Which Is Better To Clean Vinyl Floors Vinegar Or Murphy's Oil Soap?

Vinyl record cleaning solutions are one of the most highly debated topics amidst collectors. The importance of maintaining make clean records is undeniable. The benefits are numerous: extending vinyl life, improving playback, preventing needle clothing. You can fifty-fifty increase the value of some records with a practiced make clean.

Even so, there is no clear consensus on which method is best. In that location'due south certainly something to be said virtually dry cleaning with a brush or microfiber textile and no solution. But at that place comes a fourth dimension in almost every tape'south life when a more than intense arroyo is necessary.

Fifty-fifty the nigh conscientious among us are prone to touching the vinyl surface, which leaves deposits of oil that can wear away at the material over time. Mildew tin can form in humid rooms, and unless you shop vinyl properly, your records tin go affected. Not to mention those records you dig through at thrift stores or garage sales! Record cleaning solutions aid to combat these and other vinyl ailments.

We've given some guidelines on an efficient process to clean vinyl records, but we stopped curt of prescribing a specific cleaning solution. We simply didn't feel confident in recommending i over the rest. With so many fervent defenders in different cleaning solution camps, how could nosotros without a proper test? This brings usa hither to the Discogs labs. We tested popular cleaning solutions on some of the dirtiest records we could find.

We only share the coolest stuff because we like information technology. However, when you buy something through our chapter links, Discogs may earn a committee.

Bootleg Vinyl Record Cleaning Solutions

We volition be covering but a few of the many homespun cleaning solutions y'all can discover across the spider web. We provided a basic control grouping using tap water. We iterated on this using the unremarkably suggested solution of distilled h2o, dishwashing soap, and isopropyl alcohol. Nosotros as well wanted to endeavor one of the most feet-inducing but passionately defended methods: wood mucilage.

Control: Tap Water

Score: 2/5
Summary: Quick, merely lazy. Step up your cleaning with a better solution.

As far as solutions get, at that place is naught simpler or cheaper than turning on the faucet and giving your records a rinse.

This method was very quick. Notwithstanding, as you lot might look, h2o by itself was not effective at removing the tougher stains on this record. It did remove some of the lighter marks after some pressure was applied with a microfiber textile, ultimately leaving the record looking somewhat meliorate than it had earlier. That being said, we would never recommend this method. If you lot are going to take the time to clean the records, you might equally well do it better than this.

Isopropyl Alcohol, Distilled Water, and Dishwashing Soap

Score: 3/five
Summary: An affordable surface clean, simply it'due south not going to remove the tougher spots.

The exact mixture is 1 role isopropyl alcohol, one part distilled h2o, and one to 2 drops of dishwashing soap. This combination of fluids is widely recommended equally an efficient mixture to clean records using what are household materials. The 3 ingredients were easy to measure and easy to mix. To employ, we ordered a cheap spray bottle online. This makes for a elementary application only might not be necessary if you're looking to save money. Once we sprayed the solution onto the vinyl, we applied light pressure, in a circular motility, to a microfiber cloth to piece of work on the stains.

The record needed a good rinse afterwards application because there was a shiny film left on the vinyl surface. We found that the solution did remove quite a lot of grime, as evidenced by the before and afterward. However, it was not nifty at removing some of the tougher spots of the exceptionally dingy we used. Not shown in the pictures are the copious amounts of time and elbow grease required. We re-cleaned this record with professional solutions later and hands removed more grime.

Wood Mucilage

Score: 2.five/five
Summary: Remarkable effectiveness, but too expensive and cumbersome to be used outside of rare occurrences.

Coming out of left-field is the recommendation of wood glue. nosotros thought this was a kind of ill joke that persisted through vinyl forums, but information technology turns out some collectors swear past woods glue for heavy-duty vinyl stain removal.

This process is cumbersome. Wood glue is tough to work with; yous're going to want to consider gloves and a surface that you won't listen tossing out when done. As you can run into from the image, wood glue was difficult to use in an fifty-fifty layer on the vinyl surface. Yous'll also need a lot of the stuff. We used about i-fifth of a bottle only for a single side of a tape. You lot'd probably cease upwards going through a bottle in less than 10 records, though maybe nosotros could go more efficient over time.

It as well takes longer than any other method tested. For woods glue to be effective, y'all demand to let it dry out, then peel information technology off, and so rinse, then dry once again. Drying out the wood glue likewise takes up a good amount of infinite. I've got to say though, the peel was pretty rewarding.

In what was probably the biggest surprise of the entire experiment, the results were fantastic. Nosotros deliberately used one of the dirtiest records for the solution and it removed the vast majority of grime in one application.

The downside is we used around $ane in forest mucilage for only one side of 1 tape, and so if you do the math with more than a few records, this is easily the most expensive solution tested. If you're looking for a style to clean an exceptionally muddied record, or just want to print your friends, woods gum might be for you.

Professional Vinyl Record Cleaning Solutions

At that place are numerous companies that offer vinyl tape cleaning solutions that are both like shooting fish in a barrel to utilize and relatively affordable. We put a few of the most mutual ones to the exam to see if their claims of providing superior cleaning band truthful.

Almost Mint

Score: 4.5/v
Summary: All effectually solid cleaner that looks nice on your shelf.

Near Mint cleaning solution was developed in the U.k. past DJs and record collectors Russ Ryan and Mo Fingaz. (Full disclosure: Russ Ryan is at present an employee of Discogs.)

According to the website, Near Mint is the "most effective, chemically balanced, and premium record cleaning solution on the market to date, boasting a double-strength attitude." Ryan and Fingaz collaborate with record shops, labels, and others in the industry to create limited-edition bottles, which makes them stand out.

record cleaning solutions near mint

The solution was easy to apply. An additional microfiber white material allowed united states to clean a record without needing any additional materials. Almost Mint removed a lot of grime and dirt — fifty-fifty stuff that our bootleg concoction did not. The white material shows the grime you remove right abroad, which visually reinforces the work. The solution leaves a nice shine later.

GrooveWasher

Score: 5/v
Summary: Everything you need to keep your records clean, with an added bonus of the best microfiber system we tested.

GrooveWasher was inspired past a sometime professor of microbiology named Dr. Bruce Meier. His famed Discwasher kit was ane of the offset in the market in the 1970s. GrooveWasher is an attempt to honour his Discwasher invention. They strive to provide a consumer tape cleaning tool and method that cleans the microgrooves so the honest sound tin can be heard without doing harm to the tape or the stylus.

Functionally, the GrooveWasher kit is complete. With other solutions, you might need to purchase distilled water or a microfiber cloth to start cleaning. It'south convenient to accept everything you lot need in one packet. The brandish kit is an aesthetically pleasing prissy bear upon and helpful for keeping everything in one identify.

We were very impressed by the microfiber cloth with the handle. It distributed pressure level well and kept our grimy easily far abroad from the clean surface. GrooveWasher wiped abroad stains that looked tough nearly instantly. It would also last pretty long given how niggling is needed to clean a tape.

TergiKleen Tergitol-based Fluid Concentrate

Score: 4/5 if manually cleaning merely a few records only 4.5/5 if you have a machine or a bunch of records to make clean.
Summary: An incredibly constructive cleaner. Amend for vinyl tape cleaning machines than hand washes.

I initially wanted to test the Library of Congress-canonical mixture of deionized water and .5% Tergitol 15-Due south-seven. I quickly learned that Tergitol fifteen-S-7 is not available from any local shops and must exist ordered online in amounts that are both expensive and too large for this experiment. Since this method requires diluting the Tergitol, the amounts I came across were enough to last virtually collectors a lifetime. Then a coworker mentioned his solution of pick, TergiKleen. Derived from Tergitol, the concentrate can be diluted with distilled water to create a near-friction match to the original solution.

TergiKleen Tergitol Vinyl Record Cleaning Solution

With the warnings on the box, we decided to use precaution in treatment this solution. The concentrate didn't come with distilled water, then that was some other detail nosotros had to purchase, which bumps upwards the toll a bit. They recommend using a cake pan to soak the record. Since we didn't have this in the office, a can bucket was used.

As a manual solution, it is probably non your best pick. You lot need additional materials (bucket or cake pan, distilled water, potentially gloves, etc.) to employ as described. However, nosotros tin run across this being the all-time solution nosotros tested for vinyl record cleaning machines, such as Spin-Clean or Okki Nokki. It's certainly the cheapest per volume later diluting information technology in distilled water. TergiKleen is undeniably powerful. We cleaned ane of the dirtiest records with fiddling elbow grease and the record was left in pristine condition.

Information technology should last nigh collectors the total two-year shelf life, simply a few drops should make enough solution for hundreds of records. For collectors who accept hundreds, if not thousands, of muddied records to clean and absolute purists, TergiKleen is a swell vinyl record cleaning solution. If we exercise an experiment on cleaning solutions to use with a cleaning auto, nosotros'll test this i over again.