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THE vinyl cleaning solution!

OK, I got curious so I took an old LP and put a drop of Windex (with Ammonia-D) in the runout area and let it sit until the Windex evaporated (about 1 hour).

When I wiped off the dried Windex with a damp cloth, there was absolutely no evidence that the Windex had been there.

Doug
 
Doug G. said:
OK, I got curious so I took an old LP and put a drop of Windex (with Ammonia-D) in the runout area and let it sit until the Windex evaporated (about 1 hour).

When I wiped off the dried Windex with a damp cloth, there was absolutely no evidence that the Windex had been there.

Doug
Click to expand...

Do you know what AMMONIA is? Keep doing it. it WILL burn your vinyl. :screwy:

Whatever. This is a dead thread as far as many are concerned. Thank god you're not playing MY vinyl!
 
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Doug G. said:
OK, I got curious so I took an old LP and put a drop of Windex (with Ammonia-D) in the runout area and let it sit until the Windex evaporated (about 1 hour).

When I wiped off the dried Windex with a damp cloth, there was absolutely no evidence that the Windex had been there.

Doug
Click to expand...

By gawd, it's a testimonial, dear friends.

You can soak your vinyl in untreated effluent for all I care, no Windex is getting near mine.
 
JimmyNeutron said:
Do you know what AMMONIA is? Keep doing it. it WILL burn your vinyl. :screwy:

Whatever. This is a dead thread as far as many are concerned. Thank god you're not playing MY vinyl!
Click to expand...

I'm well aware what ammonia is. It is a strong base with a high pH, the opposite of an acid. While corrosive to some materials, vinyl is not one of them. Vinyl is a pretty tough plastic and, as I found out first hand pretty much unaffected by ammonia (diluted) in direct contact for an hour.

Did you know that full strength ammonia is what's recommended for cleaning really dirty vinyl floors? :yes:

I have been playing vinyl longer than you have been alive, Jimmy. I just don't think we should be telling fellow AKers things that we do not know to be fact. :nono:

Doug
 
tentoze said:
By gawd, it's a testimonial, dear friends.

You can soak your vinyl in untreated effluent for all I care, no Windex is getting near mine.
Click to expand...

No, tentoze, not a testimonial. I just reported my experience.

As I said in my other post, I don't think we should be saying things that may not be fact. This doesn't help others who may need advice.

Doug
 
LOL!!! Record vinyl is NOT vinyl flooring. You would'nt walk on your records now would you? And as for not knowing if this is fact or fiction, well all I can say is that's just fine by me. But a little searching on the net will yeild plenty of answers. If your experience with records is longer than my age I would have hoped that you would know that ammonia, namely Windex, is the BIGGEST enemy of record vinyl. But hey, they're your records.
 
Doug G. said:
No, tentoze, not a testimonial. I just reported my experience.

As I said in my other post, I don't think we should be saying things that may not be fact. This doesn't help others who may need advice.

Doug
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So anyone who wrecks their records with Windex can bill you. I'm done with this lunacy.
 
Engineering toolbox suggests that vinyl is resistant to ammonia (0 to 10% aqueous solutions) up to 100F. Thats a close enough margin that I'd find something else. I mean, if windex was the best cleaner ever, I might risk it, but there are other cleaners that work just as well, or better, so... Why bother if the chemical resistance is marginal?

peace,
sam
 
Picked up a can of Realistic Record Cleaner yesterday at a yard sale. Came with a cleaning cloth. Originally 99¢ for 6 oz. (paid 25¢). No telling how old it is. Only warning is "don't use on 78's." :scratch2: Silicones, IPA and hydrocarbons.
 
been using a windex solution for a long time-- a long time, w/no problems. it's not on there long enough to hurt anything, if it will at all. with really dirty lp's, i go to the sink w/ a bottle o' windex, a soft brush, some running water, and go to town. dry with clean soft old cotton towels, and slip her in a new paper liner, and good to go. no whitening, no melting, no deterioration, just a clean record.
 
Vinyl has 'high' resistance to hypochlorites (bleach). I wouldn't use it though, unless you specifically had a mold/fungus problem (which does come up sometimes, seems mother nature has created a fungus for every occasion).

peace,
sam
 
the only thing i let near a record groove is a well aligned stylus with less than 500 hours on the tip...
but i've had good results with plain old dishwashing liquid and a good rinse under a cold water tap...then left the record to stand upright for a day or two..till its completely dry..
seems to work well for records that i'm not fussy about...
 
JimmyNeutron said:
Windex contains ammonia. Ammonia is toxic and corrosive to vinyl. Keep using Windex and it will destroy your albums. This is no secret.

The accepted cleaning formula (in various doses but still the same formula) used by most any reputable company is 75% distilled water, 25% denatured alcohal, and just a drop of DAWN detergent (or similar agent like Kodax film developer - name escapes me). Why alcohal? It removes residue on and in the grooves. Why distilled water? It evaporates quickly while being the transport for the DAWN. Why DAWN? It is the agent that allows the alcohal and water to penetrate deep into the grooves, as opposed to just bubbleing on the surface. Don't EVER use ammonia or anything corrosive on record vinyl. Record vinyl can easily burn and/or transform and morph under heat. Ammonia = heat. Heat = bad for records.

shame.. :nono:
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I sell Dawn, and this has been the best recipe for Vinyl! I've been told for YEARS 2 things: Windex corrodes vinyl i.e. don't clean cars with it. The other thing is to never use Amour-All on vinyl, as UV rays cause the silicones, etc. to attack the vinyl. That's why some old car dashboards crack more than others, of the same brand i.e. Volvo 240's!

Mike
 
OK. When I don't use an icepick I fill a large baking dish with a gallon of distilled wawa, fill my kitchen sink half-way with tap water then add a bottle of denatured alcohol and a small squirt of dawn. This is mixed with a fine haired painbrush that is not ever used for anything else, and then I go to town on all of my vinyl at once (about once a year) with the brush. Once they are gone over I dip them in the distilled water a few times and set to dry. This is my no-frills technique and it has worked for me for years.
 
JimmyNeutron said:
LOL!!! Record vinyl is NOT vinyl flooring. You would'nt walk on your records now would you? And as for not knowing if this is fact or fiction, well all I can say is that's just fine by me. But a little searching on the net will yeild plenty of answers. If your experience with records is longer than my age I would have hoped that you would know that ammonia, namely Windex, is the BIGGEST enemy of record vinyl. But hey, they're your records.
Click to expand...

Um, no I would not walk on my records. We are not talking about physical abuse, however. We are talking about chemical effects and vinyl flooring and record vinyl have similar chemical makeup.

And no, ammonia is NOT the BIGGEST enemy of record vinyl. I believe that that (dis)honor would go to heat and solvents like lacquer thinner.

Doug
 
FWIW - No, I haven't spent 2 years doing double blind studies on the effect of ammonia on vinyl records, I don't think anybody has. No, I don't KNOW that it will do harm in small or large amounts... For me, the anecdotal evidence is enough. Why risk using anything that's potentially harmful? If Windex MIGHT do harm, why chance doing long-term damage to irreplaceable vinyl, when denatured water, IPA, and Dawn dishwashing liquid are readily available, and CHEAPER than Windex by volume to begin with? I can buy enough supplies to make a gallon of cleaning solution for about the same money as a small single pump sprayer of Windex.

In my experience (having tried both methods) the homemade solution works better, is cheaper, and I don't end up with the nagging feeling I'm doing harm to some fairly precious records, why chance it?
 
Doug G. said:
Um, no I would not walk on my records. We are not talking about physical abuse, however. We are talking about chemical effects and vinyl flooring and record vinyl have similar chemical makeup.

And no, ammonia is NOT the BIGGEST enemy of record vinyl. I believe that that (dis)honor would go to heat and solvents like lacquer thinner.

Doug
Click to expand...

Got to disagree with you again, Doug :nono: . Record vinyl does not have the same chemical makeup as vinyl flooring. And physical abuse? I would bet to say that scrubbing, wiping, or spraying a corrosive cleaner like Windex is easily labeled as abusive - at least to anyone who cares about their vinyl. And since we are talking about vinyl cleaners it only stands to reason that a vinyl records biggest enemy is, in fact, Windex, and not laquer thinner (though both are corrosive enough to strip away the protective film that has been applied to the surface of the record to prevent mold growth). But I guess if anyone uses laquer thinner to clean their records should probably use Windex to clean up the damage left behind by the laquer thinner. :D

In the end there are many formulas for cleaning records, but a quick google search will tell you that the general consensus is to keep Windex, and any ammonia based liquids away from record vinyl. I'll run with the pack on this one - better safe than sorry.

Jimmy
 
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