Deep Cleaning Records With Steam?

Last night I used double distilled water, cost about Rs.200 a gallon or USD 5 or so. Along with a final rinse this has made a huge difference. Am beginning to enjoy vinyl I had acquired 25/30 years ago. Must confess that previous attempts to clean the same lps with a VPI 16.5 and the AVI one step were not successful.At last its payback time for the vast sums spent on my vinyl rig.
Tiger, Creml, Stltrains and all the others on this thread : Gentlemen thank you for taking my vinyl experience to a new level.

Sunnyboy1956 : The very best in analog to you. Thanks for joining the revolution , tell your friends: With Steam (And A Good Rinse) Vinyl Rules !

Tried this method tonight for the first time - results were EXCELLENT. Thanks to all who have posted information and advice. Opens up the sound and I hear more than ever before. As others have noted, it does expose the flaws or damage in an LP like never before. All the more reason to treat your LPs well.

FYI, I picked up the Perfection brand hand steamer (recommended here) at Walgreen's yesterday. It was on sale for $19.99 here in Chicago. Not sure how long the sale is on.

Jon

I also got a perfection steamer for 19.99 yesterday in Des Moines but have yet to try it. I have a question for anyone willing to answer concerning water to use in the steamer. Why is it necessary to use anything more pure than distilled water in the steamer? I understand the potential advantage of rincing with ultra pure water. However, when water is boiled what comes off should be pure water vapor. I would think any minute amount of impurity in distilled water would be left behind in the tank. Isn't steam made up of individual water molecules that have gained enough energy to escape surface tension? These moecules condence together to make the "white" steam we can see. Water vapor itself is not visible.
Thanks to everyone who's contributed to this eye opening thread. Nice video Slttrains.

Hi Sonofjim,

Here is my opinion on this. I'm not a water expert but I was a licensed water plant operator in Florida for a decade and a half, so I know enough to be dangerous on the subject. Steam will be purer, but there are some compounds that will still present. Some are ionic compounds and will not be removed by boiling. If this was not true we could all make our own pure water at home. Too bad, because it would save us all a lot of money.

However, I do agree with you that the distilled water does work fine for steaming LPs. I think the biggest reason to use as pure of a water source as you can find is to keep the steamer clean and working properly. If you have ever replaced a heating element in an electric water heater you probably have seen how much stuff gets built up over time on the element from compounds in the water. Usually this stuff is calcium and/or magnesium compounds. Anyway, you don't want this stuff in your steamer if you can easily avoid it.

I think that if you follow a process like Stltrains demonstrated, or if you just immediately follow the steam with a cleaning solution like I do, you will keep the bad stuff from the LP and the water in suspension long enough to be able to get it off the record. IME, the best way to get this all off is to vacuum it up.