Record cleaning and realistic expectations

There more record collecting that cleaning records storage and humidity and heat are the big factors....to keeping you vinyl in a-1 condition. 

I watched a youtube video a few years about record cleaning.  The uploader had a process for cleaning very dirty LPs, including LPs embedded with mold and other organic material.  He used a home made enzymatic solution to break down and neutralize the material.  He saturated each LP side, deeply scrubbed, then let the solution sit on the LP for about 10 min per side.  Then he scrubbed again, vacuumed, then rinsed, then vacuumed again.  He claimed that is method was very successful in removing the debris.   Makes sense; instead of just scrubbing and cleaning, take time to break down the material so it is easier to remove.  

Although I am a good little audiophile and would never think of using anything other than distilled water in my RCM solutions or alone to rinse, I do have to wonder how "minerals" in tap water could possibly do any harm, if you then vacuum dry and maybe even if you air dry the washed LPs. We are talking about very low concentrations of metals in ionic form, in solution in water.  It's not as if those ions are going to disturb tracking or groove contours. And by the way, distilled water will still have metallic ions in it, as distillation does not remove them.

And yet, when I had access to water from my lab at NIH (before I retired), which was both distilled and deionized, I used that, but still I am doubtful of the value.  As to the rest of the story, read previous lengthy and detailed threads here and read the book by Antinn.

@lewm Of course anything worth doing is worth overdoing! That is the way we operate in the world of vinyl.

@lewm When I lived in LA I used tap water on about a dozen records, and they remained unplayable until I cleaned them with a US machine. Now they are pristine.