L'Art Du Son vinyl cleaning solution degrading

Too lazy to do rinse cycles on my Loricraft, seems to work superbly without.

 

The L'Art du Son bottle I've was bought 3 years ago and I've never encountered any problems with the solution. I've kept the bottle in the fridge all the time and the fluid still looks and smells the same as when I got it. I use to mix it with aqua purificata in the small white plastic bottle that before contained the concentrated Okki Nokki cleaning solution. I've always had excellent results when I've cleaned my records with L'Art du Son and I still have.

 

I have been using it for years without a problem. I store the mixture in a dark closet in a dark brown glass bottle.

 

I use pure lab water and mix only 250ml of solution at a time. I am sure to never touch the opening of the L'art and cap nor the opening of my mixing bottle and underside of the cap. I use about 1 liter of sol'n per year. I've had same bottle of concentrate for almost 2yrs now. My sol'n bottle is plastic

No issues ever.

 

I do a final rinse with purified water and few drops of the okki nokki fluid to break the surface tension. If just using purified water you clearly see it doesn't go down into the record grooves which is the main purpose. I also use a separate brush for this step so two brushes total.

 

Where's the "blue stuff"? The 96% pure...... ;-) (Breaking Bad reference)

 

I always rinse on my Okki Nokki. If `i don't rinse, I can hear some crackling in the lead-in and the lead-out. If I do rinse, however, the crackling disappears.
Some people say that this crackling will disappear upon the second listen but I prefer to rinse anyway.

 

I've had the same bottle for around 3 years now - still as good as the day I bought it. I keep it in the fridge and mix up batches of 250ml in a brown glass medicine bottle using lab-grade purified water. Any other type of water still contains contaminates so that could be the cause of the black growth?

 

I always rinse but that isn't specific to L'Art du Son fluid. I do a rinse cycle regardless of the fluid I am using.

 

That could affect the fluid. They recommend you store it in a cool dark place so a warm dark place might not be ideal.

I think growth can occur in a mixture even with distilled water as well. But yes I think contaminated water could increase the chances of growth. Storage has a lot to do it with it. Loricraft have stated that a mixed solution has a shorter shelf life and exposure to light will reduce the life span as well.

The reports from various users that I have read can differ. Some experience degrading and growth and others don't. Those that do experience some sort of degrading vary from mild to severe.

I emailed Loricraft/Garrard about this awhile back. They say that since the fluid is biodegradable the "bits" (you'll see floating in the concentrate fluid) are quite normal and will not harm your records. In addition they said these can be filtered out of the fluid if you wish.

 

In a big city, where would I go to get 'lab water' and what exactly is it?

 

I'm not sure what "lab water" is, but in the UK we use purified water, (not distilled), and get it from the local chemist/pharmacy, it seems to be aimed at lab use.

 

They recommend keeping in the fridge but have kept for over a year in a cool cupboard without problems.

 

I think lab water is water that has been purified to an greater degree. But I think labs use distilled water too for certain things so it's confusing. But he must mean a higher grade of purified water

I've heard other people make similar references in terms of using purified water and not distilled water. But I really can't work out what they mean because distilled water is purified water. There are many types of purified water. Are you referring to purified water in terms of a regent grade? Just trying to understand what people mean when they say purified and not distilled.

 

It's an ultra pure water I purchase from a science supply store. Multiple stages of purification beyond distillation.

 

This is what I've sourced locally. I'm sure you can find many sources in Chicago...

Lab Grade Deionized Water, 0.05 micron, 1 gal. for sale. Buy from The Science Company. »

 

There are different grades of so-called lab or reagent water. Here is an overview of the different grades for lab use from a company that makes the equipment to purify: Lab Water Grades Tutorial | Water Purification | EMD Millipore »

To the left side, there is a tab you can click that describes different purification techniques.
The higher the grade, the more processing it has gone through.
The water Rob purchases is grade II if you look at the link he provided in post #41.
It is probably sufficient- when I spoke with the Library of Congress on my visit there, and interviewed an archival specialist, he said that that DI water was what the LOC used. Here is that interview: Cleaning and Archival Standards of Care - The Vinyl Press »
I use a higher grade, but I'm using to mix fluids, and also use it in my ultrasonic.
You can buy the equipment to process grade II at far less cost than grade I. I don't use enough (yet) to justify the investment in a grade 1 system to make the water- and any of these systems have consumables that have to be replaced.
At least in NY, you cannot get the grade 1 stuff delivered to a home, or home business. It must go to a commercial address.

 

Thanks. There is a lot of flac out there as far as deionized vs distilled and otherwise loose talk as far as what is best to use, and on and on -so I was just looking for some clear info. I suppose.
Google is a great tool, but without more specific terminology it just spits out useless answers, I was getting Walgreen locations on a lot of searches trying different ways to say very pure water, or ultra pure or whatever.

 

DI meaning deionized? It probably is good enough, but it is practically instinctual to want to go with something even purer, as long as it's not silly priced or out of reach. AIVS sells a custom high purity water for something like $20 for 32 oz, which does seem silly.

 

I tried that water when I decided to try out the AIVS fluid system. I experienced no difference between their high purity water and the 135oz jug of $1.59 distilled water I've been using.

 

The safest 'distilled' water to use is medical grade purified water. From Chemist shops in the UK in 5 litre containers is quite inexpensive. Just forget about the regular stuff for irons and batteries etc - that could vary enormously in purity.

 

Medical grade purified water is rather ambiguous because there are many different grades of purified water that can be used in a lab depending on the task, from distilled, DI to ultra pure.

All purified water has to have a minimum rating in terms of ppm to qualify as purified water as best as I can work out. So if the distilled water you buy has that rating then it's purified water. I'm no expert but that's the best I can work out from my various searches.

I don't know what type of water they use for batteries but if it doesn't have additives and it meets the criteria of ppm for purified water then it should be fine to use. Read the label but it may be best to just avoid buying a bottle of distilled water called battery water and that has a picture of a battery on it. Especially since distilled water is available in supermarkets and chemists (depending on where you are) everywhere.

Higher grades of purified water can be difficult to obtain. I can't buy any directly here in Canada as no one will sell to an individual. It's also much more expensive than regular distilled.

 

Here is a helpful overview of water grading standards, and takes into account international aspects. It is not aimed at record cleaning, as such and some standards may have been revised since this was published, but it gets you into the issues in a general way: https://www.orf.od.nih.gov/Policies...Importance and Application-March-2013_508.pdf

 

The stuff you want is that safe to use for cleaning wounds or contact lenses. That certainly is not difficult to find though it may not be on the shelves of Boots and the like these days. Chemists keep it behind the counter or can order it same day in the UK.

 

We don't have 'chemists' or 'boots' (other than the kind you wear) in the US, just Walgreens and distilled water (can be steam distilled or reverse osmosis), everything like 99% Isopropyl or lab grade (very high purity) water to Ilfotol wetting agent has to be bought online now. Don't get lIfotol from Amazon though, becasue they want $79 dollars for what you can get elsewhere for like $17: Ilford Ilfotol Wetting Agent (Liquid) 1905162 B&H Photo Video »
The Ilfotol is much better than Kodak Fotoflow I read (much milder chemical makeup), There are no photo supply or science/chemist storefronts any more here, and my guess is that even getting deionized water at the auto supply is out because all the batteries for cars nowadays are non serviceable.
Please prove me wrong, I live in Chicago and would love to just go get some of this stuff. Just today I went to a place called American Science and Surplus: lots of cool jars, beakers and goofy gizmos, but no chemicals of any kind.
I did find a big 1l dark brown glass jar though for like 2$.