How Heat Damages your Vinyl Records & How to Protect from Heat Damage
We all know vinyl records are making a generous comeback. Young and the old often love to create their own albums using a vinyl. But are we maintaining them, right? Well, if your answer is no, then the top reason your vinyl could get affected is due to heat.
This blog addresses the common factors causing heat damage to vinyl records and the major parts of the record that could get spoilt. Read till the end to know how you can prevent your favourite collection from heat damage and steps to take the necessary measures.
Factors Causing Heat Damage to Vinyl Records
Heat damages can cause disruption in the quality of sound and some physical changes to the body of the vinyl. If you have always wondered the reason behind the screeching sound while playing your favourite music, then it would probably be due to a warped vinyl record.
Let us check out the most common reasons of heat damage that can cause the records to warp:
Temperature fluctuations
If you stay at a place where there are fluctuations in the weather, then it could be the sole reason for heat damage. This could mainly happen during summers due to high heat or even during extreme weather conditions.
UV Exposure
Planning on taking your vinyl record on your next summer trip to beach? Well, it may not be a great thing to do. Continued UV exposure can cause vinyl records to warp. Make sure you do not store them where there is a possibility of direct sunlight falling on the records.
Humidity
Besides direct sunlight, sometimes humidity also plays a huge role. There are cases that have seen warping of records due to high humidity. Ensure to store the records in a less humid space like under a muslin cloth or cotton wrapping cloth.
Electronic Heat
Temperature and weather conditions may not always be the sole reason for heat damage. There are times where vinyl can get spoilt due to negligence too. For example: if your leave your records playing next to a hot electric coil or even a heated iron box then you might encounter melting of record sleeves or record jacket for that matter. Be aware of the high heat sources like induction stove when it is hot or the hot cooking plate.
Keep away from all the electrical appliances when you play the record and do not keep them next to the electric sources as well. Never take the vinyl to the kitchen area or electric heater or even places where there is high heat.
Extreme Room Conditions
Sometimes your records could get damaged due to most unheard reasons or unexpected conditions. For instance, you are living in a most cold country and temperatures are always low and never allowing sun a chance to shine brighter. During these situations you often use heater inside your bedroom. Suppose you store your records next to the high heat inducing room heater, then there are high chances your records could get burnt.
How Heat Affects Your Vinyl Records
Once we know the top factors causing heat to vinyl records, the next thing is to understand what happens when records to exposed to high temperatures. Due to the extreme warmth the records may be subjected to following conditions:
Heat Induced Warping
This is the top most issue caused due to heat damage. Custom vinyl records are usually made of PVC materials and they have high chances of getting warped when subjected to high heat. This will make the records to melt or even get cramped up.
Unusual Sound Problems
Due to heat, there might be some sound related issues such as screeching sound or bad noise in the middle of sound tracks. Sometimes, there can be reduction is sound intensity or quality of your music which indicates the high time for you to replace the records. If there are some minor screeching sounds, then it can be repaired which are most commonly occurring problems. But, if you find the quality of music is reduced, then you ought to replace the records.
Heat Damage to the Sleeve, Jacket & Cover Artwork
Besides the sound quality and the warping of the records, excess warmth can also harm the sleeves, jacket, and the beautiful artwork. If your artwork is not heat resistant or cheap jackets are used, then these may go off the radar. Make sure to invest a good amount in them.
How to Protect your vinyl collection from heat damage
Following are the best ways to protect custom vinyl records from heat damage:
- Do not store records in a humid place
- Do not keep them next to heated appliances
- Do not keep them under the sun or at places with direct sun exposures
- Do not store them at places or rooms having high temperatures
- Keep them away from any kind of heat source form kitchen
- Invest in a good heat resistant record jacket or record sleeve
- Cover the record with a cotton cloth always
Wrapping Up
Protecting these records from all the heat that can cause huge damage to the vinyl can sound like a bit tough and a great hassle. Fret not, we at Impress Vinyl have the right tools and materials to make it heat proof and we take utmost care to give you the highest quality records. Whether it is the heat proof jackets or the premium quality art work that goes on the records having the least probability to melt, we take pride in our collections.
What are you waiting for? Invest from Impress Vinyl today.
