Nova 3 bath12x16 Processor

[Flack]

I have just got one of these second hand, can anybody give me some tips on use, it came with two new heaters so I fitted them today, but I noticed a leak on one of the baths luckly it was on the outside end panel, it looks like it was dropped. The end plate had a crack about 7 inch long, I drilled a stop holeand ground out the crack and used my hot glue gun to seal it, I also sealed the whole edge of the bath that the crack was on, happy to report its now all sealed and works well.

I read somewhere about cleaning them but this one is very clean in the baths. Do you need to put anything in the water jackets to stop the water from going funny or smelling?.
Its the last part of my dark room setup so hopefully I can now start making some prints now.

 

[John King]

If the leak returns, Nova darkroom sell a sealing compound which will adhere to the acrylic and make it fully water tight again.

The recommended additive to the water jackets for a 12x16 processor is about a 50cc of ordinary household bleach. You won't get any smell from the jackets anyway, but what you may get is a growth of Legionella Bacteria which you may know if contracted can be fatal. The bleach kills this before it can become dangerous. It needs to be replenished every month or so,there is no need to drain the water jackets just add a bit of bleach

As for cleaner. Nova sell what they call 'Tar buster' which is very expensive. What I do is the same as a lot of others and that is empty the processor completely and fill the slots with a strong mix (50/60%) of domestic bleach and water and then leave it for a couple of days and stir the slots every few hours. If you only use it for B&W there really is no need to clean the processor , the 'tar' build up only happens with RA4 and even then in slot one where the developer is filled.

 

[Flack]

Hi John thanks for the tips, I have it all setup now , but life keeps getting in my way, I have not had any time to get in my darkroom and make any prints as of yet, but will get in there in the next couple of weeks hopefully. Also the weather has been to hot last month so that stopped me from going in. My darksoom faces South so gets the sun all day.