Vinyl Cleaning Solutions Recipes and the ability to calculate the amount of liquids for the selected amount of cleaning liquid. Steven Rochlin's recipes The following recipes are for a 4 liter (1,06 gallon) solution unless otherwise stated Distilled water Alcohol Detergent How much cleaning fluid do you need? 1 part 1 part isopropyl none liter 1 part 1 part isopropyl a drop of Triton X-100 liter 1 quart (~ 1 liter) 1/2 quart denatured 10 drops Photoflo liter 3 parts 1 part denatured a few drops liter 3 parts 1 part rubbing a few drops liter 4 parts 1 part ethanol some (Genie in the Bottle) liter Laura Dearborn's recipe The following recipe is for a 4 liter (1,06 gallon) solution. Distilled water Alcohol Detergent How much cleaning fluid do you need? 3 parts 1 part isopropyl 1 drop Triton X-114 or Monolan 2000 liter Don Roderick's recipe The following recipe is for a 4 liter (1,06 gallon) solution. Distilled water Alcohol Detergent How much cleaning fluid do you need? 4 parts 1 part isopropyl (91%) 7-8 drops dishwashing detergent w/o additives liter Keith Monks's recipe (TAS) The following recipe is for a 4 liter (1,06 gallon) solution. Distilled water Alcohol + Detergent How much cleaning fluid do you need? 1 part 1 part denatured alcohol liter Jonathan Scull's recipe (Stereophile) The following recipe is for a 4 liter (1,06 gallon) solution. Distilled water Alcohol Detergents How much cleaning fluid do you need? 3 parts 1 part NON-Lanolin Isopropyl 10 drops Photo-Flo + 10 drops "Direct" tile cleaner liter HiFi  Audio  Design The following recipes are for a 1 liter (0.264 US gallons) solution unless otherwise stated Distilled water Alcohol Detergents How much cleaning fluid do you need? 4 part 1 part Isopropyl >99,6% 5 ml ILFOTOL Wetting Agent liter 4 part 1 part Bio-Ethanol >95%  ** 1 ml Non-Ionic Photo-Grade Surfactant liter 1 part deionized water 0.5% Tergitol 15-S-7 liter The recipe with Tergitol 15-S-7 is used by the Library Of Congress. **  I use the Ethanol because I've been told that it's a more volatile alcohol than Isopropyl and even more readily binds with other molecules due to having one less carbon atom. I know there are more "solutions" but these are just meant to be starting points and/or examples. Ingredients: 1) Water The highest purity of distilled water is triple filtered and steam condensed/distilled to eliminate thoroughly the contaminants and mineral deposits in tap water. Avoid water sold for other purposes, such as car batteries, and on no account use tap water. By using pure distilled water you will still save two thirds of the cost of commercial record cleaner without taking any risks trying to save a few pennies more. 2) Alcohol The purpose of cleaning is to ensure naked contact between the stylus and the information encoded into the grooves, and nothing between the two, hence the use of alcohol to dissolve any surface contaminants (cigarette smoke, skin oils, mould-release, airborne matter). The main active cleaning ingredient is the well known and commonly used Isopropanol, known as Isopropyl AlcohoI or lPA for short. It is readily available from chemical suppliers at 99.9% purity – the highest laboratory-grade commercially available. Denatured alcohol is ethanol (ethyl alcohol) made unfit for human consumption by adding one or more chemicals (denaturants) to it. Denaturing refers to removing a property from the alcohol (being able to drink it), not to chemically altering or decomposing it, so denatured alcohol contains ordinary ethyl alcohol and is also usable to clean records. 3) Wetting Agent Surfactant: the all-important “secret” ingredient. Wetting agent belongs to a chemical group known as “surfactants”, whose rate of dilution results in different effects. At very low levels they act as an emulsifier, at a higher level they act to reduce surface tension (wetting) and at higher still, they become a detergent (look up the ingredients of washing up liquid – “ionic and non-ionic surfactants”). You must add wetting agent. IPA/distilled water mix on its own does not “wet”, and will not penetrate the vinyl grooves. Due to water surface tension, the liquid without surfactant draws back from the vinyl to form rivulets and pools, drawn to itself. Want to learn more about how to take care of your records? The Discogs’ Guide to Record Collecting eBook

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