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Advice re: home-brew water

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?eanlg&1132333988&openflup&1&4

Hi, I'm trying to upgrade the ingredients that I use in my cleaning solution (VPI 16.5).
I used to combine 3 parts drugstore distilled water to 1 part Isopropyl alcohol plus a few drops Photoflo.

I'm going to use Technical-grade 99.6% alcohol, and I recently got some Triton X-100 and X-114 to replace the Photoflo (which is supposed to be undesirable).

The last thing I need is good water, especially to rinse.
I did find some $55 a gallon water, but I think that's overkill, and there's the possibility that an opened gallon (which will take me a year to use) will become contaminated due to simply being opened.

This leads me to my question: I'm not sure if the link I opened this with works or not, but it's an extremely thorough water analysis where the author ('Justin time') recommends Rain Fresh bottled water (http://www.rain-fresh.com/stepprocess.htm).

The problem is that this isn't (never was, I'm told) distilled water, nor is it deionized.
Has anyone used this and can confirm that it's the thing to use?
I'm guessing that the 10-step process that is referred to on the Rain Fresh link more than compensates for the lack of distillation and deionization, but I'm looking for confirmation. Is 'Justin time' out there? I wrote an email, but he doesn't seem to have posted here in a long time.

2nd question: does anyone know if either of the Triton's (110, 114) is better?

Thanks for any help.
charlieo

Showing 2 responses by jtimothya

jtimothya
612 posts
 
 
I purchased a 5 gallon box of the NERL Reagent Grade Water for $33 including shipping. The supplier I bought from (MedicalMailOrder.com) no longer carries the water, but if you're willing to go for a 5 gal. quantity it can be found much much cheaper than $30/gallon. The box includes a spigot and is easy to use in refilling a dispenser bottle.

I did a quick google and found this: NERL 9805. It is not identical to their Reagent Grade product (9800-5), but very close. Compare the products at Thermo Scientific.

You may be able to find either for less money with a bit more searching.

As always, the Audiogon search is your friend. Read for more answers to your question.
 
Tim
 
jtimothya
612 posts
 
I can see a 5 gallon container of water lasting me the rest of my life.

Dan_ed, I bet you live longer than that!

Like Rushton, I do 2 rinses per side, and find that is very effective in cleaning the record and reducing noise. Without being profligate its nice not concerning myself with using "audiophile grade" water when the Nerl lab water works great.

I haven't found the NERL SKU 0015 aka "Safe & Sure Ultra Pure Reagent Grade Water" for sale on-line. All of them get particulate filtered down to 0.2 microns, so I'm not sure what the higher grade will yield over the lower for record cleaning. Then again I was surprised how much cleaner Lloyd's Prelude worked vs my previous DD or RRL regimen, so one never knows.
 
Tim
 
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