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Distilled Water or Demineralised


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Hi, I am new to the hobby of Vinyl and have been reading and seeing on You Tube videos the process of cleaning records and the suggestion is always to use Distilled Water.

But I can't seem to find Distilled water, only Demineralised water in the shops.

is Deminerlised OK to use?

Or if someone knows where to get Distilled in Australia maybe point me in the right direction?

Thank you so much.

 

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Make your own with one of these they work quite well bit time consuming though, I bought one when I was right into the vinyl cleaning however I just use tap water now with as few chemicals as possible in the ultrasonic bath.

 

https://www.ebay.com.au/sch/i.html?_nkw=water+distiller&_sop=12

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Last time I went to Big W to get a 2ltr jug of distilled I found they changed to 1ltr of demineralised only. So that's what I got. I'm not going to screw around chasing all over town for it.

 

You might find distilled in carparts shop because it goes in batteries.

 

I ve seen online comments that distilled is very hard to find in UK. Looks like going that way here.

 

 

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18 minutes ago, eman said:

Last time I went to Big W to get a 2ltr jug of distilled I found they changed to 1ltr of demineralised only. So that's what I got. I'm not going to screw around chasing all over town for it.

 

You might find distilled in carparts shop because it goes in batteries.

 

I ve seen online comments that distilled is very hard to find in UK. Looks like going that way here.

 

 

Oh, I just put an online order in on the Big W website to pick it up from my local store - I notice they have two versions of it, I shall report back on what it is like when I get it (likely tomorrow). *fingers crossed*

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I have a ready supply of (free ) distilled water, but alas no RCM. If anybody has a condenser clothes dryer, the water collected in the cassette is pure and distilled and certainly beats paying for it.

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Hi all,

 

Never thought I would have any input to help with a vinyl thread lol, but I look after large amounts of water in our lounge. 

If you want very pure water & your close to an aquarium shop that sells marine fish / coral, they will have some of the cleanest water around. It's not suitable for drinking as it has been stripped of minerals, nano-solids & chemicals. 

 

Just drop in ask if they sell RO/DI (reverse osmosis/de-ironised water) You should be able to get 20-25 Ltr's for between $2.50 - $5.00. If your reel fussy, ask them what the TDS reading of the water is. They should know, but most would be willing to measure it to show you. You wont find cleaner water on any super market shelf. If anyone in Melbourne is interested I can recommend a couple around the place. 

 

Hope it helps someone. :) 

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3 minutes ago, rantan said:

I have a ready supply of (free ) distilled water, but alas no RCM. If anybody has a condenser clothes dryer, the water collected in the cassette is pure and distilled and certainly beats paying for it.

 

Hah, I thought that before I had bought my us tank - and before I saw the gunk (fibres) which are left in the water container of my Bosch Maxx 7.  Sure you can drain the water through filters to remove the fibres ... but that's a PITA.  :lol:

 

2 hours ago, Muon N' said:

Distilled is a bit better and removes some of the organic contaminants as well as minerals.

 

^ ^ ^  What he said!!

 

I buy my distilled water from AutoBarn - who sell 10l bottles of distilled water for about $13.

 

Andy

 

 

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5 minutes ago, Synodontis said:

Hi all,

 

Never thought I would have any input to help with a vinyl thread lol, but I look after large amounts of water in our lounge. 

If you want very pure water & your close to an aquarium shop that sells marine fish / coral, they will have some of the cleanest water around. It's not suitable for drinking as it has been stripped of minerals, nano-solids & chemicals. 

 

Just drop in ask if they sell RO/DI (reverse osmosis/de-ironised water) You should be able to get 20-25 Ltr's for between $2.50 - $5.00. If your reel fussy, ask them what the TDS reading of the water is. They should know, but most would be willing to measure it to show you. You wont find cleaner water on any super market shelf. If anyone in Melbourne is interested I can recommend a couple around the place. 

 

Hope it helps someone. :) 

 

Very interesting, S.  I'd certainly like to hear your recommendations.  :thumb:  (Because whilst I thought $13 for 10l wasn't expensive ... you can go through quite a lot of water using a us tank.  :)

 

Andy

 

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5 minutes ago, andyr said:

 

Hah, I thought that before I had bought my us tank - and before I saw the gunk (fibres) which are left in the water container of my Bosch Maxx 7.  Sure you can drain the water through filters to remove the fibres ... but that's a PITA.  :lol:

 

 

^ ^ ^  What he said!!

 

I buy my distilled water from AutoBarn - who sell 10l bottles of distilled water for about $13.

 

Andy

 

 

 

The mob that supply the distilled water to Autobarn are located in Toowoomba, so I buy it direct from the distiller...it's is much less expensive.

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Just now, acg said:

 

The mob that supply the distilled water to Autobarn are located in Toowoomba, so I buy it direct from the distiller...it's is much less expensive.

 

 

Lucky fellow!  So there's one advantage to living in Toowoomba!  :lol:

 

Andy

 

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1 hour ago, andyr said:

 

Very interesting, S.  I'd certainly like to hear your recommendations.  :thumb:  (Because whilst I thought $13 for 10l wasn't expensive ... you can go through quite a lot of water using a us tank.  :)

 

Andy

 

Hi Andy,

 

Pre-filters- down to 1 micron particle removal, you can get finer filters

RO vs Distilled water - about the only difference is distilled water removes the oxygen content.

DI process- removes both positive & negative ions.

 

The top 4 shops I wouldn't have a problem getting water from would be....

1) Deer Park Aquarium on Station Rd in Deer Park - His system was over 3K & well looked after

2) Reeflections Aquarium on the Nepean hwy in Bentleigh

3) Fishworld Aquarium on Cheltenam Rd in Dandenong

4) Bunarong Aquarium on Overport Rd in Frankston

There are others around but i would check the readings before using in our tank.

 

We use this system at home which can be plumbed for drinking water as well. Only have to change the filters every 12 - 18 months. Again there are plenty of systems around but these guy's know their stuff.

Reef tank owners are right on top of water, what gets spent here for stereo gear gets spent on some of these tanks so always looking for the best.

 

Sorry for prattling on so much :)

 

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2 hours ago, andyr said:

 

Hah, I thought that before I had bought my us tank - and before I saw the gunk (fibres) which are left in the water container of my Bosch Maxx 7.  Sure you can drain the water through filters to remove the fibres ... but that's a PITA.  :lol:

 

 

^ ^ ^  What he said!!

 

I buy my distilled water from AutoBarn - who sell 10l bottles of distilled water for about $13.

 

Andy

 

 

Oh I never thought of Auto barn !! I will see what the Big W ones looks like when I pick it up or if they switch it out to Demineralised, and if they have I will get a refund and head to Auto Barn. I brought from Big W on line as I hate looking for stuff in the shops - so rather click to collect so I can get in and out in a flash !! 

 

I think the price of $13 is pretty good - for the amount I am likely to use - I only have ten albums so far......... Now to read up on these Spin Clean things .................

Edited by April Snow
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1 hour ago, April Snow said:

Oh I never thought of Auto barn !! I will see what the Big W ones looks like when I pick it up or if they switch it out to Demineralised, and if they have I will get a refund and head to Auto Barn. I brought from Big W on line as I hate looking for stuff in the shops - so rather click to collect so I can get in and out in a flash !! 

 

I think the price of $13 is pretty good - for the amount I am likely to use - I only have ten albums so far......... Now to read up on these Spin Clean things .................

 

10 albums and you are already thinking of how to clean them best!  R.E.S.P.E.C.T!  :thumb:

 

Re. cleaning machines ... there are a plethora.  :)  The "classic" RCMs are wet/vac machines.  These involve:

  • wiping your chosen cleaning fluid around the surface of an LP with a special brush (or pad) that gets to the bottom of the grooves - or this is done, automatically.
  • then removing the liquid with a vacuum.

The good thing about these is that they vacuum the liquid & crud out of the grooves.  Leaving them clean & dry.  The problems with them are:

  • they generally are quite loud (I used to use ear protectors with my Nitty Gritty).
  • with most machines, you can only clean one side at a time.
  • and there's quite a lot of physical effort - and time - involved.

But I used my NG for over 20 years to clean LPs this way.  :)

 

Today's solution is an ultrasonic tank.  Yes, more expensive than a 'SpinClean' - but not necessarily more expensive than a wet/vac RCM!  :)

 

You can clean multiple LPs in one session - the number depends on:

  1. the width of the tank, but also
  2. the frequency of the ultrasonic exciters (typically, 40kHz, 60kHz or 80kHz).  The frequency determines the amount of space - 1 wavelength - that you need to allow:
  • between each LP, and
  • between the outermost LPs and the tank wall.

You also really need to include a pump and a 1 micron filter in your us setup - that is, if you want to remove the need to vacuum the cleaned LP sides dry, with a vacuum RCM.

 

The reason for the filter is as follows (I say this from my experiments in us cleaning and then listening to the result):

  • the us excitation blasts the crud from the grooves - that is, providing you have an adequate spacing between LPs (and between the outermost LPs and the sides of your tank).
  • said crud then goes into solution.
  • if you simply then remove the LPs from the us tank ... the water + crud remains in the groove ... and the crud stays in the groove when the water evaporates.  :(

If you don't implement a 1 micron filter then, IMO, to end up with crud-free grooves ... you need to vacuum the liquid out of the grooves with a wet/vac RCM.  Which kinda defeats the concept of using a us tank!  :)

 

Good luck,

Andy

 

 

 

 

 

 

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2 hours ago, Synodontis said:

Hi Andy,

 

Pre-filters- down to 1 micron particle removal, you can get finer filters

RO vs Distilled water - about the only difference is distilled water removes the oxygen content.

DI process- removes both positive & negative ions.

 

The top 4 shops I wouldn't have a problem getting water from would be....

1) Deer Park Aquarium on Station Rd in Deer Park - His system was over 3K & well looked after

2) Reeflections Aquarium on the Nepean hwy in Bentleigh

3) Fishworld Aquarium on Cheltenam Rd in Dandenong

4) Bunarong Aquarium on Overport Rd in Frankston

There are others around but i would check the readings before using in our tank.

 

We use this system at home which can be plumbed for drinking water as well. Only have to change the filters every 12 - 18 months. Again there are plenty of systems around but these guy's know their stuff.

Reef tank owners are right on top of water, what gets spent here for stereo gear gets spent on some of these tanks so always looking for the best.

 

Sorry for prattling on so much :)

 

 

Thanks, S.  :thumb:

 

Andy

 

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58 minutes ago, andyr said:

 

10 albums and you are already thinking of how to clean them best!  R.E.S.P.E.C.T!  :thumb:

 

 

Thanks Andy - I shall look up about the ultrasonic - shame I don't know of anyone close by to look and try one. Sounds awesome.

 

Edited by April Snow
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The last time I looked for distilled water I read the fine print and most said the water was produced using a multiple process including reverse osmosis. In the end I went to a specialist water shop and bought "the cleanest, purest water in Australia".

I had no idea if it was any better than commonly available stuff and I didn't care 'cause I was using so little.

Next time I'm buying for the ultrasonic cleaner and I suspect I'll be tempted to buy at the supermarket.

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Ok so went to Big W and picked the water up , so hopefully this will be OK, or else off to Auto Barn I go.

I also picked up this pot lid rack - thought it might be better than a dish rack to rest the records on to dry after I use the Spin Clean? I thought I could maybe prop then up with a little bit of microfibre cloth (not tissue as I experimented with here) - it just seems more stable that a dish rack?

May I ask how long do you have to leave the records to dry after you spin clean and wipe over before you can re-sleeve?

As much as I love the sound of a Ultra sonic system - I think it is too hard for me right up as I am only starting to learn to use a turntable !! 

 

 

 

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IMG_1737.JPG

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3 minutes ago, April Snow said:

Ok so went to Big W and picked the water up , so hopefully this will be OK, or else off to Auto Barn I go.

 

I also picked up this pot lid rack - thought it might be better than a dish rack to rest the records on to dry after I use the Spin Clean? I thought I could maybe prop then up with a little bit of microfibre cloth (not tissue as I experimented with here) - it just seems more stable that a dish rack?

 

May I ask how long do you have to leave the records to dry after you spin clean and wipe over before you can re-sleeve?

As much as I love the sound of a Ultra sonic system - I think it is too hard for me right up as I am only starting to learn to use a turntable !! 

 

 

 

IMG_1733.JPG

IMG_1735.JPG

IMG_1737.JPG

 

Very cool, AS - I think your pot lid rack - plus scrunched up tissue on the label - will be perfect for air drying.

 

As to how long ... you should be able to see whether there's any water left on the LP's surface.

 

Your water says it's "Steam Distilled " - so it should be just fine!  :thumb:

 

Andy

 

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