Moldy records....

[johnb300m]

Gonna try washing moldy records.
Suggested by old man engineers at work.
Nothing to lose! Right? Lol

Light Wash. 125F. Air Dry.
Cascade Complete gel.

I'm skeptical. Mold is hard to remove unless it's mechanically agitated.....but it'll at least kill it.
I'm also worried about the labels. But if they're not scrubbed, maybe they'll stay in tact till drying.....

 

[brucelucenta]

Try it with some bleach added. Just don't let it get too hot! A quick bleach wash and you should pull them out and dry them off.

 

[lordkenmore]

A dishwasher seems more likely to harm than anything. Certainly, I've never heard of anyone using a dishwasher...and I've heard some rather "creative" solutions. But since it appears you've probably already started the process--or so I gather from the photo--I hope I'm proven wrong...in this case, at least.

 

[brucelucenta]

Where are the 45's for the top rack? LOL

 

[johnb300m]

Hahah. Yup. They're washing now.
So far so good. No sagging.

The old engineers at work were saying that they were trash anyway so, this was a Hail Mary pass and there's nothing to lose. It might be a longshot saving some of them.
They would never ever ever, ever, EVER recommend this for good records LOL.

30min to go.

 

[lordkenmore]

I can't cite product names, but I believe there are record cleaning solutions that can apparently deal with mold. Ones with enzymes seem to get mentioned. Problem is, of course, those solutions aren't cheap.

 

Let us know what happens with your attempt at using the dishwasher! I have to admit it's not something I'd try--but I am curious what will happen.

 

 

 

[johnb300m]

Wow!

It worked! ...... kinda.......

I must say, i'm impressed in a few areas.

1. The labels are 99% perfectly fine. A few had some minor bubbling that I was able to dab out while towel drying.
2. Much of the light mold, and moderate grit/dust are gone!

The heavier mold is still there on the records and on some labels, but it is a bit diminished.
They're clean enough to now do a deeper, delicate hand clean.

Many of the thinner, cheaper records ARE warped now, with a slight taco shape. But I think I can get that out with some minor re-heating.

But....many of the thicker, nicer records are perfectly fine, and many look almost brand new enough to put on the player!
They're drying now in the rack that I moved to the living room, so the labels can air dry more.

All in all......NOT a shit show. Pretty cool!

 

[frigilux]

I wasn't concerned so much about the vinyl, but I'm surprised the labels emerged as well as they did. Interesting experiment. An AW first as far as I know.

Next challenge: Simply for the sake of comparison, someone with 1950's KitchenAid hurricane-in-a-box should try this.

 

[lordkenmore]

I'm frankly surprised the labels did so well. That's one issue that gets mentioned in LP playing audiophile circles when the topic of record cleaning comes up--water can cause problems for labels.

 

There is one cleaning system that actually sprays LPs with water, and that system includes a built in label protector. Link to the system. Price might appall non-audiophile types (but is actually far from the most expensive system out there!).

 

http://hifigem.com/hydraulic-lp-cleaning-apparatusMKII.html

 

 

[turquoisedude]

Hubby must never see this thread... I have visions of the blending of my Ray Conniff records and the 56 GE dishwasher not ending well....

 

[mralex]

First I thought "That's crazy" 

 

and when I was the picture of them after the DW they look almost brand new!

 

[dartman]

You can get very expensive record cleaning machines that are basically a wet dry shop vac built into a box with a turntable type platter on top with a protected slot to vacuum off the dust and wet cleaning solution. There are interesting cheaper versions that may or may not work that well too. Back when records and tapes were all we had I had a hand held diskwasher felt brush thing with cleaning solution and it worked pretty well on well kept records that were mostly dusty and had minor finger prints.
They still sell them today and kept improving the brush and cleaner and I have several. I was also given one of the record vacuums I have never used when lil sisters hubby upgraded his. He's one of the crazy audiophile types that spends thousands on cables and thinks vinyl is as good as audio ever got.
I still have lots of records I bought when cd's first came out at garage sales dirt cheap because music is music no matter what format it's in and I got lots of old cool music because of it. A really good turntable and cartridge will get the best audio out of your records but you can find great older turntables cheap that won't cost you thousands if you want to play or get back into records again. I bought a high quality Harmon Kardon table on eBay and later found a classic very expensive B&O linear tracking table and matching receiver for 50 bucks at a garage sale.