Mini-Review - The Record Pro Vinyl Record Washer Kit

[Tom L.]

The Record Pro Vinyl Record Washer System
Or…. Rub-A-Dub-Dub Spin a Record in a Tub!

What: Record Pro Vinyl Record Deep-Clean Washer Kit

Why: Clean Those Grubby Vinyl’s

Bought where: Amazon - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07HMCLCDJ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

How Much: $59.95


The Story
When I purchased my new turntable a few months ago I also purchased an inexpensive record cleaning system at the same time.

I have a very modest collection of 166 LP’s all of which are no newer than 1984 and most were purchased in the 70’s…. and a few even date back to the 60’s. While I had what I considered a substantial collection as a teen, there was a slight case of arson at the house that myself and four other fellas were renting while at school in Louisville KY (1970). At least 200+ of my precious records were reduced to little blobs of smoldering vinyl along with my humble Philco playback equipment. The handful that were saved were hiding out at my girlfriend’s house. The collection began again when I got out of school and started “real work” and building through the 70’s and 80’s re-making my small collection into what it is today.

My first, and only, cleaning method used during those 70’s and 80’s (and since) has been the ubiquitous DiscWasher brush and their “Special” proprietary cleaning liquid (Distilled/Ionized water?) that I had purchased in the seventies. Even before that, as that aforementioned wayward teen, I just used a damp cloth and dishwashing soap and probably doing more harm than good.

When I decided to purchase that new turntable last December (2019) I also decided that the entire collection needed to be deep cleaned.

Not wanting to invest in a record cleaning system that cost multiple times the new turntable itself I perused my choices on Amazon and settled on the something that received high marks in reviews, looked fairly innocuous, and contained everything needed to “Deep Clean” (I hoped!) my long neglected records.

There were several different vendors selling, what looked to be, basically the same product, rebranded, right down to the drying cloth and rack. I just chose one that wasn’t the most or least expensive based on the reviews and went with the “Record Pro Vinyl Record Deep-Clean Washer System”.

Set up of the “System” is easy…

​

1. Just pull the stuff from the box
2. Disconnect the, hidden in the base, drying rack from the holding tank (very clever that!)
3. Spread out some paper towels or some additional CLEAN micro-fiber towels
4. Fill the reservoir to the fill-line with distilled water
5. Insert the twin brushes in place
6. Insert the rollers in the correct position for the size of record being cleaned (45, 78, LP)
7. Pour two capfuls of the supplied cleaning fluid over the installed cleaning brushes
8. After waiting thirty seconds to ensure the cleaning liquid has spread evenly through the brushes you are ready to go!

Operation was Simple Enough:

1. Place the record vertically in the bath pushing it between the brushes until it is resting against the rollers on each side of the tub
2. Slowly rotate the record USING BOTH HANDS three times in one direction and then rotate three times in the opposite direction
3. Grasping the record on the top edge with the small micro-fiber “Handling Cloth” slowly and steadily pull the record up and out of the bath
4. Lay the record on some paper towels or a clean micro-fiber towel placed on a flat and solid surface
5. Holding the record carefully in place wipe around the surface of the record in a circular motion with the supplied drying cloth
6. Flip the record over onto another dry paper towel (or micro-fiber cloth) and repeat the drying procedure
7. Handling the record by the edges move to the supplied Drying Rack and allow the record to air dry for at least forty-five minutes or until completely dry
8. REPEAT nine more times :-)
9. Once the records are dry, re-sleeve and place back into your vinyl collection all spic-and-span and ready to play!

​

Since the drying rack holds ten records and several of my LP’s are double albums it took, maybe, nineteen sessions to wash all of them spread out over five days or so.

When finished with your batches for the day just pop the lid back on the reservoir and hang your towels to dry!

​

Caveats!
There are some things that you would need to be mindful of and use care when using this system.

1. The tank is rather narrow by design and the brushes clamp tightly to the record. If not careful it is easy to tip and slosh the water from the reservoir or even (gasp!) dump it over entirely. While that did not happen to me there were several close calls!
2. The brushes did not really “Lock” into place as advertised and the brush on one side rose up with the record as it was removed. The solution for me was to use one hand to hold the offending brush (and the tank at the same time) down while pulling directly up with the other hand.
3. If cleaning more than thirty records I would pull the brushes and clean them before continuing on.
4. The labels on the records are said to be protected from getting wet. While that is somewhat true, water does drip over the label during the rotation and cleaning of the record. Simply blot the water from the label using the drying cloth and there should be no issue.
5. I didn’t really change the water bath and probably should have. If cleaning more than sixty records (or, just pick a number) I would dump and clean the reservoir, replacing the distilled water before continuing. Whatever was washed off seemed to settle between sessions, so I did not notice just how effective the washing was until I dumped the water from the reservoir at the end to find a lot of “Gunk” that had been released from the records settled at the bottom of the reservoir.
6. Keep in mind those extremely dirty records may require more than one cleaning

Summary

This is a good system, albeit a manual system, for deep cleaning records. If you have the time and energy and don’t want to, or can’t, spend $1200 to $12,000 on one of those uber “fancy-schmancy” record cleaning systems this should be a good alternative.

I’m not going to tell you this system does just as good a job as those high-dollar machines… I can’t. And, in many cases it may not!

But what it will do is a credible job, occupy a much smaller footprint, and NOT BREAK THE BANK! You will just have to invest a little sweat equity into the operation to realize the return.

While I note that this particular system is no longer available on Amazon there are still several kits available that are obviously, and quite literally, cut from same mold.

Once you have deep cleaned your vinyl collection go ahead and break out that forty-five-year-old DiscWasher Brush and ZeroStat gun! A couple of swipes, and a couple of ZAPS!!, before each play and you will be good to go!

​

 

[Travis Ballstadt]

Thanks for this review. The device seems an identical design to my SpinClean, at a lower price and with an included drying rack. I will say that the SpinClean has no issues with the brushes coming out with the records, but I don't know if that's a $40 solution.

I've been happy with the SpinClean, but I have a large collection so have still been looking at motorized options. Haven't settled on anything yet.

 

[Grayson Dere]

Great write-up! My Spin Clean actually has an annoying issue where the side rollers seem to lift out from the record turning friction.

 

[Tom L.]

Thanks for this review. The device seems an identical design to my SpinClean, at a lower price and with an included drying rack. I will say that the SpinClean has no issues with the brushes coming out with the records, but I don't know if that's a $40 solution.

I've been happy with the SpinClean, but I have a large collection so have still been looking at motorized options. Haven't settled on anything yet.

Thanks! The SpinClean was the first system I looked at and considered. From there I started looking at the less expensive clones .The motorized versions were just too much to justify for my small collection and modest turntable.

T

 

[Tom L.]

Great write-up! My Spin Clean actually has an annoying issue where the side rollers seem to lift out from the record turning friction.

Thanks Grayson! The siderollers on this unit don’t exhibit that problem. They are simple hard plastic beveled rollers that don’t really grab the record at all. The annoying deal is the brush rising with the record when it is removed.

T

 

[Grayson Dere]

Thanks Grayson! The siderollers on this unit don’t exhibit that problem. They are simple hard plastic beveled rollers that don’t really grab the record at all. The annoying deal is the brush rising with the record when it is removed.

T

That's interesting. The brushes in my Spin Clean are so tight I actually have to wiggle them back and forth in their grooves to insert them : ) If our cleaners combined each other's design it would be perfect!

 

[Grayson Dere]

While we're on the topic of record cleaning, I understand that many vinyl-philes do a round of wet cleaning if the record is brand new to clean off
factory oils/gunk. What is your opinion? The previous few records I purchased new was run through the Spin Clean and they sounded so noisy with clicks and pops that I'm actually inclined to not wet clean new records anymore and just use the normal anti-static record brush before playing as usual. I reserve the Spin Clean for second hand records mainly. It's completely possible those noisy records actually were poorly pressed, too, but I won't re-purchase them just to find out : )

 

[Travis Ballstadt]

I always run new records through, and the water is generally dirtiest after new records than used. Even just the debris and static from the factory sleeve and packing process is worth the wet run in my opinion.

While we're on the topic of record cleaning, I understand that many vinyl-philes do a round of wet cleaning if the record is brand new to clean off
factory oils/gunk. What is your opinion? The previous few records I purchased new was run through the Spin Clean and they sounded so noisy with clicks and pops that I'm actually inclined to not wet clean new records anymore and just use the normal anti-static record brush before playing as usual. I reserve the Spin Clean for second hand records mainly. It's completely possible those noisy records actually were poorly pressed, too, but I won't re-purchase them just to find out : )

 

[Grayson Dere]

I always run new records through, and the water is generally dirtiest after new records than used. Even just the debris and static from the factory sleeve and packing process is worth the wet run in my opinion.

Thank you for your thoughts, Thrillcat. Sounds like I should be cleaning new records then! : D

 

[tesseract]

Cool, love the drying rack inclusion. I bought a small dish drainer rack for my Spin Clean and it takes up tool much room and doesn't even hold the records that well.

 

[Tom L.]

While we're on the topic of record cleaning, I understand that many vinyl-philes do a round of wet cleaning if the record is brand new to clean off
factory oils/gunk. What is your opinion? The previous few records I purchased new was run through the Spin Clean and they sounded so noisy with clicks and pops that I'm actually inclined to not wet clean new records anymore and just use the normal anti-static record brush before playing as usual. I reserve the Spin Clean for second hand records mainly. It's completely possible those noisy records actually were poorly pressed, too, but I won't re-purchase them just to find out : )

Grayson,

I couldn't truthfully say one way or another! I haven't purchased a new LP since the eighties! I do a quick wipe with my DiscWasher prior to playing any record still using, what is supposed to be a liquid anti-static application. I may look into a ZeroStat Gun. They are pretty pricy (from $87 to $275!! for the SAME ZeroStat 3 on Amazon!). But with the amount of vinyl I play it may not be worth the effort.

Which anti-static brush are you using?

 

[Tom L.]

Cool, love the drying rack inclusion. I bought a small dish drainer rack for my Spin Clean and it takes up tool much room and doesn't even hold the records that well.

Cool, love the drying rack inclusion. I bought a small dish drainer rack for my Spin Clean and it takes up tool much room and doesn't even hold the records that well.

The fact that the drying rack stores in the base of the cleaning tub is a definite plus!!

 

[Travis Ballstadt]

The Milty Zerostat is $56 shipped here. It’s voodoo, and I don’t understand it, but it absolutely works.

Grayson,

I couldn't truthfully say one way or another! I haven't purchased a new LP since the eighties! I do a quick wipe with my DiscWasher prior to playing any record still using, what is supposed to be a liquid anti-static application. I may look into a ZeroStat Gun. They are pretty pricy (from $87 to $275!! for the SAME ZeroStat 3 on Amazon!). But with the amount of vinyl I play it may not be worth the effort.

Which anti-static brush are you using?

 

[Grayson Dere]

Grayson,

I couldn't truthfully say one way or another! I haven't purchased a new LP since the eighties! I do a quick wipe with my DiscWasher prior to playing any record still using, what is supposed to be a liquid anti-static application. I may look into a ZeroStat Gun. They are pretty pricy (from $87 to $275!! for the SAME ZeroStat 3 on Amazon!). But with the amount of vinyl I play it may not be worth the effort.

Which anti-static brush are you using?

I'm using the one by Mapleshade Records...their Static Draining Brush.

https://shop.mapleshadestore.com/Mapleshade-Static-Draining-Brush_p_1180.html

It's really good since it actually plugs into the ground of your AC outlet to de-static the record's surface.

 

[Travis Ballstadt]

The Milty Zerostat is $56 shipped here. It’s voodoo, and I don’t understand it, but it absolutely works.

I forgot to add the link.

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