Kirmuss Ultrasonic vinyl cleaner


I've seen lots of discussions on here regarding ultrasonic vinyl cleaners and specifically the Kirmuss.  After reviewing and researching a lot of forums, articles and videos on record cleaning ,I've came to some good conclusions and great results with my Kirmuss Ultrasonic cleaner and Okki Nokki vacuum vinyl cleaner.  I've tried a couple different chemical solutions and after more research have finally come to my best results. I've been using Tergikleen as my go to cleaner and adding 20 drops into the Kirmuss water to good results and using the Kirmuss solution to spray on and do a couple rounds of the manual cleaing/multiple ultrasonic 5 minute cleaning. Then vacuum dry with ultrasonic pure rinse from Mofi. Great results but still some pops and ticks on some, even brand new records.  Now after researching I've found the best way. Here's the best results yet.

First add 2 ounces of Audio Intelligence ultrasonic cleaning fluid to the Kirmuss tank as its an enzymatic cleaner and leaves zero residue. 

Second add 2 drops of Tergikleen to the full bottle of the Kirmuss cleaning solution ( which has 2% ratio of propylene glycol) and use this for the  manual  cleaning steps. The propylene glycol makes the ultrasonic bubbles attract to the vinyl and creates positive/ negative charge with the water removing all static and grime.

Do 1-2 rounds of cleaning in the machine with the manual step.

Lastly do a final rinse with the Mofi ultrasonic pure rinse or any similar product and vacuum clean off. 

Wow! Records i couldn't get rid of pops/ticks or noise are almost completely gone and the dynamics and openness of the sound now is phenomenal!  

This is the only way to go after many rounds of various methods. I love it and now almost entirely play vinyl. 

Good luck and cheers!

lnitm

Billstevenson for me doing 3 records at a time which the Kirmuss can do its about 7-8 minutes per record. So pretty close to yours, I can cut down clean time in Kirmuss,  I just by default use the 5 minute cleaning cycle.  Good luck with 8000 records!

Different situations call for different remedies, which is the point here.  I hope this discussion helps frame the issues for others who might be trying to make an informed decision for themselves.  There is not a one size fits all solution and everyone must decide what approach makes the most sense for their situation.  Thanks for sharing your experience.

I came over here from the other US discussion. I’m not a chemist but don’t buy into propylene glycol affecting polarity. But it is a wetting agent and acts almost like starch, slightly thickening the cleaning solution. Some prescribe mixing PG into their cleaning solution for manual cleaning when the record is in a vertical position to keep the solution on the record’s exposed upper surface. I tried it, but it just seemed like either a redundant or just plain unnecessary step.