Cleaning records: Demineralized water or distilled water?

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by mitchcortes, Oct 20, 2014.

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  1. mitchcortes

    mitchcortes Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Belgium
    I was wondering about the quality of water used for cleaning and/or rinsing? I use 2 knosti disco antistat baths. One for cleaning and a 2nd one for rinsing. The fluid included worked very well. For rinsing at the moment I use demineralized water (very cheap and easy to find). Since the cleaning fluid is almost gone I bought L'Art Du Son. But now I'm a bit worried about which water to use for it. Is demineralized water good enough? Most people talk about distilled water (aqua dest), or even double distilled (aqua bidest). Is this indeed better or am I safe with demineralized water?
     
  2. Wasatch

    Wasatch Music Lover!

    I use distilled water with Record Time fluid, 75/25 ratio. Works very well and lasts along time.
     
  3. matthew2600

    matthew2600 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Colorado
    I used to buy distilled for my spin clean but got lazy over time and just started using filtered water from my fridge and their solution. It might have potential for minerals or residue but I haven't had any problems yet, is safe enough for human consumption I figure, probably good enough for Jamaican vinyl.
     
  4. Wngnt90

    Wngnt90 Forum Resident

    80% distilled water, 20% isopropyl alcohol and 4 drops of Kodak photoflo as a surfactant to make 500 ml of cleaning solution
     
    CARPEYOLO likes this.
  5. David Ellis

    David Ellis Forum Resident

    Location:
    Cheshire, UK
    I'm in the same situation even down to just having started with L'Art Du Son. I paid a lot for some highly distilled water (£20) which seemed to have been a good investment. Not sure about demin water as this is not safe to drink and is specifically for special processes in industry.
     
  6. mitchcortes

    mitchcortes Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Belgium
    If I may ask: In what way do you mean 'good investment'? Is it noticable improvement in playback or perhaps something with the quality of the water?
    I know distilled water seems to be more expensive. I'm just wondering if it's really worth it the extra cost...
     
    Heckto35 likes this.
  7. whaleyboy

    whaleyboy Senior Member

    Location:
    San Diego, CA
    I use distilled water with a cleaning fluid and, occasionally, I use Reagent grade water as a secondary wash.
     
  8. Wasatch

    Wasatch Music Lover!

    As investment goes, yeah, cleaning your LPs and keeping them clean is good for the stylus/cartridge, the music/information will be more transparent and will come thru very nicely. I'm sure there are a lot of other good things about it as well. Also, if you decide to sell, it's nice to send someone a nice clean LP.
     
  9. bluemooze

    bluemooze Senior Member

    Location:
    Frenchtown NJ USA
    One thing for sure, if you want a bright, happy sound, don't use demoralized water. :tiphat:
     
  10. mitchcortes

    mitchcortes Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Belgium
    Totally agree! I've been cleaning records since I began playing/collecting them. It's a joy to hear a nice cleaned record without (or almost without) surface noise!
    But still, my question is should I bother to spend more money on distilled water? Or is demiwater good enough for cleaning/rinsing records? From what I understand distilled water is more pure. But maby demiwater is pure enough...
     
  11. Wasatch

    Wasatch Music Lover!

    I use the distilled water from the grocery store, it does the trick for me.
     
    Heckto35 likes this.
  12. Scott in DC

    Scott in DC Forum Resident

    Location:
    Washington, DC
    Distilled water.

    Scott
     
  13. Beattles

    Beattles Senior Member

    Location:
    Florence, SC
    Someone recommended Aquafina bottled water because of the filtration it goes through. I have been using it with 45s in my Spin Clean and can't tell any difference between it and distilled or AI Ultra-Pure Water. I still use the AI and VPI on anything other than thrift store LPs. The Spin Clean is much faster on 45s and makes playing them a pleasure.
     
    Ghostworld likes this.
  14. kcblair

    kcblair Forum Resident

    Location:
    Western Mass.
    Distilled from grocery store.
     
  15. drapes

    drapes Forum Resident

    Location:
    Montreal, QC
    I have a bottle of demineralized water that I've been using. It says "equivalent to distilled water" on the label. Label also says mineral salts content < 5ppm.
     
  16. utahusker

    utahusker Senior Member

    The jugs of distilled water aren't mineral free, or even close. I don't know how they can call it distilled. In my experience, Aquafina is a much better choice.
     
    timztunz likes this.
  17. Poison_Flour

    Poison_Flour Forum Resident

    + 1
     
  18. jazz8588

    jazz8588 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sandbach, England
    I use distilled. I read somewhere that it is better for cleaning records. Could be the solids content is lower.
     
  19. whaiyun

    whaiyun Forum Resident

    Location:
    Windsor/Detroit
    distilled. 0 ppm!
     
    Fill Your Head likes this.
  20. F1 Power

    F1 Power Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Sweden
    I use distilled and purified medical water normaly used for medicin blending( "Aqua purificata").
    I us it in my spin clean with spin clean formula.
    I contains only h2o and it drys faster and it doesn't tend to stick to the groves like tap water dose.
    I by it in the pharmacy her in Sweden.

    /F1
     
  21. Bill Hart

    Bill Hart Forum Resident

    Location:
    Austin
    Sailfree and F1 Power like this.
  22. Wasatch

    Wasatch Music Lover!

    Kinda still on topic. I believe I read somewhere that Fermer cleans LPs just before playing them. Do other's do the same thing? One cleaning goes along way, two even longer. I just started cleaning my LPs again (at least third time) for most. This time I'm thinking just doing them 10 or so at a time, then listen, repeat, till I go thru all of them. Also, the first thing I do with a new LP added to the collection is to clean it. What do you people do?
     
    timztunz likes this.
  23. Bill Hart

    Bill Hart Forum Resident

    Location:
    Austin
    Once really clean, I don't see the need to re-clean. Of course, if you really improve your cleaning methods, you wind up going back and re-cleaning to see the degree to which it improves the sonics of a good sounding record or helps better salvage a problem one. Or, at least I do. But, I don't see the need to routinely re-clean before play. In fact, the less handling, stuff, fluids, brushes, other stuff, the better. Just enough to do the job, no more. I don't even like to use a carbon dry brush unless it is necessary.
     
    Heckto35, David Ellis and nitsuj like this.
  24. Wasatch

    Wasatch Music Lover!

    Cool. I also use nothing on LPs between/after a clean, most of the time.
     
  25. tyinkc

    tyinkc Senior Member

    Location:
    Fontana, Wisconsin
    I use distilled water with my spin clean and it works very well.
     
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