Deep Cleaning Records With Steam?

Steam, properly applied with the cleanest water available can remove most if all manufacturing residues. The application of record fluids may make that cleaning more efficient , but steam is a powerful cleaner unto itself. Its important to utilize safety percautions , follow cleaning proceedures as outlined in the thread and understand no cleaning process can remove manufacturing defects and scratches. That said steam cleaning can safely improve the sound of any recording far better than RCM alone.

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It sounds like steaming is a good approach to cleaning new records, and very dirty records. But, if it is so very effective at removing all grime and residue, it may be less desirable to use on lightly soiled records or as an every day sort of cleaner. This is the case with any strong cleaner because compounds added to the record, such as plasticizers, could be pulled from the surface of the record.

Larryi, What steam units do is wisk/steam-off the manufacturing compounds/grit that traps organic and inorganic gunk in the grove; that gunk comes a host for bacteria and/or mold.

Steam harmlessly washes away all those compounds leaving just a reasonably clean grove to reproduce sound. An added plus may be some hydration of the uppermost ridges of the grove that takes some of the reported brittleness in sound away from that LP in playback.

It is for the above reasons I allow my cleaned recordings to rest before I play them. The cleaner you water source the more improvement you may hear.

According to scientific studies discussed in "Positive Feedback" years ago relating to record cleaning , momentary uses of strong chemical cleaners do not leach LPs unless submerged on the groves for very long periods of time.

That is not the case with steam that is comprised only of water and is used in seconds at a time. Steam cleaning (with the addition of using RCM's and fluids) enhanses the cleaning process because it deep cleans the grove and vacumms off spent fluid before a final light steam to remove everything left in the grove.

I have cleaned my records several times (3-4) with AIVS 3 step with a steam after each process and my records are very clean and sound great. However i still get a white powdery buildup on the stylus after playing one side of some records.Looking at the record under a microscope i can see what looks like a crystal like substance in a few of the grooves .
Does anyone know what this is or how to remove it? Steaming doesn't seem to remove this buildup.
Todd