What is the best way to clean vinyl? I found some of my grandfather's vinyl records after helping my grandmother cleaned her house yesterday. Many of them have white molds, how do I clean them without destroying the data in the vinyl?
gofar99 Messages: 1947 Registered: May 2010 Location: Southern Arizona
Illuminati (5th Degree)
Hi, The vinyl is quite durable. There are many ways to clean them and it largely depends on how many, how much effort (and time) you want to spend and cost. The best way is with an ultrasonic cleaner. This is costly or can be done diy. I did that with off the shelf components and a companion record vacuum (they are a lot cheaper than they used to be and work well). Another way is to get something like a "Spin Clean" record cleaner. They were under $100 with enough concentrate to clean perhaps a hundred LPs. They work, just needs to be hand dried afterwards. Generally a good deal for casual users. On the cheap...been there on this one. Using a soft towel to lay the LP on. On a flat surface near a sink. Use a solution of dish washing soap like Dawn, not concentrated and unscented. About a cap full to a quart of water and a record cleaning brush (about $10) or sometimes a microfiber rag will do and scrub the LP in a pattern that follows the grooves. Next rinse it off being careful not to get the label too wet (pat it dry if you get it really wet, don't rub it) as it will get damaged. Then dry with a soft lint free cloth. It works, for really difficult sticky stuff I have used "simple green" on them first. Again apply via spray and rub using a soft cloth or record brush. It has never harmed one of my disks and will remove the most stubborn stuff. Rinse the simple green off and follow with the soap, rinse and dry as before. The type of record brush is the flat kind with short bristles roughly 4 cm by 10cm , not the soft one with long bristles that is skinny and tall. Brand is not really important as you are not using it for the original dusting type of purpose. Do not use any solvent based cleaner as they can damage the vinyl.
Thanks for giving me some options for cleaning those records. My grandfather's turntable is not usable anymore as it has been in storage since he died about 20 years ago. We are keeping the records and the turntable for us to remind us of him. I might be buying a used turntable for me to listen to these records.
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