The Article
TERGIKLEEN: A CHEAPER BOTTLE?
4th December 2023
Buying Tergikleen for vinyl cleaning has always been a costly endeavour. Now? There might be a cheaper alternative
Some of you will know that I have spent a long time testing a variety of vinyl cleaning products out there. Cleaning machines, brushes, liquids, varying techniques and the like. I’ve been lucky – being ‘in the business’ as it where – to have had ready access to a whole host of materials and technologies to test over the years.
You can find a host of reviews relating to the same on this site and you can also access my Vinyl Cleaning guides relating (so far) to manual cleaning and RCMs (with ultrasonics to come, of course).
Within those guides I talk about Surfactants. This class of product is absolutely essential in cleaning vinyl. Without it, any cleaning tech you care to mention reduces is cleaning efficiency by what, 30%? More, perhaps?
I have tested a host of surfactants but my own personal favourite has been and remains Tergitol and its commercially badged variant, Tergikleen. This liquid arrives in a small bottle which you need to dilute. I bought mine via eBay, from the USA, for a pretty penny.
Looking at the same spot on eBay, I can see it for sale here (and don’t forget that I’m based in the UK so that’s my economical perspective) priced at £34.20 with a P&P figure of £17.95. Hence, I would have to pay £52.15 for a bottle of Tergikleen. And to be honest? Even though that is a lot of money, that small bottle lasts for ever (well, it feels that way) so it offers good value even at over 50 smackers.
Well I have found a cheaper method of grabbing this very bottle from that very company – and I want to thank website reader Roy Dick for giving me a nudge to talk about this because I saw the info, then promptly forgot to tell everyone because I was diverted into something else. So I’m doing this news item now in case I forget all over again.
If you run over to https://tergikleen.net/ you will find that same bottle of Tergikleen for £36.18 (if you don’t go for the suggested insurance) and that includes postage.
Why is that so? I have no idea although my guess is that they are paying eBay charges and so they’re passing that outlet’s charges to you via the end-user price. Of course, there are no similar charges to be had via their own website.
Anyway, if you fancy grabbing a bottle of Tergikleen and I recommend it highly (and I have no connection with the company, I hasten to add, I just like the stuff and how it performs) then now is your chance. Might be an idea to grab a bottle now, actually. Just in case this new outlet comes a cropper and falls by the wayside!
I must add that I have not personally tried this shop/outlet/system yet. So I cannot personally vouch for it so please bear that in mind before pulling the trigger. In fact if you decide to grab a bottle, please leave a message below and tell me and everyone else how you got on.
Hi Paul,
Just discovered that if you start but don’t complete the checkout process they’ll send you an email the next day with an offer code for an additional 10% off!
I have recently been informed by TERGIKLEEN that they are now prohibited from shipping to France and Germany. At the same time I have discovered that AMAZON France sells TERGIKLEEN (30 ml for €171[£147], the same price as AMAZON Netherlands – EU piracy!!!
A word of warning about TERGIKLEEN shipping. They are locked into using the UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE (USPS) who believe that the shortest route to Europe is across the Pacific Ocean and waste time by shipping first to Los Angeles and then shipping back to New York when they correct their error. Someone should teach them about World geography.
There has been a bizarre twist in the TERGIKLEEN shipping saga. [edited] Said postmaster persists in obstructing shipping outside the USA by shipping first to Los Angeles and then back to New York (FIVE DAYS DELAY).
In a further twist to the bizarre saga of TERGIKLEEN shipping to customers outside the USA I learnt yesterday fro the company that the postal procedures from [edit] are contractually entrenched [edit] and unalterable.
Hi Roy – I don’t mind you updating users on consumer news but please drop the politics. This website is aimed at HiFi and music only.
Hi,
They charge €58 (…) shipment to The Netherlands.
I’m afraid no affordable Tergikleen for Europe.
Best regards,
Frank
Hi Frank,
DirectNIne BE are offering TERGIKLEEN at €74.40. Amazon (Franceand Netherlands) was charging €175 !!!
Best regards,
Roy
I just bought a bottle for shipment to the UK – cost me just short of $50 which equates to £39.30 at current exchange rate including postage. At the checkout, there were two rates – one very fast priority service and a cheaper one that suggested 4 weeks delivery. I chose the cheaper one and it arrived within the week.
Thanks for the update, Lesley.
Thanks Paul for the Tergikleen stamp of approval. I remember reading that it was the preferred surfactant for the US national archives which in my humble opinion spoke volumes.
Also huge thanks to Lesley in the comments for pointing out there were two postal options. When I tried to pay via the PayPal checkout, it only gave one option for postage which cost nearly £50 alone! When I tried the direct checkout, the two postage options appeared and then once selected, I could then choose the PayPal option and in total it came to £38.41 (at the current exchange rate).
Advice sought!
I currently use a basic SpinCare machine which suggests directly adding the diluted surfactant to the basin of the device & then washing the vinyl.
I wondered if it’d make more sense to spray the diluted surfactant onto the vinyl, rub it in with a goats hair brush & then use the SpinCare with a bath of distilled water alone to clean the vinyl of surfactant. Then do a final distilled water spray, wipe with a microfibre cloth & leave to dry on the rack.
I don’t know if the two approaches are really interchangeable & the final difference negligible?
Also I have a Zerostat gun – is it better to use before I clean the vinyl or afterwards?
Any thoughts from anyone would be appreciated!
Apologies, I should have read your guides before asking my questions!
No worries – if you still have questions after reading the guides, give me a shout. And tackle static after the vinyl clean.