A Worthwhile Untrasonic Cleaner

"there is method to this madness."
To be sure, antinn, this is very true and since this whole thing is pretty new for most of us, I imagine there will be some trials and experimentation involved but in the end most effective and simplest method will be the one I'm interested in. 

So if I'm reading this correctly, to achieve .5% Tergitol 15-S-9  concentration one would use:

5qts.(total volume of distilled water) =  4,730ml. (1qt. = 946ml. x 5)
4,730ml. at .5% = 23.65ml or 24ml. to keep things sane, is that correct? 

Maybe even make it a bit easier to just use 25ml. since my measuring device has a marker for that and no harm done.  25ml. of the Tergitol to 5qts. distilled water and you're done....sounds like a plan and I'm going to order some later today. 

Will report back on the findings once I have cleaned some records and made comparisons to my present formula.  I believe the Hepastat 256 was recommended as an antistatic measure, so would there be any benefit to using that along with the Tergitol in your estimation?

25ml should be more than enough.  If you notice any rinse problems, reduce to 20ml or even 15ml.  Using too much is worse than using not enough.

Hepastat 256 is a Bactericidal, used to disenfect surfaces.  However, it has at 0.5 ounces per gallon, 886 ppm active quaternary ammonium compounds, and these salts are also used for antistatic in shampoos and fabric softeners.  However, if you are going to add Hepastat why use distilled water, you are just adding salt to the distilled water; Hepastat its intended to be used in tap freshwater.  Download the MSDS for Hepastat and look at the ingedients, its a spot cleaning agent complete with non-ionic surfactant and highly alkaline silicates. 

If you want to keep a tank full of the DI water-Tergitol solution for weeks, keep covered, and once a week operate the tank (no records of course) at 165F for about 15-30 minutes, and any criters should be  killed.  PS, the recommendation discussed to store the Tergitol in a non-food refrigerator is based on preventing any accidental ingestion by a child, but at 33-41F, you may need to allow the Tergitol to warm up so can pour it out.

Otherwise, the wet cleaning process will remove any static charge from the record.  Air dry or use an antistatic cloth to dry, such as Kinetronics Anti-Static Microfiber Cloth, 10x18-Inch Tiger Cloth (you can buy Amazon), and you should not cause a static charge to develop post cleaning.

Thanks, antinn.  Will the Tergitol mix well in distilled water?  The Triton X-100 that I'm using now does not, hence pre-mixing it in IPA is necessary.  

Anovak,
The data on Tergitol shows that one of its benefits is improved dissolution rate, i.e. how quickly does it dissolve.  Temperature and agitation improves the dissolution rate, but only up to point.  When the water is close to the cloud point (about 60C for both), the dissolution rate decreases.  Based on what I have read, it should dissolve much faster - first you will be using less Tergitol than Triton, and combined with the improved dissolution rate, it should mix easily.  However, you may want to add in 2 steps if if does not mix easily with one step, but keep in mind at 25C, it may take about 1-2 minutes for it to dissolve with agitation (simple shaking).

FYI, I bought the Tergitol 15-S-9, and the Vinylstack label protector and should (weather permitting) have both  tommorrow to do my own testing with simple manual cleaning.  I got back into vinyl about 4 yrs ago, and have since accummulated about 300 albums, mostly new or like new.  But I have a few new old stock that are very noisy, so I am going to try the Library of Congress method of scrub and rinse to see what I can get.  My library does not yet warrant the cost of a UT process. 

However, from the 1980's to early 2000, I was the U.S. Navy technical authority for precision cleaning of Oxygen and Compressed Gas/Life Support Sytems.  Did a lot or work with the Navy labs and NASA when we were all working to replace the CFC solvents, and ultimately developed precision aqueous cleaning processes using UT that are now documented MIL-STD-1330 and 1622.  So, I have some background; its been over 10 yrs since I was deep in it, but not much has changed, and as they say all that goes around, comes around.  There is a good short article by Blackstone Ultrasonics you can find on the web, with a NASA address, that discusses the UT theory and items to consider.  This was all done 20 yrs ago.  UT frequency, duration, temperature, surface tension and items to be cleaned stacking are critical factors.  Rapid rotation, i.e., more than 1 rpm, will not leave the surface exposed long enough to get the full benefits.  Also, too much duration/power at low frequency can damage the surface.  There is an old test where you place a piece of aluminum foil in the tank; if it perforates, you probably have too much power/duration for cleaning a vinyl record.

Antinn, I would think that getting the tank up to about 30-35deg. C and then turning it on, the transducers that is, as you add the Tergitol should then produce the desired result as far as dissolution is concerned.

Great you are getting back into spinning vinyl!  Good luck with your cleaning method and enjoy the music!

Thanks again for your input.