Steam cleaning records 2

Whow -------- what a long thread!!!!
can this be SO deep a subject?

I have done all sorts of 'hand washing' and later steam cleaning also (a bit), I then had a Nitty and it was just to compare results. Steam cleaning "might" have helped in some VERY heavy cases --- but it NEVER got rid of what I thought might still have been dirt in the groove, causing groove noise. The record was just shot, pitted grooves, maybe the steam cleaning did the rest. Old Mercuries come to mind, hard and brittle vinyl. The more you clean them the worse they get.

I later got a Hannl MERA, the Nitty (top of the rage model)gave me some problems, and then some.

I cleaned all my records over (uff, eventually). The ones from the Nitty days, having been done, some of them 5x or more, BUT not steam cleaned.

EVERY record done with the Hannl (I don't sell the stuff or get commission) was sounding just clearer, a bit more transparent. BUT, there are always some that do not improve the way you'd like. So, I tryed to steam clean those after the Hannl had done its bit 2x - 3x ---- no further improvement.
Sorry to report: NO, zilch difference --- can't make a silk purse from a pigs ear, simple as that.
AND may I say, I have truly tried my share of cleaning concoctions. I'm back with ~ 1/3 Isopropyl Alcohol, ONE drop of liquid soap, a few grains of pool chlorine (kills the algae in the waste container) and the rest distilled water.

Sure you heard the recipe 100 times in a thread THAT length.

Best greetings,
Axel

Tvad, Do you own LPS? Do you actually Steam Clean LPS? Should the answer be no,fine, should your answer be yes than clean them & enjoy the playback experience.

Vinyl is nothing other than some doped PVC. It will 'take up some small amount of water in the 'rough' groove area. The MAIN contributor is detergent (liquid soap), which removes the surface tension and by this mechanism allows the absorption. I do know this from first hand experience when I used to do 'hand washing'.
Also, it appears that some amount of Isopropyl alcohol ~ 25% helps to prevent this, it help with quicker drying after the cleaning.
Also with a record cleaner you NEVER flood the surface for such an extended time as doing the cleaning by hand (my experience, I may be too slow...)

Having steam cleaned (and I have done quite a few LPs) everything is wet and has to drip off? Since I had a Nitty at the time I dried it with the Nitty, fine.
Leave the stuff to dry on it's own is just no good --- that's like 3rd-world washing up :-)
Cheers,
Axel
PS: Get a record cleaner, it is more noisy (maybe) but a lot less messy, nice sink you might use and all.