Vinyl record cleaning with steam

This is my way of cleaning vinyl records for play on my system. If you are going to play vinyl it needs to be super clean for the best play back and sound. Long live vinyl.

Somethings that will make this method better. Before you clean the record make a pass with the steamer lightly then vacuum this will get all or most of the dust off the surface. If you are using a destatic devise when finished with the record still spinning run the destat for 10 seconds this gets the static out much better.

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• Vinyl
• record
• cleaning

[anderzom]

the liquids dont destroy the labels?

[stltrains]

@anderzom no your labels will be fine. just dont get a heavy dose of liquid on them. overspray is ok if you have a wide mouthed tumbler/glass you can put it over the label if you like. thanks for replying and get those lps steam cleaned for the quietest noise free vinyl records where only the music is heard not snap crackle and pop.

enjoy the music. mike

[anderzom]

@stltrains any brand and model of steam? that you recomend me buy?

[stltrains]

@anderzom the steamer i use in the video is discontinued. there newer models now available a web search should work. you want to look for one with a nozzle that will have no more than a 1 inch wide spray. most home steamers have a variety of attachments included. again many thanks for your interest i highly recommend steam cleaning for the quietest in vinyl playback. Mike

[1987hernan]

hi, great video! i have a question, in case i dont have this machine or a vacuum cleaner, what should i do to dry the vinyl inmediately after the steaming process. I was thinking of using a hair dryer perhaps keeping some distance not to overheat the record

Thanks!

[stltrains]

1987 its highly recommended to use a vacuum to get the liquid off the vinyl. even though we use the best ultra purified water theres still residue left behind by drying on its own. before i had my vpi i used a small shop vac with a small 4 inch attachment covered with a 100% cotton cloth on a lazy susan to turn the lp that works just fine. i cant comment on using micro fiber or any other type cloth because ive never used that method for drying. i would say no to the hair dryer to. good luck

[ugarmada]

How did you do this manually, what steps did you take before you purchased the record cleaning machine?

[pulsar98]

Hi, I have cleaned over 100 records now using your method with steam. It works amazingly good.

Like you said in your video, none of the records I cleaned stayed warped after the cleaning process. After cleaning, the vinyl looks impressively shiny and it sounds great. I have even cleaned records I wanted to throw, because the looked THAT bad, and I was surprised how good they sounded at the end. Dear "analogue guy" ;-) I think you deserve an award for putting this video on the Net !!

Thanks, JR

[stltrains]

hello yes no better way to get all of the music than listening to vinyl playback. to my ears nothing else tops vinyl. what i have in the bottles is record cleaning solution i use disk doctors miracle cleaner and the other bottle has lab grade water for my triple rinse. very important to add a small amount of cleaner to your rinse water which works to remove all of the rinse water like a release agent does. thanks for responding get those records steam cleaned and enjoy super quiet playback. Mike

[smolansk]

hello,I'm a record person too...and I think the way you clean records is pretty cool

what do you have at the bottles?

[stltrains]

JR glad to hear your having positive results Like myself your description mirrors my own It takes effort time and a small investment but in the end i still have not found a better way to achieve superior playback that this steam cleaning method accomplishes I agree with your comment about warping and that still holds true today after cleaning 1000s no harm my vinyl at all Just the best sounding quietest play back To bad steaming doesn't get warps out of our pre cleaned vinyl we cant have it all