Discwasher record cleaning fluid

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Does anyone know what the liquid that comes in the Discwasher record cleaning kit is? I'm running low on it, and I want to get more. I figure it's probably some kind of alcohol, but I'm not sure. There must be a cheap alternative to buying this Discwasher stuff. Thanks!

― Davlo (Davlo), Friday, 14 November 2003 14:24 (twenty-two years ago)

You can wash CD's with soap. Really, you can.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Friday, 14 November 2003 14:25 (twenty-two years ago)

Not entirely sure about the percentages, but it contains doubly or triply distilled water, industrial grade ethanol and soap. Commercial soaps contain many polutants that can crystalize while drying your records. You should be able to google the exact contents and their proportions.

― willem (willem), Friday, 14 November 2003 14:33 (twenty-two years ago)

erm...I was assuming you meant vinyl discs... For cd's I guess you can follow Tuomas' guideline just fine! :-)

― willem (willem), Friday, 14 November 2003 14:35 (twenty-two years ago)

when i run out i just fill the bottle with water. shhhhhh. it's our little secret.

― scott seward, Friday, 14 November 2003 14:42 (twenty-two years ago)

Buy your juice from Radio Shack -- it's hella cheap!

― christoff (christoff), Friday, 14 November 2003 14:56 (twenty-two years ago)

Yes, I'm referring to vinyl. I'll try googling for the contents and proportions - thanks.

― Davlo (Davlo), Friday, 14 November 2003 14:57 (twenty-two years ago)

A friend of mine had some disc-cleaning thing where it said right on the packaging that "regular tapwater will probably work just as well as the [fluid that came with the kit]"(expletitives removed)
O rsomething along those lines.
Now that's fine, honest marketing.

― Øystein H-O (Øystein H-O), Friday, 14 November 2003 14:59 (twenty-two years ago)

Use filtered, distilled or deionized water. Or dunk your records in the bathtub if they're really dirty.

Discwasher probably uses some kind of glycerine too - to break surface tension .. but why bother?

― dave225 (Dave225), Friday, 14 November 2003 15:07 (twenty-two years ago)

I recently made a solution of roughly 25% rubbing alcohol and 75% distilled water to clean records with. It works fine. There's a web page that lists various DIY record cleaning solutions. Just search Google for "record cleaning solution".

― o. nate (onate), Friday, 14 November 2003 15:09 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm with o.nate - distilled water & ethyl alcohol works fine for most records (& easy to DIY). a touch of soap helps for oily residue- but thats usually not an issue unless you have dirty hands and put them all over your records a lot.

ps- regardless of who tells you to use tapwater - i'd stick w/ distilled, the minerals/rust/crap from your water pipes are not good for your records.

― pete from the street, Friday, 14 November 2003 15:20 (twenty-two years ago)

And distilled water is dirt cheap - you can get a gallon of it for a buck at your local grocery store.

― o. nate (onate), Friday, 14 November 2003 15:50 (twenty-two years ago)

The Discwasher system is worthless anyway. Go for the Orbitrac, if they started making it again.

― Mark (MarkR), Friday, 14 November 2003 17:11 (twenty-two years ago)

i just use beer

― JaXoN (JasonD), Friday, 14 November 2003 17:11 (twenty-two years ago)

Does anyone know what the liquid that comes in the Discwasher record cleaning kit is?

Are you familiar with the term: "jizm"?

Sorry. The question reminded me of the infamous "What's a good shampoo to use?" query on National Lampoon's That's Not Funny, That's Sick!

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 14 November 2003 17:22 (twenty-two years ago)

Choose: "...and can we eat it?" or "It's this thing"

― Hunter (Hunter), Friday, 14 November 2003 18:01 (twenty-two years ago)

Is petrol being good for cleaning CDs an urban myth?

― cis (cis), Friday, 14 November 2003 18:27 (twenty-two years ago)

Last time I looked, local DJ shops still stocked the big bottles of D4 solution. Now a cursory poke around the internet shows some retailers (needledoctor, for example) selling D4+ solution in smaller black bottles. I do remember hearing the original Discwasher company was bought out years ago. The Discwasher brush is great but my advise is not to use the solution unless the record is really dirty. And I wouldn't put anything containing alcohol on my records (or use any of the other fancy liquids sold either).

― Sean (Sean), Friday, 14 November 2003 18:29 (twenty-two years ago)

i made my own and it works great, but i would be careful with how much soap you use. soap can be abrasive; i only used a few drops, and i used dr. bronner's hippie soap.

― j fail (cenotaph), Friday, 14 November 2003 18:47 (twenty-two years ago)

aw do your records smell of lavender and hemp?

― geeta (geeta), Friday, 14 November 2003 18:48 (twenty-two years ago)

For vinyl at least, my local vinyl store, Jive Time records, homemakes this stuff that actually works really great on cleaning out dust and stuff off vinyl. Just spray on old t-shirt, rub vinyl around, voila. Far less pops.

― donut bitch (donut), Friday, 14 November 2003 18:51 (twenty-two years ago)

i have been known to use a swiffer. that's just between you and me.

― scott seward, Friday, 14 November 2003 19:03 (twenty-two years ago)

Hmm, doesn't seem like there's a real consensus here. We have various fluids, ranging from tap water to Alex's jizm.

One issue that seems to be a point of departure is the alcohol vs. no alcohol one. What are the arguments against using alcohol on the record?

I like to drink alcohol while cleaning and listening to my records, but I think we all probably agree there.

― Davlo (Davlo), Friday, 14 November 2003 19:14 (twenty-two years ago)

I guess theoretically the alcohol might break down the vinyl surface. I would guess that's the argument against it.

― o. nate (onate), Friday, 14 November 2003 19:33 (twenty-two years ago)

I think diluted alcohol is fine UNLESS you have shellac 78s. Alcohol causes those to disintegrate very quickly. But I don't think it hurts vinyl.

Sean I know you know your vinyl, but you really think that Discwasher brush works? You need some pressure to get into the grooves for the dust.

― Mark (MarkR), Friday, 14 November 2003 19:40 (twenty-two years ago)

Our public library used to use Windex and a paper towel to clean the records. And they did not follow Nanook's advice of "now in a circular motion .. rub it." No, just scrub back & forth .. Well, they *looked* clean.

I have the Discwasher and a LAST record cleaner kit (I bought when I was an 18 year old sucker) .. I grab whichever one my hand is near .. but the LAST brush is more rigid and probably gets into the groove, baby, a little bit better.

But they both just look like soft velvet on a stick.

― dave225 (Dave225), Friday, 14 November 2003 19:46 (twenty-two years ago)

on vinyl with particularly bad surface noise i have no qualms using rubbing alcohol, followed by using a record cleaning brush. works a treat.

― the surface noise (electricsound), Friday, 14 November 2003 23:42 (twenty-two years ago)

apparently, when CD issues have to be done from a vinyl original, just due to bad managing of source tapes or what not (definitely more an issue with old recordings, from the 50s or before), they squirt solution on the record as it's being recording digitally... a guy very steadily sprays a small stream of solution ahead of the needles to keep it clean. It's this nerve-wracking one-time process that apparently guarantees that you can as clean a reproduction of the vinyl playback as possible. (Then from there, various expensive noise reduction filters are applied..)

― donut bitch (donut), Friday, 14 November 2003 23:56 (twenty-two years ago)

I also have a Discwasher brush and some LAST cleaner! Those LAST brushes get all gunky pretty fast, and have to be discarded, so I usually (if needed) use a few drops of the cleaner with the Discwasher brush. I'll never buy more of the fluid, though, since the DIY route is obviously the way to go. (Though I do like using Discwasher brush without the fluid, just to get the surface dust off.)

― Sam J. (samjeff), Saturday, 15 November 2003 00:10 (twenty-two years ago)

...and what about those other LAST products, like the "Power Cleaner" and the "Record Preservative", that are even more ridiculously expensive than the regular old cleaner? Are they be serious with that stuff? Could it possibly be worth even half the cost?

― Sam J. (samjeff), Saturday, 15 November 2003 00:16 (twenty-two years ago)

"Are they be" - jeez. (When will I learn to read my frickin' posts carefully after revising them on the fly?)

― Sam J. (samjeff), Saturday, 15 November 2003 00:20 (twenty-two years ago)

I toss them in the creek and then drive my pick-up with a Colt 45 'Tween my legs to the bridge and fish them out with a net. HELL YEAH!

― Speedy Gonzalas (Speedy Gonzalas), Saturday, 15 November 2003 08:57 (twenty-two years ago)

Don't buy those LAST products. I've been collecting records all my life and have never needed all this stuff... how filthy can your records be anyway? I mean, spend the extra few dollars and get the nicer copy of Tales from Topographic Oceans for crissakes...

― Sean (Sean), Saturday, 15 November 2003 09:15 (twenty-two years ago)

how filthy can your records be anyway?

you would be very surprised. even new ones are far from pristine.

― the surface noise (electricsound), Saturday, 15 November 2003 13:19 (twenty-two years ago)

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Discwasher record cleaning fluid - what is it?