can't remember now what the reasoning behind it was - I must of read something on a forum somewhere, just before doing it at bed time.

Anyway, I'll give it a little longer in the bottle before another good shake and if still required, out will come the trusted bleach!

Terry S
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Old 6th January 2020, 04:46 PM
John King John King is offline
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Default Removal of deposits

Another trick is to use a method that motor vehicle restorers use to clean out rusty fuel tanks. Fill the bottle about 1/4 full of water (They would used paraffin) and drop in half a dozen small nuts and bolts or a small handful of wood screws. Screw on the cap and give it a good old shake for several minutes and all the deposits will be removed.

Drain the water into a bowl to save the nuts and bolts and then rinse out. It works every time.
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Old 6th January 2020, 05:32 PM
Richard Gould Richard Gould is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by John King View Post
Another trick is to use a method that motor vehicle restorers use to clean out rusty fuel tanks. Fill the bottle about 1/4 full of water (They would used paraffin) and drop in half a dozen small nuts and bolts or a small handful of wood screws. Screw on the cap and give it a good old shake for several minutes and all the deposits will be removed.

Drain the water into a bowl to save the nuts and bolts and then rinse out. It works every time.
That would work, but Motor Restorers, of which I am one, I have restored both classic car.s and motor bikes in my time, would rarely use paraffin as it could leave a nasty deposit in the tank, but would use a small amount of Petrol, no smoking allowed, and shake the tank around in the open air, at least that is the way I was taught to clean a tank just don't pour the residue down the drain,
Richard
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Old 6th January 2020, 10:01 PM
John King John King is offline
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Default Off Topic

I was always told never ever to use petrol to do the tank cleaning, a nut or bolt rattling round inside the tank when shaken violently could cause a spark! Mind you that would remove the rust!
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Old 6th January 2020, 10:38 PM
Stocky Stocky is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Terry S View Post
...., I have had the bottle half filled with a Sodium Sulphite solution overnight and quite a bit of the sulphur has come off after a good shake. It was only last night I did it, but I can't remember now what the reasoning behind it was - ......Terry S
I think the reasoning might be along these lines. The instructions for making selenium toner from elemental selenium is to boil it in strong sodium sulphite solution and it will combine to produce sodium selenite, which is in a molecular sense like sodium thiosulphate with a selenium atom in the place of a sulphur atom. Selenium and sulphur are in a similar position in the periodic table and act somewhat similarly chemically.

So the cleaning procedure suggested seems to be to get the sulphur to dissolve in the sodium sulphite solution. It doesn't all have to dissolve: as lumps are partly dissolved, they will come away from the bottle surface.

Also see the description in the Production section of this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_thiosulfate

Last edited by Stocky; 6th January 2020 at 10:40 PM. Reason: addition.
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Old 7th January 2020, 06:52 PM
Richard Gould Richard Gould is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by John King View Post
I was always told never ever to use petrol to do the tank cleaning, a nut or bolt rattling round inside the tank when shaken violently could cause a spark! Mind you that would remove the rust!
I should have added that we used old ball bearings, and never had a tank explode yet, ball bearing's as they were easier to get out of a tank, old bolts can be a night mare
Richard
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