Enzyme Cleaners specifically for LPs...Really?

Just to report back, my sporicidin formula is working very well. Records seem clean and residue free. Don't anticipate going back to buying cleaning fluid any time soon....

 

Some good stuff here -why would someone use jet dry in a formula?
I never could figure out why people did straight water rinses, but I suppose if there is still wet residue from cleaning in the groove (where regular water won't go) then a brush agitating the water around may poke it into combining with what is already in the groove, and ideally leach that out upon vacuuming.
does anyone steam clean in combination with the enzyme cleaning?

 

I bought some Zinsner Jomax at Lowe's today. I used a 25% alcohol, 15% Jomax, 60% distilled water solution, plus a couple drops of dawn and jet dry. Jomax is cheaper and easier to find than Sporicidin but only has about 1/6 the active ingredient of Sporicidin (Phenol somethingorother).

 

Still using Nature's Miracle? Straight up or diluted in some way?

 

Ive had such good luck with Scrubbing Bubbles, Ive actually abandoned all other cleaners. It really works great.

 

I just tried Scrubbing Bubbles cleaning records. I was stunned at how well they came out! So easy to use as well. It's my new go-to cleaner.

 

Fantastic! Someone openly mocked me on a vinyl group for using it, but I have found zero issues using it other than you have to be careful around the label, and it is the only cleaner I use now. It works amazingly well.

 

While Aquafina and its brother from another company have been filtered many times, they are NOT distilled water as such. Taste a 99-cent bottle of distilled water, taste Aquafina at the same temperature. You will find that they do not taste the same. You might find the distalled water tasting rather flat, as comaired to spring source drinking water. You will find the Aquafina to taste crisp, better tasting than the distilled.

Why is that? After distallation, salts and other minerals are added, these will stay on your record's surface, hiding in the grooves and once materials in water dry, they are very hard to remove. Take a dark colored car without wax on the surface. Pick one with a clean and shiny surface, pour some tap water on it and let it evaporate in the sun. Come back tomorrow and wipe it off with a damp cloth. You will find it hard to remove once it has dried.

It will be a bit harder getting it out of the groves in your records.

Just use the 99-cent bottle of distilled water.

 

I was just researching bottled water today after a co-worker had shown me a brand he was drinking and said it was "nothing but pure water". I picked some up at the supermarket when it mentioned fewer than 1 PPM of total dissolved solids.

It seems Aquafina is not "flavored" with minerals and is the second best water in terms of purity that you can get off the supermarket shelf, after Penta.

Aquafina
Price 1.19 per 20 fl oz – TDS 002

As you can see, this is the least expensive and purest bottled water. This was a big surprise to me, because I didn’t think the least expensive water would be the purest.

Penta
Price 1.49 for 16.0 fl oz – TDS 000

This water is the purest Bottled Water I measured but as you can see it is also pretty expensive.
This water got it’s fame from celebrity endorsements and it also supposedly helps to grow your hair, and makes you skin glow. But in order to get those benefits you would have to drink a box of this water every day ( about 15 dollars worth ).​

Read more at Which Is The Purest Bottled Water? »

Which Is The Purest Bottled Water? »

 

Purity has different meanings in different contexts. The most highly purified waters, for laboratory purposes, undergo multiple stages of processing. Here is a link that describes these different methods, and their relative strengths and weaknesses.

As far as I know, Aquafina is R/O water. I believe that DI is better at removing minerals from the water than distillation. I use reagent grade lab water for cleaning vinyl and mixing solutions.

 

Bill - I genuinely want to know, what additional benefits could you expect from reagent grade water beyond what you could get from water with fewer than 1 PPM dissolved solids?

 

Much lower than I realized. I like the taste of Aquafina. So much better than Dasani by Coca Cola, which contains, tap water, magnusium sulfate (epson salts), potassium chloride and sodium chloride, metallic tasting.

Thinking back, I was mixing up Aquafina with Dasani, my bad.

+1 for Aquafina, stay away from Dasani. Bad for you, bad for your records.

 

It is probably overkill, but consistency- for one. I'm never sure what i'm getting in supermarket type water. When I clean these records- some of them quite valuable, I want to clean them once and be done. Once re-sleeved, they may live that way beyond my natural life. Whatever foreign matter is in the water, whether organic or inorganic, can not only leave a residue, but potentially interact with the sleeve material. I want some assurance I'm leaving nothing on the record. So, I use the lab water for rinse stages during vac drying, and in my ultrasonic. Can I claim some listening improvement? No, not really. But, I hope that my large collection of Vertigos, early Island Pink Labels, Harvests, etc will be played by someone 50 years from now who will enjoy them as much as I do.

 

This is not my understanding. Dasani adds minerals but according to Mike Fremer Aquafina is filtered 4x. That should make it safe for records.

 

PS I think Dasani tastes vetter due to the minerals. But that could be a personal preference thing.

 

I drink spring water because it tastes good and I value the minerals. To me Dasani has an unnatural taste, metallic.

 

I have this cleaner i bought awhile back its called quick & brite and its an enzymatic cleaner. It says safe on all surfaces, biodegradable and non toxic. Has anyone heard of it or have used it. Im going to try it on a bad lp to see if it improves it. This is fairly cheap you can mix a weak or strong solution and it also comes in a paste you can make solution from. Ill let everyone know. Brad

 

I have gotten fantastic results using diluted "Resolve" enzyme cleaner. Cheap and my records come out spotless.

 

A guy at the record store I frequent said he used Resolve as well with outstanding results.

 

A few years back, I looked at enzyme cleaners available off the shelf locally as well as on the web (A'zon, etc) and all had additives and fragrances that made me wary of residue and long-term damage. Even the enzyme cleaners my wife brought home from the hospital where she works weren't pure solutions so I ended up biting the bullet and using AIVS Enzymatic Cleaner on most records. I will occasionally use solutions that are designed for cleaning surgical instruments but only after being heavily diluted and even then I'm not comfortable applying it to any valued records. My concern is that while products that aren't made specifically for vinyl will clean effectively (Resolve, Scrubbing Bubbles, even Windex will clean a record and make it shine and to be fair, I haven't tried any of these), they may also have a deleterious effect on the polymers in the vinyl and may eventually cause significant damage. As well, the additives may not be easily removed by a water rinse and could not only attract dirt and degrade sound quality but may also migrate and damage the stylus.

While its great to find bargains in this hobby, I just can't bring myself to compromise on records and associated gear that I value and want to keep for a long time. Besides, at $20/bottle used judiciously, I can clean close to 500 records so until I find a solution that is better and cheaper than the AIVS and is pure enough to satisfy my concerns, think the expense is justified.

 

+1
In the big picture the AIVS cleaners don't cost me that much over time, and I also prize my record collection far more than saving a few bucks maintaining them.

 

IMO I don't really see a need to use any of those cleaners since we have many, affordable, tried and tested methods that work very well. I don't do these cleaners work any better? If they don't, why even bother is what ran through my mind.

In my experience, all the solutions I tried pretty much work as well as each other L'Art Du Son v Isop v AIVS v Mofi v Vnylzyme...all the same for moderately dirty records.

 

I've been using the AIVS One Step Formula #6 with my Okki Nokki and it fits my needs perfectly.

 

distilled water is fine and costs like $1 gallon at the grocery store. (as a rinse stage)

 

Do Not Read Unless You Want Better Records & Crazy Stylus Li - Vinyl Engine »

I've been using a variation of this gentleman's formula for almost a year and a half now. My mix comprises 1/2 tap water, 1/4 2-in-1 shampoo/conditioner, 1/4 91% isopropyl alcohol in a small spray bottle. Together with microfiber cloths and a spray bottle of regular water.

The fidelity just kicks up over 50% after one cleaning and hardly any residue on your stylus. So happy I ran across that thread.