Best Record Cleaning Fluid


Greetings All,

I’ve spend the last few days searching and reading about record cleaning fluids for my cleaning machine (Okki Nikki).  Wow - there are a lot of options out there.  Many more than I originally thought.  Some real esoteric stuff that costs a pretty penny.  I’m currently going through my entire collection, cleaning it, listening to it and adding it to a Discogs DB.  Want to finally know how many I have and have a list of them.  But doing this has resulted in me going through cleaning fluid rather quickly.

So many options, so many perspectives on what are the best fluids.  What do you all say.  I understand that alcohol is a no-no for fluids, but I can’t find out if some of them include alcohol or not.  Currently using up the fluid that came with the machine, but no where can I read it if has bad ingredients.

The 2-stage or 3-stage cleaning systems are not going to happen.  I did get a bottle of Revolv that I was told was good, and use if for new high quality pressings (as opposed to those I bought in high school).

Anyway, would appreciate some perspectives on good quality record cleaning fluids that don’t bust the bank.  Thanks for keeping the sarcasm in check.

Happy Listening,

pgaulke60
cflayton has an excellent suggestion. I have no experience with Alconox but am quite familiar with Photoflo, also a surfactant which reduces the surface tension of a liquid. It comes in liquid form so no need to dissolve a solid substance. It is a product produced by Kodak meant to eliminate drying spots and residue on films. Can be easily found on the net or at most any place that sells photographic supplies.

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I use Tergitol surfactants from TALAS (talasonline.com), put 10-20 drops per each into a gallon of distilled water to form a solution. This is what the Smithsonian uses to preserve records for their archives. No residue.

I rinse with Distilled water.

I do not use isopropyl alcohol because a chemist friend claims alcohol dissolves plasticizer molecules and can make the surface of the record brittle raising the noise floor. I also found that using alcohol increases record static.

I use a device I designed and prototyped myself using a special bristle material that I prefer. It’s a mechanical agitation system.

Sometimes, for moldy records, I use TTVJ Vinyl-Zyme Gold. It helps quiet records by removing light mold infestation. It will not fix mold damage.

I believe Liquinox (from Alconox) is a concentrated, anionic detergent good for manual and ultrasonic cleaning. I talked to a tech rep at Alconox and he said it is perfect for vinyl record cleaning. 

I use a KAB EV-1/Nitty Gritty with Tergitol too, then a rinse with distilled water. 
Just like @voiceofvinyl said, the Smithsonian uses it, and if that’s the case, it’s good enough for me too. I’m sure they did their research, as did I. No residue, and a super clean n’ shiny LP after the rinse. 
BTW...Surfactants and Detergents are not quite the same. Photoflo is a surfactant with limited ability to dissolve oils and grease. It’s purpose is to break the surface tension (wetting) of the fluid it is added to and minimize the appearance of film deposits.  

Dawn dishwashing liquid, Tergitol and Liquinox are detergents. They dissolve a lot of the nasty stuff in/on the record. They also have some “wetting ability” like photoflo but I have found I you use distilled water I don’t get spots.