When the ambient temperature drops below +5°C, solutions with a high salt content are at risk of partially or completely crystallizing; therefore, we do not recommend shipping them during the cold season. At subzero temperatures, this restriction applies to virtually all liquid photochemical solutions.
Which solutions are particularly sensitive to cold?
Solutions with a high risk of crystallization include: developer for veiled photographic paper, “Mikrofen” developer, component “B” of the “Pirokat” developer, ST-2 developer, UP-2 developer, ORVO-105 developer concentrate, and “Kalogen” concentrated developer.
What should you do if you need to transport chemicals in the winter?
During the cold season, it is best to order the necessary mixtures in dry form and prepare the working solution yourself according to the enclosed instructions—this completely eliminates the risk of crystallization during transport.
What should you do if the solution has already crystallized?
Take a pot or basin large enough to fully submerge the bottle containing the solution, and heat the water in it to 50–55°C. Place the bottle in the hot water and carefully remove it every minute to shake it vigorously—repeat this at least 15–20 times until all the sediment has dissolved. If the water in the container cools below 50°C, reheat it or add more hot water to bring the temperature back up to 55°C.
Once the precipitate has completely dissolved, filter the hot solution into a clean bottle of the desired volume through a funnel lined with cotton—this is necessary to prevent the tiniest crystals, invisible to the naked eye, from acting as nucleation sites for recrystallization as the solution cools.
Place the sealed bottle containing the filtered warm solution back into a container of water at about 50°C and let it cool SLOWLY and GRADUALLY to room temperature. Alternatively, wrap the bottle in a woolen cloth and leave it for 10–20 hours to cool gradually. In 99% of cases, this is enough to restore the solution to working condition.