Thanks Zen,
I have a feeling you're right. Probably not worth the chance, especially when I have two more Perfection steamers sitting unopened. |
Those both sound like viable options. For now I've stuck with the Perfection due to it's history of success and my own familiarity with it. Let me know if you need one. For now they are still available around here. |
We owe more to Crem1 than a lot of people realize. It was a shame to see the old thread turn into a personal attack on him. A new thread may be a good idea. I continue to use my Perfection steamer without fear of the lead issue. I would like to hear of the experience others are having with other products though.(steamfast, monster, etc.) |
Ericjcabrera,
For the price of your hair drier, or less, you could get a Perfection steamer from Walgreen's. I'm sure your method works too but the steam should be purer reguardless of what water source you use and steam will penetrate the groves even more than hot water will. It might be worth a try. Of course, there have been recent concerns over lead warnings on the Perfection steamer(mostly in the power cord?) but if you live in the modern industrialized world like the rest of us, I suspect this is the least of your worries. |
Has anyone directly compared the results of steaming with enzyme cleaning? Enzyme solutions are all the rage right now but are expensive. Steaming is much cheaper and should have the potential to work better. Here's my theory. Enzymes are biological molecules that denature(break down) proteins. That's great if all that's contaminated the record is protein matter. Almost all enzymes are specific to certain amino acid groups so won't have any effect on other proteins. The heat from steam should also denature protein matter(just ask a poached egg) but has no specificity for what proteins it's breaking down. It also loosens or breaks down other biological and non-biological contaminants enzymes can't. Then there's the issue of how long an enzyme can remain active in solution(Loyd Walker's on to something here). I know these enzyme solutions must contain a multitude of different enzymes(I hope) but I haven't tried them yet and this is the logic behind why I haven't. |
Tvad,
I thought of this too after the above post but the steam doesn't have to completely cook anything. Even mild moist heat should be enough for proteins(or whatever else) to change configuration sufficiently to lose their "grip" on the surface and be rinced away. If you say enzymes in addition to steam are synergistic I believe you and may have to eventually try it. Presently though, I'm happy as is. |
I recently found a nice copy of David Bowie's Hunky Dory on very thin Dyaflex vinyl. I've not tried steaming a record this thin yet. Do I need to worry more about warping a Dynaflex? Should I avoid steaming it or forge ahead? |
Nobody had responded to my question about Dynaflex vinyl so I went ahead and tried steaming my Hunky Dory. I must admit I chickened out and only did one steam cycle instead of my usual two but warping did not seem to be a problem. I then took a real leap of steaming faith and steam cleaned a first pressing of Highway 61 Revisited with the alternate take of From a Buick 6. It came out appearing close to near mint as opposed to the VG+ I paid for. Bottom line, I'm trusting steaming to be a safe method more and more, even on valuable LPs. |
Crem,
Yes, my Highway 61 does have the charcoal of BD inside. This was a great find. Only problem, I didn't find it first. A local dealer did, and he knew what he had. I debated for several days whether I should pay him what he was asking or wait to maybe find one on my own. In the end, I paid VG+ price for what is clearly better than VG+ but not quite MN. The matrix # on side one is 1B. I'm not sure if I'll see this again. Hopefully the steaming will help it sound it's best. Happy hunting. |
Madfloyd,
I may be wrong (Stltrains correct me if I am) but I always assumed that Stltrains got a little distracted by talking, filiming and steaming at the same time. If you pay close attention and use a watch, I think he says steam for 10-15 seconds or something like that but then actually runs the steamer for over 30 sec while demonstrating. I've been under the assumption that he didn't mean to run it that long. Just hard to do two things at once. I've been doing about 15 seconds or so and it seems to work fine. |
Crem'
I'm using the VPI 16.5 with my Perfection steamer(no lead poisoning yet that I can tell) Have you heard of the new Walker Vortex wand for the 16.5? It's available at Elusive Disc and comes with two rubber O-rings around the center spindle to "suspend" the disc off the platter. This appears to be more likely to lead to warping of the disc if steam is applied while it's suspended in the middle and not the sides. Any thoughts? |
I may purchase this tweak. In addition to the concern of the o-rings predisposing to warping when used with a steamer, I also wonder if the mat under the suspended disc would collect a lot of moisture from steam. I understand the wand can be used without the o-rings which may be the most sensible if a steamer is employed. |
Never noticed that either. |
The Perfection steamer appears to still be widely available at Walgreens thoughout the Des Moines Iowa area, albeit at a cost of $29.99. I bought an extra as a backup today to have on hand. If anyone is interested in this steamer and honestly can't find one anywhere send me an email. I can arrange to ship one to you this week. Just send me $29.00 and maybe a little extra for shipping. Maybe this Shark is better, I don't know. |
Ho72,
The 5 gallon Nerl water of which you speak looks exactly like what I've been using in my perfection steamer. It works great and I do trust it's purity much more than the distilled water I was using before. I also use it to rince off and clean brushes and vacuum tubes when finished and as the mix for the Disc Doctor fluids. A 5 gallon container lasts months so I think it's worth the extra cost. I use the more expensive reagent grade water for the final vinyl rinces though. This is all working for me very well. YMMV. |
Still not afraid of the lead in the Perfection's power cord. If you hang those little Christmas lights you've got the same thing. Just don't chew on the cord and wash your hands after using(which I would hope anyone would do after handling dirty records anyway). The points almost moot now since the Perfection's discontinued anyhow.
More concerning is what happened yesterday after steaming eight LPs. The Perfection steamer was just sitting on the counter and suddenly the seal on the cap seemed to just give way and steam vented all the way to the ceiling. Is this a failure of my unit or was the steamer just relieving excess pressure? This has never happened before and now I'm just wondering if this particular unit is still safe to use. |
When I was at Walgreens a few months ago, I saw a steamer that looks to be the same thing as the Perfection. It's green instead of red and was called Living Solutions as I recall. That's probably the route I'll go when my last Perfection gives out. |
