How pure is your water? Scoring the right H2O for record cleaning

I'd suggest folks ignore what anonymous chemists on the internet have to say on the matter of cleaning records. It leads people to believe cleaning records is dramatically more involving then it actually is, and before you know it you find yourself in a debate over parts per million in your rinse water.

 

Jesus, my wife should come on here, she could make a killing on the chromatography equipment she sells. She normally has to sell to proper scientists rather than the 'one born every minute' crowd.

 

One of the reasons why I'm happy with 'just' RO water produced at home is that a dirty but unmarked or scratched LP almost always cleans to be absolutely mint & silent. I can't get better than, even if I tried Ultrasonic & the actual grade of water seems of no consequence to me.

For every gallon of pure RO, the process creates almost the same of partly purified water via a separate pipe & my houseplants get that. I didn't know that drinking it could be harmful though but never tried it anyway! Thanks for that information.

 

I'm very surprised nobody has done this. Maybe I'm the only one. But I run a dehumidifier most of the year and it makes gallons of distilled water everyday that use to just go down the drain. Now I capture it in 20 liter containers, and when I clean records, there it is for free!

 

Type I water is reagent grade water, you absolutely can not sell "reagent grade" water for drinking water.

No source needs to be cited here. The fellow in the link is entitled to what ever "opinion" that he may have.

I did not read the link, it is not necessary to read the link, as the information given is completely wrong.

I'm sure that your 49 cents a gallon water is more than sufficient for cleaning records. It is not however reagent grade water.

Water weighs eight pounds per-gallon and is expensive to ship. To buy five gallons of reagent grade water and have it shipped to you would end up costing about $60. It would be about half of that or less, if you were able source it locally.

Those who have access to free or low cost reagent grade water, might want to use it for record cleaning.

Otherwise, your $2.45 cents for 5-gallons of super water, may make a more intelligent solution for cleaning records.

 

Hence the irony. My sentence was poorly constructed; ironic that I am an environmental activist, my daughter is employed by a petrochemical manufacturer, and I am a user of her products (as is everyone else in our consumerist society). You can call it hypocrisy if you prefer...

And no, her plant does not produce PVC for records as it happens. They produce the shinkwrap we throw away.

 

no, its minerals in your water that make it hard. distilled water would not leave said residue.

 

People can get a decent water filter that mounts under the sink. It will provide clean filtered water for your records and drinking water at the same time.

 

I have successfully used distilled water (purchased by the gallon at a drug store) and Aquafina for record rinsing. I haven't discerned any difference between the two for record cleaning purposes. Unless you perform your record cleaning and record playing in a laboratory quality "clean room," it is difficult to imagine that the difference between commercial distilled water and reagent water would be your principal source of contaminants.

I use a de-ionizer for my car wash water to reduce water spots (I'm a sports car enthusiast), but the de-ionizer warns that the water is not for drinking so I haven't tried it for record washing.

 

Did you bother to read the post. You don't use distilled water for bathing. It doesn't come out of the tap. I suggest you go back and reread the post and the quote in it.

 

You wont see any difference between cleaning records with Aquafina and distilled water.

Distilled water and reagent water are two different things.

Reagent water is highly deionized water. There are contaminants that may be in the record grooves that might bond with the deionized water and therefore may be removed from the record groove along with the water, during the cleaning process.

Deionized water is not for drinking. Drinking is not the same as cleaning records. Why not take some already distilled water and run it through your de-ionizer and try it on a an uncleaned record?

Since you have the machine to manufacture the deionized water, you might as well make use of it on your records.

 

I've been wondering about this same thing every time I empty the dehumidifier. How "pure" would this water be? I'm guessing it is certainly better than using tap water, correct?

 

Yes/No? It is taking the water out of the air, so it should not have the impurities of tap water, but it will have the impurities of the water in the air.

Wash a dark car. Wait for it to rain, let the sun come out and dry the rain water and see if there are water spots on the car.

 

I know what the collecting tank on my dehumidifier looks like. If yours is anything like mine I'd suggest you just buy some distilled.

Tap water is not an option in my world.

 

Thanks for that thought.

The water looks ok but then again so does tap water. I did some checking and read that there is also a concern with the cleanliness of the coils in the dehumidifier itself and what impurities may end up in the water as a result.
Distilled water it is!

 

Right, you don't use distilled water for bathing, which is why you get soap scum in bathrooms. He was pushing back on your claim soap scum is unrelated to hard water.

 

The city where I live has an award winning filtration plant, and water is ph neutral. It's what I use for clean and rinse, and results are fantastic.

For drinking I run it thru multiple filters and then RO, but there is no difference in results using this water compared to straight tap for record cleaning.

No fancy water required here.

 

That sounds very convenient.

Suggest that you pour half of a glass of water and then sit it on a window sill and let it completely evaporate.

See if there is a residue at the bottom of the glass.

That should let you know, if your tap water is equal to RO water.

The pool that I cared for is ph neutral, but it has both dissolved solids and suspended matter in the water that is too small for the filter to remove.

Most tap water is going to have a sanitizer in it to ensure that the water continues to be sanitary after it leaves the processing plant.

I've never seen any city water that does not have a mineral content to it.

Check it out for yourself, just to be sure.

 

Best in the world.....really
https://www.abbynews.com/news/clearbrook-water-once-again-named-best-in-the-world-2/

 

Our tap has chlorine in it (don't remember how much) and obviously some other minerals cause it's naturally sourced water. Bottom line for me is it doesn't make any difference that I am able to hear so I am good to go. I'm only after good sound, and if I have that, no need to obsess any further!

 

Water is a mysterious substance, the basis of life, and according to these researchers is actually affected by human emotional states! It can get familiar with you and your state of being! So treat your water with respect and love, and in return it will clean your records better!

 

Soap scum will occur with soft water as well as hard. You'll also get deposits from the chemicals used to soften the water. So Hey Culligan Man won't result in there being no deposits.

 

I posted this in another thread about water for record cleaning- it is from Millipore, who sell the equipment used in labs to make different water grades. The grading has to conform to certain standards shown in the chart. If you click the button on the left of the chart, you'll see in 'purification techniques' a description of each of the processes.
I use Reagent Grade 1 for rinsing and for mixing certain cleaning fluids. It may be overkill but it does a really good job, seems to act more like a solvent than distilled, which I also buy by the gallon for use in the ultrasonic machine.
FWIW, the US Library of Congress recommends deionized water, which is probably harder to find than distilled in the States. (I suspect the LOC makes it given the volume of material they clean). Distilled should be just fine. Here's the relevant Q/A with the LOC preservation specialist on the subject:
Q: You also suggest using “deionized water”- what properties does this have over “distilled” water of the type you buy in the grocery store?

A: I can’t speak to the quality of grocery store distilled water. In general, distilling removes organic and inorganic impurities from water. In deionization, the emphasis is more upon removing minerals. Deionization tends to be less expensive than distillation. For the purposes of cleaning records, there is less need for the purity of distilled water because the primary concern is to not leave any mineral residue on a disc, which can happen with tap water.
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Good luck, keep it clean and don't go crazy!

 

As an owner of a whole-house water softener, you're thankfully incorrect. No soap scum, no water spots on the shower door, etc. Only winning. And hauling 40lb bags of salt down a rickety staircase. But mostly winning.

 

Better than hauling 40lb bags of salt UP a rickety staircase.