Deep Cleaning Records With Steam?

Drubin,
You're kidding me! I'm located right at the heart of TEXAS - Houston - and guess what, I can't find "Rain Fresh" in any of the Wholefood market stores that I just visited today!!!!! (I went to three stores!)

The purest water I can find is from Walmart, it's their standard "distilled water" $0.99 per gal. The label says the water has been treated by distillation, carbon filter, microfilter, reverse osmosis, UV treatment, ozonation. That pretty much sounds like the "Rain Fresh" that I was supposed to find.

VZ

Readers: Throughout this thread the question of water sources has come up and gone bye. The water or its relative purity has been discussed here and on other threads. On several occasions I have discussed the relative value of water products with manufactures of audio and other products that depend on excellent water sources. What I have learned is really quite simple, use the "cleanest" source until a better one can be found , and be prepaired to spend 20 times + the price of Peak Water should you decide upon Lab or Rx water sources. Many posts detail the value of hi-purity water and that should not be de-valued in any discussion. But, use what you have , avoid "tap water" due to fouling properities present(minerals, etc.). In the next several days I intend to speak to a Peak rep and will post a re-cap of that conversation.

For members in AU or NZ, topbuy.com.au sells a handheld steamer like what has been discussed in this thread:

http://www.topbuy.com.au/tbcart/pc/1000W-Multi-function-Steam-Cleaner-185p756.htm

I have absolutely NO affiliation with this company.

Regards,

Jan

I'm in AU and got one from Godfreys (no affiliation).

I'm convinced, the records are a lot cleaner. No, it won't get everything off, I still have some gunk on records which won't move, but it reduces surface noise enormously. I recently bought an old copy of the Stones High Tide and Green Grass and it sounds fabulous after a steam clean.

DS

Crem1
Great thread. I was skeptical initially as to whether it could be better than the Loricraft. Then I thought, why not try both, so I had the LP on the machine and sprayed it, then cleaned. That wasn't a very good idea as it left the surround area pretty wet...the trials of a newbie.

Next I stick a chopstick through the LP and into the basin and cleaned the LP with the steamer. A little afraid I might damage it, I didn't use too much steam. It just occurred to me then that the vinyl won't melt, the steam will just remove the stubborn dirt. My steamer shoots out more like a spray of steam and very hot water, so it like blasts off the dirt. :) Then I go through the Loricraft in a 2 step process of detergent and pure water.

The only hassle is that I can only do 1 side at a time, but the effort is immediately audible.

Thanks for the tip!