Sonofjim (and Crem),
I understand your concern over contaminents, I'm just trying to put it into the bigger picture. First, keep in mind that any water passing through the steamer is undergoing a distillation process. After all, distillation is nothing more that condensing steam, isn't it? Now, maybe I'm doing this incorrectly, or skipping a step or three, but I use the steam as a rinse and then vacuum it off. Am I supposed to flush the record with "rinse water" after steaming?
As far as the mirror experience, there is one difference. I bet you didn't vacuum the mirror! Any rinse cycle goes through a vacuum cycle, (at least in my process) so there shouldn't be anything to dry on the surface. Nothing to dry should translate into no residue, correct? Now if the argument is that you can never get all of the water out of the groove, then I'll extend that argument to you can never truly get a clean record because some debris will stay in suspension, drying at the bottom of the groove.
