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Steam Cleaning Records

I've got a question on steam cleaning. In what stores to you find de-ionized water? What I'm after is name specific retailers. We have a super Wal-mart but nothing in the pet section looks remotely like de-ionized water. I'll have to agree on the benefits of using hot water to clean a LP. Those pesky finger prints are gone. Now I just need to shrink the package. A large garment cleaner is too bulky to keep around the system. When I use it, I've found that "steaming" the cleaning solution really brings out the finger oils, beer stains and so on.
Walter
 
You can create your own de-ionized water simply by boiling your kettle and collecting the steam!! Or just by so simple chemistry glassware and create a condensing chamber. Failing that car batteries need de-ionised water every so often so try looking in a car supplies store?!!?
 
REXMONDAY said:
You can create your own de-ionized water simply by boiling your kettle and collecting the steam!! Or just by so simple chemistry glassware and create a condensing chamber. Failing that car batteries need de-ionised water every so often so try looking in a car supplies store?!!?
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Actually, that would be distilled water not deionized. Distilled would be fine for steam cleaning and can be purchased at any grocery store.
 
This works VERY well I also use the r/o water from the pet food store and some of the albums I have gotten were DIRTY!! Clean them with the perfection and then dry check twice and play seems to work very well without further cleaning at this point, Have a few GW Lp`s that will need cleaning prior to steam.Love this little cleaner.:banana:

PS: Lonnie just keep the cleaner pointed down away from the label as the record should be pointed slightly downward in case of water build up!
 
jcmjrt said:
Actually, that would be distilled water not deionized. Distilled would be fine for steam cleaning and can be purchased at any grocery store.
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My mistake!! I do medicine for my job not Chemistry, just trawled my old brain cells and made an error!!! Many thanks for the correction.
 
Okay, I get it. I've been using Distilled Water all along. I kept reading about De-Ionized Water in these forums and was curious about the retailers. All this reminds me to pay a visit to the DIY section. Someone there was going to post a generation II RCM with construction pictures.
 
picked up a Perfection steamer from Walgreen's yesterday, I was pleasantly surprised to have it ring up 12.99 plus tax. Sales usually run Sun through Sat, so today might be the last day at this price if anyone is considering trying it. The shelf price was 29.99 so it might be that much tomorrow.

Now to give it a go. Even if it is only hot water, it will be a convenient way to dispense it.
 
A few questions for you folks with the Perfection steam cleaner:

1. How many LP's are you able to clean before refilling? I get two or three is all. Five minutes cool down, then refill, etc.
2. Does your's spurt water off and on (in addition to steam) or am I doing something wrong here?
3. Is it safe to let the tea pot steamer sit for 5-10 minutes between uses (while I'm scrubbing, rinsing, vac, steam, vac > repeat)?

A few records I cleaned tonight had pretty good results, the best being on a few lp's that had been already cleaned with my DIY Vac Wand method a while back. Tonight I took a few of these "clean lp's" and worked them with steam then vac and man, it took a fairly noisy Al Hirt lp and turned it into damn near virgin sounding.

As an experiment, I took a pretty bad lp and did just the steam only. While it made a difference, the most difference was made with the combo of scrubbing by hand with DIY solution > rinse > vac > steam > vac.

How do you do yours?

Mike
 
I only get 2-3 lps per fill on my Perfection. As far as leaving it on, I'd think that's a try it and see thing, keep an eye on the temperature of the unit (by feel) and hope the thing doesn't blow up? :scratch2:

When it's empty it'll run out of steam without the red light coming on. I've found I can whip off the top (AFTER making sure there's no pressure!), fill it up, and get the top back on without unplugging it. Be careful, it's hot steam and the light comes on as soon as you open the top, at your own risk, danger will robinson, etc, etc...

[edit] - I should expand on this cause it could be dangerous, steam is hot after all. After I'm SURE it's empty and the light isn't coming on, I SLOWLY crack the top and stop as soon as I hear the slightest hiss, and work from there. If you just open it it can and probably will burn the heck out of you. Plus, the little warning on the back that says the stopper can be hot? Well the threaded brass part IS, I did burn myself on it. [end edit]

I get the label wet, it happens, but I hit the label with the cloth before wiping the record and haven't had any staining yet. I don't know why? but it dries fine. And I get some sputtering too.

I can see the advantage of an RCM after cleaning. When I clean even a relatively already 'clean' lp I will occasionally get a light dust buildup on my needle. This is amazing to me, because these lps look clean - it must be gunk in the grooves flushed out with the steam.

Also, I'll never use 3m cloths again. I just received a pack of 12ea 16" x 16" "180,000 plus fibers per square inch" microfiber cloths from that unmentionable site (no affiliation etc etc) that are seemingly 1000 times softer than the 3ms, hold a lot more water, and the size is wonderful.

Pete
 
MikeCh said:
1. How many LP's are you able to clean before refilling? I get two or three is all. Five minutes cool down, then refill, etc.
2. Does your's spurt water off and on (in addition to steam) or am I doing something wrong here?
3. Is it safe to let the tea pot steamer sit for 5-10 minutes between uses (while I'm scrubbing, rinsing, vac, steam, vac > repeat)?

combo of scrubbing by hand with DIY solution > rinse > vac > steam > vac.

How do you do yours?

Mike
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1. I get quite a few more records out of a fill - about 10. I haven't made a study of that so maybe the real answer is 9 or 11 but it's something like that.

2. There's some occasional spurting of water - mostly near the end of the water.

3. I've let mine sit for a while with no apparent ill effects.

I usually steam, vac, diy solution scrub, vac, rinse/scrub, vac, steam, vac. I feel that the first steam loosens up the dirt for the scrubbing. I use a different brush for the diy solution and the rinse.

I use DI water for diy solution, rinse and steaming.

For a vacuum, I use my home vacuum cleaner with a modified crevice tool. I put the record on a TT which is being driven by a bread machine motor; plenty of torque.
 
jcmjrt said:
1. I get quite a few more records out of a fill - about 10. I haven't made a study of that so maybe the real answer is 9 or 11 but it's something like that.

2. There's some occasional spurting of water - mostly near the end of the water.

3. I've let mine sit for a while with no apparent ill effects.

I usually steam, vac, diy solution scrub, vac, rinse/scrub, vac, steam, vac. I feel that the first steam loosens up the dirt for the scrubbing. I use a different brush for the diy solution and the rinse.

I use DI water for diy solution, rinse and steaming.

For a vacuum, I use my home vacuum cleaner with a modified crevice tool. I put the record on a TT which is being driven by a bread machine motor; plenty of torque.
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OK. Steam is one step, but, I am interested in what that step entails. I have a manual Nitty Gritty. Do you just tilt the LP up and pass steam over it, letting the condensate run off, or is there some wiping, or what?

BTW...I am now in possession of the Perfection Steamer. Now how do I use it on my vinyl?

Enjoy,
Rich P
 
tasha said:
Okay, I get it. I've been using Distilled Water all along. I kept reading about De-Ionized Water in these forums and was curious about the retailers.
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The only consumer D/I system I've seen (& own) is the Spotless Water Systems DIC-20. My wife got if for me for Father's day at Costco. It's really meant for the black car, but works great on the vinyl too. If you see detailer's around town where you live, that's usually D/I water sloshing around in those polytanks.
 
danhagan said:
I sold my Nitty Gritty and was going to upgrade to a VPI. Decided what the heck, I'll try the Perfection steam cleaner. Best $20 I ever spent. Spray some homebrew solution on, scrub it with an old Audio-Technica brush, prop the record on its side and steam it vigorously. Dry with a microfiber towel and away we go. I am thrilled with how quiet they are now. I have been enjoying records that I previously could not tolerate. Basically it makes the noise on a VG- record tolerable. On anything better than VG, there is virtually NO noise. I am now happily picking up records that I would have previously dismissed (and I am pretty unpicky) without fear of them being unlistenable. Sure, there's some that have been utterly destroyed, but even then, I have been pleasantly surprised. In addition, the records look stunning, much cleaner looking than with the NG. In particular, the steam generally makes short work of those dreaded oily fingerprints. Needless to say, an RCM is not on my must have list any longer.

To those who use an RCM in conjunction with a steamer, do you feel it provides an improvement over just a steamer?
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I have just tried steam cleaning in earnest this week after 20 years with an RCM and am also completely surprised by the results with just the towel dry. I would have thought in theory that residue would be left but I don't see it or - most importantly - hear it. I actually recorded about 30 seconds of an LP that I have cleaned a couple of times in the past on my RCM and then steam cleaned it and recorded the same passage, and to me not only was the surface noise reduced slightly, but there was more detail, completely the opposite of what I would have expected not using the vacuum.
 
vanmeterannie said:
I have just tried steam cleaning in earnest this week after 20 years with an RCM and am also completely surprised by the results with just the towel dry. I would have thought in theory that residue would be left but I don't see it or - most importantly - hear it. I actually recorded about 30 seconds of an LP that I have cleaned a couple of times in the past on my RCM and then steam cleaned it and recorded the same passage, and to me not only was the surface noise reduced slightly, but there was more detail, completely the opposite of what I would have expected not using the vacuum.
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I've noticed the same thing after steam cleaning - great improvement in clarity and detail compared to my Disk Doctor RCM. I'm begining to wonder if maybe the steam temperature actually "springs back" some of the really tiny high frequency indentations in the vinyl grove? Any physics/chemists out there with actual knowledge of vinyl properties is this even possible?
 
vanmeterannie said:
I have just tried steam cleaning in earnest this week after 20 years with an RCM and am also completely surprised by the results with just the towel dry. I would have thought in theory that residue would be left but I don't see it or - most importantly - hear it. I actually recorded about 30 seconds of an LP that I have cleaned a couple of times in the past on my RCM and then steam cleaned it and recorded the same passage, and to me not only was the surface noise reduced slightly, but there was more detail, completely the opposite of what I would have expected not using the vacuum.
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I said "towel dry" but just in case anybody thinks I actually meant I used a towel, I used a microfiber sponge. :thmbsp: I actually cleaned a couple of war-era 78s last night with steam and it worked pretty well there too.
 
I haven't kept real close track, but I would say I get about 20 sides per fill of the steamer. I keep it plugged in between shots of steam with no apparent ill affects. When it is empty, release the pressure and fill. As mentioned earlier in the thread, make sure the pressure is released. You all know what happens if you take the cap off a hot car radiator.

My only complaint on the little steamer is the amount of steam available. I wish there was a little more available before it dies out and needs to reheat. But, you get what you pay for.
 
vanmeterannie said:
I said "towel dry" but just in case anybody thinks I actually meant I used a towel, I used a microfiber sponge.
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SURE you did. :)

Red Stick said:
My only complaint on the little steamer is the amount of steam available. I wish there was a little more available before it dies out and needs to reheat. But, you get what you pay for.
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I poked around looking for a heavier duty unit but it looks like the next step up is expensive. Anyone know of or come across anything?

Pete
 
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