Vinyl Record Cleaning

[benlee]

I just (manually) cleaned a bunch of records with Phoenix Record Cleaning solution. However, I didn't rinse them, just dried them. I've read that I should rinse the records with distilled water.

Now I'm nervous that I ruined the records or something b/c I read I should rinse them. Any advice from fellow vinyl collectors? Should I just go back and re-clean and this time rinse them?

Thanks for any advice.

 

[Killyp]

Do they still play okay without sounding impaired? If so, then don't worry, you haven't damaged them.

There are a number of methods for cleaning vinyl.

Personally, I have a big rubber bucket, fill it up with WARM (not hot!) water and add a small amount of white spirit. Slowly turn the record round so the bit with the grooves is submerged in water (but without getting the label wet, very important!) and then at the end, wash off with distilled (!) water. Using tapwater will just leave minerals in the grooves which sounds horrible, and makes your problems worse. Tapwater works fine for the first part...

Works a treat for me. It can be kinda time-consuming though, and you really have to be careful not to 1) use water which is hot enough to soften/melt/de-form the vinyl and 2) get the label wet...

 

[danielcox]

PVA glue on both sides spread uniformly into a disk and pressed down with cardboard on the outsides - wait for a few days and then carefully peel off.

 

[Gregg2]

Slowly turn the record round so the bit with the grooves is submerged in water ...

Um, it only has one groove per side. Each one is continuous.

I have a cleaning kit (can't remember the name of it & can't check at the moment) that has a "lint pad" and some solution to put on it. I also have no idea about the chemical make up of that stuff. I mostly use the lint pad without the solution. It doesn't harm the vinyl to remove dust.

 

[lewis82]

PVA glue on both sides spread uniformly into a disk and pressed down with cardboard on the outsides - wait for a few days and then carefully peel off.

This is pretty suicidal IMO... What if some glue stays in there? It's not supposed to adhere to it, I know, but I wouldn't trust putting some glue on a vinyl.

My father just used to wash them with water, and his vinyls still play nice after 20 years and more.