John,

You can not thoroughly remove the contaminants on the surface of a newly pressed Lp, an old shellac disc, a Diamond Disc, lacquer or acetate disc by running them under the tap even if the tap was RO-filtered or distilled water.

Unfortunately you can't thoroughly remove mold & mildew from any disc recording by simply playing it.

Duane Goldman


On Jun 27, 2014, at 6:23 AM, John Haley <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Don, if your tap water is a dangerous solvent and harsh chemical, then
> obviously don't use it to wash records or for anything else.   The
> chemicals in most tap water in most places (at least where the tap water
> doesn't smell bad) are extremely diluted and far less strong than the stuff
> in commercial record cleaning solutions.  I have never yet hurt any record
> or left any kind of film or marks on records by washing them as I suggest.
> Of course you do not immerse them, and it is not hard to avoid wetting the
> label (I don't hurt them either).  Once a dirty record has been cleaned
> there should be no reason to clean it again, except for a cleaning with a
> soft brush before playing, which I do with the record on the turntable (and
> I never have a problem with static either).  People seem to be more
> concerned with putting some kind of liquid on the record than getting the
> dirt off.  Vacuum systems remove dirt-plus-cleaning liquid but as for dirt,
> so does gentle, warm running water.  Putting some kind of liquid on a
> record and just wiping it is not going to get rid of much of anything.  Try
> my suggestion.  It works very well.  If a record has an unusual problem
> like infested with mold, and you have to play it to restore it, then
> obviously something more sophisticated than tap water is in order.
> Best, John Haley