Question about Ultrasonic RCM

[miketuason]

In general, when using Ultrasonic cleaner, is it better to have the water warm or it doesn’t matter? Thanks in advance.

[cleeds]

I use room temp water in a Klaudio US cleaner and it works great.

[nicoff]

Originally Posted by miketuason

In general, when using Ultrasonic cleaner, is it better to have the water warm or it doesn’t matter? Thanks in advance.

You don't need hot water. You fill the reservoir and use the same water over and over. The water in the reservoir remains at room temperature.

[doggiehowser]

Originally Posted by nicoff

You don't need hot water. You fill the reservoir and use the same water over and over. The water in the reservoir remains at room temperature.

Wasnt there one model without a reservoir?


https://klaudio.com/kd-cln-lp200s-lp...external-water

[nicoff]

Originally Posted by doggiehowser

Wasnt there one model without a reservoir?


https://klaudio.com/kd-cln-lp200s-lp...external-water

I got the model with the internal reservoir. I bet that they both use the same cleaning mechanism. So if the more expensive model (with internal reservoir) keeps water at room temperature, then that means that room temperature is ok for external model as well.

[doggiehowser]

I agree but he may not have been aware of the other variant if he has non reservoir version

[briweed]

The water in the Klaudio will actually start to heat up after several records (cycle of 5 min of wash). I have noticed after 6-10 records in a row the water will not be hot, but will be well above room temp.

B

[SteveJ]

Warmer water is a better solvent than cooler water.

[miketuason]

Thank you guys for responding. I guess the reason I ask because I made my own US RCM and it does has the temperature settings. I do however use distilled water.

[tima]

Originally Posted by miketuason

Thank you guys for responding. I guess the reason I ask because I made my own US RCM and it does has the temperature settings. I do however use distilled water.

Since you have a DIY effort and not a store bought desktop RCM which typically do not have heaters, the answer is: Yes, heat the water in your tank.

The effectivness of most cleaning solutions is increased with higher temperature. Also, as the temperature goes up, the scrubbing action of the vacuum bubbles is more evenly distributed across the record surface.

Almost all industrial USC machies use heated water for those reasons. The general guideline for USC is to apply heat at 65% of the boiling point of the solution. While most solution is not water only, I'll use water as an example. It has a boiling point of 100° C so that would leave us at 65° C or 149° F.

As vinyl record cleaners we are constrained somewhat by what we're cleaning. There is a lot of discussion about optimal solution temperature for vinyl. I believe that 65° C is too high for vinyl. I recommend staying under 100° F, say around 95° F or about 35° C. (I'm guessing your chinese tank is calibrated in centrigrade.)

As noted, sonic energy (cavitation) poured into a tank will raise the temperature of the solution over time. This correlates to the length of the cleaning cycle. Over a 10-20 minute cycle I observe solution temp increasing by may 5-degrees.

My suggestion is to experiment and see what works for you. Also recommended is to get a TDS meter which let's you measure total disolved solids in your tank solution and temperature.

What solution are you using? I'm using ~1.3 cups of IPA (isopropyl alcohol) + .9 tablespoons of Ilfotol in 12.75 liters of distilled water.

I also have a DIY setup and published several articles on the subject. Take a look at this thread diy rcm here at AA which has links to the articles.