Humminguru Nova

@ljgerens 

thanks for the caution, the idea came from another discussion, do you think 2% glycol by volume is risky?

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/kirmuss-ultrasonic-vinyl-cleaner?highlight=kirmuss

excerpt:

"lnitm OP

170 posts

12-28-2025 at 09:34am 

Elliottbnewcombjr

Do you think adding something to my mix to get a positive/negative charge would be beneficial? If so, add how much of what

yes. Add 2% per volume of propylene glycol to mix. 

In otherwords approximately 1 Oz per gallon of propylene glycol. It’s what is in the Kirmuss solution that gives that charge to attract the bubbles to the vinyl. Add in the tank with distilled water." 

@elliottbnewcombjr 

I don’t know if 2% is risky, but I see no reason to include something that is difficult to remove and potentially can leave a sticky residue on the record surface. Polypropylene glycol is a neutral polymer and has no charge although in water the polar oxygen atoms and hydroxyl end group atoms can have a weak attraction for water molecules and other cations. I doubt that this would have a significant effect on the cleaning efficiency in an ultrasonic bath.

I was researching record washing solutions and MoFi Ultra Record Wash is highly rated and is designed for ultrasonic cleaners and is recommended for Degritter. 
I get it that folks love to cook up their own recipe but I’m not a chemist. And I don’t want to risk relying on formulas developed by someone who thinks they’re a chemist. No offense. I’ll be using the solution included with the Nova and will also give the MoFi Ultra a try. 

@audphile1 

My recommendation would be to hold off on buying cleaning solutions. From what I’ve learned, ultrasonic cleaning machines do a stupendously good job using distilled water alone. As @ljgerens pointed out, most cleaning solutions tend to leave behind a very thin layer of residue unless you follow up with a second tank of clean distilled water for rinsing. If you’re not doing a dedicated rinse cycle, I’d personally avoid adding any cleaning solution altogether.

@audphile1, "It only takes one rogue hard particle that gets lodged into the vacuum pad to completely ruin a record."

I guess that could be a possibility, but it seems extremely remote..  I've been using a VPI vacuum system for more than 30 years and never experienced anything like that.

If you've never seen how the VPT works, I assume others are similar. when set up properly the suction tube opening is set off dead center by 5 degrees.  This facilitates solution pickup and minimized any chance for pressing directly down on the record.  In addition there are fabric strips on either side of the suction slot.  That softens any contract with the record.