Don't try this at home!

Love it or hate it, it just won't stop
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Cressy Snr
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#1 Don't try this at home!

Post by Cressy Snr »

Melanie came in this morning with six LPs bought off a fellow in the outdoor market for a quid each from:
Shalamar
Detroit Emeralds
Curtis Mayfield
Isaac Hayes with Dionne Warwick
The Platters
Quincy Jones 12" single.

Initial pleasure was quickly replaced by disappointment as the only ones that played were the Curtis Mayfield and the Quincy Jones 12" single.
The rest of them were unplayable. The groove noise and crackling was louder than the music.
On closer examination, the LP surfaces appeared to be covered with dried mildew, probably due to poor storage in damp conditions by the original owners, IOW these LPs were totally fooked.

So after a bit of thought I washed one of them with washing up liquid and carefully dried it; no joy, the damn thing was almost as bad as before.
So, a bit more thought and I went under the sink and pulled out this:
Image
I mean there was nothing to lose, the records were toast anyway.

Protecting the labels I set about spraying one of them with the evil concoction.
Working it into the grooves with a clean sponge for about a minute per side, it was lathered up, then rinsed off under the tap for another minute, making sure that all traces were removed. The pink sponge I was using, had rapidly turned orange as the fierce bleach sucked mercilessly, all the pigment away....gulp :shock:

The tortured piece of vinyl was then placed on kitchen paper to blot the water off, then dried with a clean microfibre cloth, in the direction of the grooves and put on a Disco Antistat drying rack outside to air-dry.

Once dried, the record certainly looked clean; not a trace of the mildew to be seen. I put it on the turntable, cued up the first track, dropped the needle and ....silence. Then the music started and bloody hell, the record played through perfectly. There was the odd click, but nothing that is unusual from 38 year-old vinyl.

Suitably emboldened, I treated the others and they too lost their patina of mildew and played through flawlessly.
Not that I'd recommend doing this barbaric ritual with your Nimbus Supercuts or MFL half speed masters, but as an emergency measure for mildew afflicted records, if you don't possess a cleaning machine, it works a treat.
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Greg
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#2 Re: Don't try this at home!

Post by Greg »

:lol: :lol: you're so affected with your anti-flat Earth attitude, you've gone completely the other way. Buggar record cleaners; nowt wrong with a bit of Cilit Bang, an old dishcloth and a bit of elbow grease, eh!

You and Dave Brook should go into partnership :lol: :lol:
Cressy Snr
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#3 Re: Don't try this at home!

Post by Cressy Snr »

Removing the mildew by this method made me cringe, but it works :)

Shan't be making a habit of it though :lol: :lol:
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shane
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#4 Re: Don't try this at home!

Post by shane »

Makes sense to me. If it's not abrasive and doesn't attack vinyl chemically, it's not going to damage the record regardless of how aggressive it may be to other materials. Keep it off the label though!
The world looks so different after learning science. For example, trees are made of air, primarily. When they are burned, they go back to air, and in their flaming heat is released the flaming heat of the Sun which was bound in to convert air into tree.
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Paul Barker
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#5 Re: Don't try this at home!

Post by Paul Barker »

:| Aparently a version of cillit bang can in emergency clean plate heat exchangers. I need to pick some up at the supermarket. Presently my emergency repair product as brick cleaner (a fairly dilute hydrochloric acid)

Steve, on the use of building trade materials, wasn't there a nit your own yoghurt website that cleaned vinyl by setting pva into the grooves then peeling it out with contents that incleded release agent? Much more expensive as a method than Cillit Bang though! I think phosphoric acid is the main active agent in Cillit Bang. Would need copious rincing. Might be that organic acid such as citric, would be sufficient, and kinder to environment and humans.
"Two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I am not yet completely sure about the universe." – Albert Einstein
Cressy Snr
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#6 Re: Don't try this at home!

Post by Cressy Snr »

I've just had a look at the ingredients of the stuff I used on my records. Not bad really. It's just:

2.6% sodium hypochlorite - Baby bottle steriliser.
5% Chlorine based bleaching agents - Domestos
5% non-ionic surfactants - detergent.
Disinfectant
Perfume.

PVA keeps coming up on and off over the years. I've never tried it.
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andrew Ivimey
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#7 Re: Don't try this at home!

Post by andrew Ivimey »

I've used car windscreen washing stuff neat & dilute. It works!
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Mike H
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#8 Re: Don't try this at home!

Post by Mike H »

Excellent, glad it worked. As said if by all apperances nowt else to lose ... :thumbright:
 
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pre65
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#9 Re: Don't try this at home!

Post by pre65 »

It's a pity Cillit Bang is ineffective on the scum in our society. :(

I remember how they used to advertise it with some wally (Barry Scott ?) SHOUTING all through the advert.
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Mike H
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#10 Re: Don't try this at home!

Post by Mike H »

Yep up until just recently, stopped using him now tho.
 
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#11 Re: Don't try this at home!

Post by IslandPink »

Superb !
What's the Curtis Mayfield LP Steve ?

Cillit bang - if you like that, you'll love kitchen gun :

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#12 Re: Don't try this at home!

Post by Cressy Snr »

IslandPink wrote:Superb !
What's the Curtis Mayfield LP Steve ?
:lol: :lol:

"Got to Find a Way" from 1974, Curtom, American import.
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Paul Barker
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#13 Re: Don't try this at home!

Post by Paul Barker »

Cressy Snr wrote:I've just had a look at the ingredients of the stuff I used on my records. Not bad really. It's just:

2.6% sodium hypochlorite - Baby bottle steriliser.
5% Chlorine based bleaching agents - Domestos
5% non-ionic surfactants - detergent.
Disinfectant
Perfume.

PVA keeps coming up on and off over the years. I've never tried it.
I suppose the first two are killing the fungus and the rest is cleaning agent. As your records were mouldy this is probably a good idea. The pva would probably be less toxic but much more expensive.
"Two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I am not yet completely sure about the universe." – Albert Einstein
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Paul Barker
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#14 Re: Don't try this at home!

Post by Paul Barker »

Ok just looked it up, the lime and grime version is the one containing acids. That will be the one plumbers are using as it will desolve limescale and put ferous products into solution to be drained away. Probably not required on vinyl.
"Two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I am not yet completely sure about the universe." – Albert Einstein
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