What do you do when nothing seems to get LP clean?

"Most cleaning supplies are almost entirely water anyway."

Well, I would hope so! But most "detergents" (in the sense of commonly available consumer products, and not true molecular detergents) are a complex soup of various ingredients, including fragrances, water softening agents, bleaching agents, a "glue" to keep all these ingredients from separating out, fabric softeners, etc. Some of these ingredients, e.g., fragrances and fabric softeners, work best when they don't wash off easily. This is a problem for vinyl.

Only single molecule surfactants are effective in low concentrations ... and low concentrations are what you need if you want to have a prayer of removing the surfactant with your RCM. As a complex soup, detergent ingredients are present in far too high a concentration to be effectively removed by an RCM, save for possibly numerous distilled or ultra-pure water rinses.

Regarding tap water ... my tap water has 286 parts per million of total dissolved solids. That's like sprinkling fine sand on your LP! After going through my 4-stage water purifier (sediment filter; carbon block [absorbs chlorine, ammonia and other VOCs]; reverse osmosis; and deionization), the ultra-pure water has 0 parts per million.

Best regards to everyone,
Paul

Stewart,

I'm shipping you some of Paul's stuff today. Let us know what you think. Be sure to read the:

Results from Beta Testers of New Formulas

I've posted before about the apparently irreversible damage and residue left behind by my tap water, which often contains high amounts of manganese oxides. No amount of cleaning with various high quality record cleaning products, rinsing with ultrapure water and vacuuming with an $1,800 Loricraft has been able to get those records silent again. Use tap water at your own risk. For some of us it causes problems that are better avoided. The same is true of various household detergents, as PF so ably explained.

I've just received Paul's AIVS solutions. I've only cleaned two records so far but the results are positive. One that was still crackly after two RRL cycles is now virtually silent. One record that was silent still is, :-), and the noise floor may be lower. (I say "may be" because we're in the middle of testing a new cartridge. It can be hard to seperate one thing from another.)

My AIVS jury's not in yet but the polling to date is certainly leaning toward a favorable vote.

Doug,

You changed cartridges again? I hope I can get a deal on your cast-offs!

Joe

Yes, Stewart, read the ENTIRE thread. Then, if you have any of the same questions that I had, maybe YOU can get them answered. I couldn't.

Some of these ingredients, e.g., fragrances and fabric softeners, work best when they don't wash off easily. This is a problem for vinyl.

I agree. Same goes for certain enzymes which may continue to do their "work" on your vinyl for quite some time if they are not thoroughly and completely removed or neutralized. Trouble is, the enzymatic process is an active process, not just a deposit of residue that may or may not be removed. But if folks are convinced that any enzyme, once completely removed, is safe (and that it doesn't eat away at the vinyl’s constituent ingredients in the first place), and that the developer of such an enzymatic solution (there are a few) have done proper research to determine the efficacy of all their ingredients and can speak to such results in a direct and cogent manner, enzyme away.

and the noise floor may be lower

Oh, you gotta get back to us on that one, Doug!