Wet Cleaning records makes things worse?


Hi guys,

I've been working my way through the record collection I inherited from my Dad - lots of fun and the records are pristine.  I usually only need to dust them with a brush and then lightly wipe them off with a microfibre to get the remnants and this seems to work well for 19 out of 20 records. 

However, when I come across a record that is particularly dusty I'll wipe it down with Pfan-Stat on a microfibre cloth.  It looks clean but when i play it, a little dust ball will build up on the needle rather quickly.  Then i need to clean the needle after each song.  It seems to only happen when I clean with Pfan-Stat.

Am I doing something wrong? Is the Pfan-Stat just loosening the dust and i need to fully remove it some other way? Is there an inexpensive way to deep clean the records even though they 'look' clean?  Would there be a benefit to this?

Thanks!!!
leemaze
Is this the product? [url]http://www.farnell.com/datasheets/2365478.pdf?_ga=2.251195343.832898279.1529509380-1287413366.152950...[/url]

That’s the material data sheet. I’m not a chemist but the ingredients are used as a surfactant (to break surface tension of water to penetrate grooves), detergent and anti-microbial agent (possibly, not just to kill what’s on the record, but to prevent the fluid from spoiling) as well as anti-static agent.
I don’t think there’s anything ’wrong’ with the stuff, though I haven’t used it.
The issue, to me, from a practical standpoint, is getting it off the record. It is probably gunking your stylus, based on your description of its effects.
I’ve usually found that "cleaning" a record that results in worse sound is due to residue of the cleaning agent, mixed with whatever contaminants were on the record originally, that remain and are not removed effectively. Thus, the preference for vacuum (or ultrasonic) cleaning and rinse. Some folks don’t rinse, but I recommend doing so using at a minimum distilled water. Since I assume you are applying this manually and using no vacuum I would use a clean microfibre cloth and distilled water as a rinse step and probably do a couple rinses without immersing the record or getting the label wet. You can find plenty of discussion on the web about how to hand wipe a record without scratching or adding more static.
Your best bet if these records are valuable (to you) may be to use one of the various commercial record cleaning services- you ship the record(s) to them, they use a variety of record cleaning devices including vacuum and ultrasonic, at a price per record plus shipping costs. Obviously, if you were going to commit to cleaning records regularly, you could investigate various cleaning machines, including low cost vacuum or DIY ultrasonic (or both), but I assume you don’t want to invest deeply in this.
sounds like your not doing a good deep clean of the groves. If the record has not been played it can look new but there will be a build up of gunk, mold, etc in the grove that's what your seeing when you play it, its the stylus cleaning the grove not ideal. you need to do a multy step clean, dirty wet- clean wet-  clean rinse then dry. I had some old first pressings that had never been played they took multiple passes in that system to get clean. when you do a simple clean all your doing is loosening up the deep seated gunk. ideally a sonic cleaner is best added in that system.
@leemaze If you are willing to invest $199.00, just pick up a Record Doctor wet vacuum machine. You will not see dust on that needle ever again.http://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=RDV
I've used the Nitty Gritty record cleaner with pretty good results. I eventually sold it because it was manual and replaced it with a Hanss record cleaner, which is the same product but with a different color being sold by Music Hall in the US. I later purchased an Ultrasonic V-8 cleaner sold by David Ratliff, which I thought was pretty revelatory. I think that cleaner cost me about 1400 bucks altogether at that time. Well, last year on a lark, I decided to try the Gem Dandy record cleaning system, which is only 169 bucks and involves the use of faucet water. My purpose was not to use it on new records but rather older records that needed more attention and because of that, I didn't care so much if they would become unplayable due to the treatment. Well, the Gem Dandy blew my mind. Beat the pants out of the Ultrasonic, which I now use only as a final rinse after the Gem Dandy. I'm not even sure that's necessary. The Hanss sits unused. I'd far recommend the Gem Dandy over any of the alternatives being mentioned here. It is that good, and counterintuitively so. I use it on *all* of my records now.
2nd on the Record Doctor.  Maybe not the last word on record cleaning, but works great for me.  I use both the cleaning fluid that came with the machine and MoFi Super Record Wash (both one-step cleaners).  Some day I will experiment with rinsing (and other solutions), but I will wait until I run out of the stuff I have now.