Whether you’re in the jewelry-trading business, or you have a lot of jewelry at home that you want to polish and maintain, having a jewelry cleaner is a great investment.
If you’ve ever thought about using a professional tool for jewelry cleaning, we’ve prepared a compelling buying guide and 5 ultrasonic jewelry cleaners we thoroughly reviewed, highlighting their features, advantages, and disadvantages. If you’re looking for a jewelry cleaner, keep reading through this detailed guide.
[toc]In a hurry? Check out this quick list:
At a Glace
- Magnasonic Professional Ultrasonic Jewelry Cleaner – best overall
- TrioShine 3 in 1 Ultrasonic Jewelry Cleaner Machine – best premium
- Famili Ultrasonic Polishing Jewelry Cleaner – best budget
- YISSVIC Ultrasonic Cleaner – the most portable
- Tek Motion Stainless Steel Ultrasonic Jewelry Cleaner – largest storage
Best 5 Ultrasonic Jewelry Cleaners
Cleaning on a regular basis will leave your pieces of jewelry looking fresh and new at all times, and below, we’re going to list the best ultrasonic jewelry cleaners that may help you achieve that.
We have spent a valuable amount of time researching and testing the best jewelry cleaning machines to determine the right picks. The reviews we’ve listed, highlight the most valuable features and functionalities of an ultrasonic cleaner, but also pinpoint its pluses and minuses, as well as what makes it stand out compared to the others.
The units we listed should help give you the idea of what the best ultrasonic cleaner for jewelry looks and works like, and it’s up to your final judgment to make the right pick.
1. Magnasonic Professional Ultrasonic Jewelry Cleaner
Magnasonic professional ultrasonic jewelry cleaner is the best option we’ve found so far and works as a professional jewelry cleaner in most jewelry stores, although it’s highly useful for home application too.
- Price: $$
- Tank capacity: 600 ml
- Warranty: 1 year
It boasts power-efficiency and works fast enough to clean the dirty jewelry in no time, bringing back its shine and refreshment.
This device boasts a multipurpose cleaner, which is not only used for regular jewelry but other delicate objects that could use cleaning including knives, coins, watches, dentures, razors, as well as different jewelry like rings and necklaces.
Given it doesn’t require a chemical solvent while working, it’s 100% safe to use so you won’t have to put in a harmful chemical with high or low pH value and compromise the look of your jewelry.
It is equipped with a 600 ml tank, as well as a free basket where you can place your jewelry, a watch adapter, and a smart power-off feature, which will either let it shut down when the cleaning process is complete or shutdown in case of malfunction.
The cleaner also boasts a frequency of up to 42000 Hz, although there are devices that works at higher frequency. Nevertheless, it’ll be more than enough to perform effective and efficient cleaning, while looking stylish and futuristic, no matter where you put it.
Pros
- 42kHz ultrasonic waves
- Large tank capacity
- Doesn’t require a chemical solvent to work properly
- Can be used for multiple purposes and not just jewelry
- Relatively affordable.
Cons
- Less powerful compared to some other options.
2. TrioShine Ultrasonic Jewelry Cleaner – best premium option
If you’re running a jewelry store and need a reliable output of power and consistency in cleaning jewelry, TrioShine 3-in-1 sanitizer and jewelry cleaner might be the right choice for you.
- Price: $$$
- Tank capacity: 313 ml
- Warranty: One year
One of the reasons it’s so popular in the industry is because it is extremely easy for operation, even for those who are new in the industry.
It is equipped with a soft-touch digital tech control panel, which lets you adjust the heat and wave intensity and other features that are in regards to the cleaning process. It can be used to clean various types of jewelry such as watches, necklaces, ring, precious gemstones, earrings and more.
Additionally, it’s good for renovating and refreshing some other personal items such as toothbrushes, dentures, night guard, reading glasses, pacifiers, teethers, and other stuff.
It operates extremely fast. In just five minutes of active use, you can use water and no harmful chemical substances and clean with ease. It will quickly remove all tarnish, tartar, dirt, lotion, makeup traces, oils, and more. Its innovative and swift performance will help you reduce the maintenance of your jewelry and keep it clean for a long time.
The cleaning tank can hold up to 11 fl Oz (313 ml) of water, and it won’t require any aggressive solvent for cleaning the jewelry.
Besides, the manufacturer promises that its heating and vibration system can kill any type of bacteria that latch onto the jewelry, including E. Coli, Salmonella, thanks to the ultraviolet sanitizing. The UV sanitizer is capable of destroying up to 99.9% of bacteria, which makes it an ideal weekly dental cleaner.
Lastly, the package comes with a guide that can instruct you on how to clean jewelry and which types of jewelry are the most suitable for this cleaning method. It runs at 55 PSI and supplies 1100-watts power.
While being considerably more expensive than the competition, this 3-in-1 cleaner really stands out with UV and steaming functionality, other than the basket and towel. It’s a great value and outperforms most of the other options we’ve listed.
Pros
- Versatile and multifunctional
- 43k sonic vibration per second
- Efficient, no chemical inputs
- Kills 99.9% of germs and bacteria
- Safe
Cons
- Smaller tank
- Expensive
3. Famili Ultrasonic Polishing Jewelry Cleaner – best budget option
Famili ultrasonic cleaner is one of the most versatile options, available at a suitable budget for everyone. This cleaner with innovative design can be used to clean and sanitize dirty jewelry as well, like jewelry that has been discolored.
- Price: $
- Capacity: 600 ml
- Warranty: 1 year
It’s great for bracelets, necklaces, eyeglasses, watches and more. Additionally, it can be used for other purposes, too, like CDs, lenses, other optical items, dental retainers, teethers, and more.
The cleaner can generate 42 000 Hz of ultrasonic sound waves which generate the micro-bubbles that clean the jewelry. It’s convenient to use and is also equipped with an automatic shutdown that can shut off the machine once the process is complete.
There are five preset modes (90, 180, 300, 480 and 600 seconds) for more customizable cleaning process. The machine also has a 600 ml cleaning capacity and includes a basket. Its large tank allows you to clean multiple jewelries at a time.
Pros
- Multiple modes and timer settings
- Versatile use
- Large capacity
- 42k Hz sound waves
- Easy and convenient to use.
Cons
- A little noisy
- Takes longer to clean.
4. YISSVIC Ultrasonic Cleaner – the most portable option
If you’re looking to save as much storage as possible, YISSVIC ultrasonic cleaner is a great option. However, smaller cleaners also mean that you can’t store as much jewelry as you want inside.
- Price: $
- Storage: 600 ml
- Warranty: 1 year
This cleaner boasts an innovative design and is suitable for cleaning great range of jewelry, as well as dental products, CDs, and other items.
It boasts 600 ml of space for cleaning which is enough for larger jewelry. There are five preset timer options that allow you to adjust the cleaning time, as well as high performance in cleaning. Although you won’t be able to store too much jewelry inside, it performs fast and doesn’t require aggressive solvents or other chemicals for cleaning.
Pros
- Portable design
- Five preset functions
- Multifunctional
Cons
- Can’t store too much jewelry
5. Tek Motion Ultrasonic Jewelry Cleaner – a large storage option
Tek Motion stainless steel jewelry cleaner is suitable for high-end performance and professional jewelry stores that operate with a great number of jewelry.
- Price: $$$
- Storage: 15 L
- Warranty: 1 year
One of its most prominent features is its massive capacity of 15L and simultaneous function performing. This option can be used on a daily basis, and it’ll exceed all your expectations.
It boasts 360-watt transducers, which contribute to its great performance with preset cleaning timer from one to 30 minutes. It has dual fuse protection that protects it from overheating, short-circuit, and other malfunctions. Lastly, it has an integrated cleaning basket.
Pros
- Large capacity
- Preset cleaning timer
- Several protection technologies
- Integrated cleaning basket.
Cons
- Higher price than other options of out list
- Loud function
Why Should You Buy Ultrasonic Jewelry Cleaner?
A lot of people love jewelry, especially women. If you have quite a few of jewelry and spend enormous amount of time polishing and cleaning it, maybe you’ve considered investing in a faster way to perform the cleaning. No, by that, we don’t mean hiring a professional to polish your rings, necklace and earrings.
It’s totally fine to hire some specialist, but don’t you think that it just feels so great, so right sometimes to take care your beloved jewelery personally?
Also, if you own a jewelry store or service, you know that the customers must enjoy what they see to trust the jewelry to be reliable to buy. Besides, as there’s a lot of jewelry in the stores which may stay in the boutique for a long time, it’s important to clean and polish properly so it wouldn’t lose it shine.
Will Ultrasonic Jewelry Cleaner Damage Your Jewelry?
Ultrasonic jewelry cleaners are safe and capable of cleaning most of jewelry and gemstones. However, it’s worth ensuring that the jewelry you’re trying to heal is of good quality.
There are some jewelry types that are constructed of precious metals that ensure their durable and futureproof quality. Such jewelry is made out of platinum, silver, white gold, gold and others. You can safely clean them using ultrasonic cleaner, without worrying you’ll damage it.
Another kind of jewelry, such as Pandora charms, is also safe for cleaning. You can even use ultrasonic jewelry cleaners to polish glass and plastic jewelry, as long as there is no leather decoration, which could be harmful.
Other precious gemstones such as Cubic Zirconia, topaz, garnets, sapphires, and rubies can easily be cleaned without damaging the jewelry. However, it’s worth keeping track of inclusions and coating, as those could jeopardize the cleaning process. Also, before cleaning your jewelry make sure that it hasn’t undergone any kind of treatment like chemical processes or were exposed to heat.
Still, not all jewelry is strong enough to be cleaned with ultrasonic machines; some jewelry is more fragile and prone to damage. While most of the metal can be cleaned with the breeze, materials like tungsten shouldn’t be used for cleaning with the ultrasonic cleaner as it can get damaged during the process.
What makes a piece of damage more prone to damage during cleaning is its brittleness. The higher the brittleness of a gemstone, the more likely it’ll suffer damage during the cleaning process. That said, you should avoid cleaning on Turquoise, Lazuli, Lapis, Tanzanite, Opal, Onyx, and Emerald. The vibrations and the heat that the stones are exposed to make for the damage inside the stones.
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Another reason to why the aforementioned stones shouldn’t be exposed to heat and vibrating process of cleaning using the ultrasonic machine is because these materials have already undergone some beauty-enhancing processes, which made their colors more intense. That’s why they are more succesibble to damage.
Also, gemstones that are covered with other substances should also not be cleaned with ultrasonic, because the cracks could have likely been filled with those substances which could cause further damage.
When it comes to organic gemstones like pearls, they should also not undergo any kind of cleaning with the ultrasonic cleaner. The organic substances can get damaged or partially dissolved as a result of the ultrasonic effects on it. That said, you should only use the ultrasonic treatment for jewelry that wasn’t treated, as well as durable gemstones.
If you have a further confusion on whether your gemstone is suitable for ultrasonic cleaning, you should consult with a local jeweler or the jewelry seller from whom you bought the gemstone.
Are the Diamonds Safe?
As the hardest substance on Earth, diamond is more than good enough for the ultrasonic jewelry cleaner treatment. You won’t have trouble cleaning them. Sometimes, you’ll have to remove some encrusted dirt in the diamond jewelry, which appears over time, and an ultrasonic jewelry cleaner is a perfect option for cleaning.
There are still some things to consider. Before you use ultrasonic jewelry cleaner, you should check its grading report so you can know whether your diamond has been treated before or not. If the diamond contains feathers, you’ll have to take extra care.
Also, some types of diamonds, like colored diamonds, aren’t the safest for ultrasonic jewelry cleaned, as they’ve already gone through some kind of coloring treatments that can boost their color.
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That said, using the ultrasonic machine on them could reverse them to their old colors, making it less vibrant than it used to. Again, make sure to check with your local jeweler whether your diamond gemstone is safe for the treatment and proceed with caution.
How to Clean Jewelry with an Ultrasonic Jewelry Cleaner?
While ultrasonic jewelry cleaner is applicable to most types of jewelry, it’s worth noting that it’s a long and sometimes difficult process depending on which material you’re cleaning. Here are some main questions about the process of cleaning.
What liquid do you use?
Water is great solvent and can be used for any type of cleaning. Furthermore, it’s not inflammable, it’s not toxic, and more than anything, it’s economical, and you won’t have to spend money on expensive chemicals. Nevertheless, it’s good to mix water with some other solvent, which can improve the process.
The best thing to use is the dishwashing liquid or a water-based detergent, as it’s inexpensive and practical. You don’t have to use too much of it, just a few drops combined with water will yield great results.
Another benefit of adding detergent into the solution is the surface tension, as the surface tension will loosen, allowing smooth cleaning and easier reachability to the most hidden parts of jewelry, which are often hard to clean. The higher surface tension of water, as well as cavitation energy, can make cleaning more difficult.
What else do you need to clean your jewelry?
It’s of utmost importance to prepare yourself with the most necessary materials which can help you clean successfully. That’s why we’ve listed the necessary supplies and instructions which you can use to learn how to clean your jewelry properly.
You’ll need:
- Ultrasonic jewelry cleaner
- Ultrasonic basket
- Gloves
- Water
- Measuring jug
- Cleaning solution (detergent or dishwasher)
- Jewelry
How to clean
Put your protective gloves on, and fill the tank of the ultrasonic cleaner with water. You can, in addition, fill in a tablespoon of ammonia solution, although this requires you to be extra careful, so you don’t add too much.
Run the ultrasonic cleaner for roughly five minutes to make the cleaner mix the water with ammonia. Prepare the temperature you want it to be, as well as a timer for cleaning.
The amount of time in which your jewelry should stay in the tank is anywhere between one and twenty minutes, depending on how dirty it is, as well as which material it is.
Time to put your jewelry in. Place it in the ultrasonic basket and spread it over, so it’s well-spaced. It’s important to remember that you shouldn’t place too much jewelry inside, so the cleaning would be more effective.
Also, make sure that the jewelry doesn’t touch the base of the machine. First you have to de-gas the machine, so you remove unnecessary gases and bubbles that form inside during the cleaning process.
Run your ultrasonic device again, and let your jewelry stay inside for as much time as necessary for it to get cleaned. Once the timer expires, and it’s expected for your jewelry to be clean now.
Let it sit for ten more minutes so the dirt would settle off the jewelry. After that, you’ll have to clean your jewelry to ensure that everything is scrubbed off using clean cold water.
Now that the ultrasonic cleaning process is complete, take your piece of jewelry out and clean it with a soft brush that would remove any remaining dirt that has stayed in the jewelry.
Rinse it a couple of times and then dry it off with a piece of soft cloth.
How Do Ultrasonic Jewelry Cleaners Work?
As mentioned above, the solvent and heat are crucial for successful cleaning of jewelry. While there are specially-designed solvents used specifically for the jewelry cleaners, they can be unreasonably expensive, and water in combination with a liquid-based detergent yields great results.
Proper solvent pH
It’s important for a solvent not to have too high or too low pH level, and water, which is a solution of pH value between 6.5 and 8.5, is neither too alkaline nor too acidic, but nearly neutral, making it a great solvent for the cleaner.
Solvents that have too high or excessively low pH value can damage your jewelry and can be avoided. The chemicals with excessive pH values can have a strange reaction in combination with heat, and in combination with ultrasonic waves coming out from the cleaner can cause irreparable damage to the jewelry.
Tiny bubbles and micro-vibration
Once the jewelry is submerged for cleaning, you can set the intensity of the cleaner accordingly to the level of dirt that accumulated on the jewelry.
The good thing is that these cleaners work quickly, with the ultrasonic waves being sent through the liquid solvent, which creates a vast amount of micro-bubbles and vibrates against the dirty jewelry.
The vibrations and bubbles are then supposed to clear away the dirt and grime away from the jewelry, and not a few minutes will pass before you see the results.
The micro-bubbles sent by the cleaning machine are essential for the successful cleaning of the jewelry. Alternating negative and positive pressure combines, sending the micro-bubbles towards jewelry.
Cavitation effect
The process where these bubbles are sent through a solvent and clean the jewelry is also known as cavitation, which is the main process ultrasonic cleaners use to clean jewelry. The process under which it operates is similar to how boat propeller creates bubbles to move.
Instead of propellers, which can’t create bubbles small enough to clean the jewelry, ultrasonic cleaners use amplified vibrations that get created from a high-frequency transducer. The process itself is similar to how transducers generate high pitched sound and bass through loudspeakers or headphones.
The frequency of ultrasonic cleaners is anywhere between 20 to 400 kHz, with waves being sent into the solvent, where the jewelry is submerged.
The waves also create alternating pressure waves, which then proceed with the cavitation process. The fast-traveling bubbles collapse as soon as they are formed, “exploding” onto the jewelry, at a speed of millions of times per second.
This process, in turn, generates vacuum energy of combined pressure and heat. In additional combination with speed, it knocks away the accumulated dirt and debris.
Once the dirt, debris, grime, oil, and other jewelry-compromising particles are knocked off the jewelry, the ever-moving imploding bubbles gently sweep it away from the jewelry, leaving it clean and shiny.
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Benefits of Using Ultrasonic Jewelry Cleaners
Investing in ultrasonic jewelry cleaner comes with many benefits, and below, we’ve listed some of the most notable advantages.
- It can easily reach the parts of the jewelry which you can’t normally access with the traditional cleaning methods and cleans them flawlessly.
- The vibrational process inside the cleaner completely removes the dirt and debris, recovering your jewelry from looking just as if it’s new.
- You don’t have to disassemble the jewelry. You can put it in one piece without removing the emblem, chains, or other parts to make cleaning easier.
- Cleaning more jewelry at one time. However, for better effects, it’s better to clean by few pieces. If you clean on a regular basis, piling them together is not a bad idea as long as there’s enough space in between.
- The gentle cleaning process won’t damage your jewelry, and you can use it regularly.
How Often Should You Use Ultrasonic Jewelry Cleaner?
This question has made everyone wonder how often cleaning jewelry with the ultrasonic machine is too often, and there is no official answer. However, it’s important to mention that the frequency of how often you use the ultrasonic cleaner depends solely on you, your preferences, and how often the jewelry gets dirty.
Generally, it’s appropriate to use it to clean your jewelry every few weeks, while jewelry that gets dirty fast can be cleaned almost on a weekly basis. Some users fall in love with the clean look of their cleaned jewelry to a point they will clean almost every day.
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Another thing that determines the frequency of the jewelry cleaning process is how often you wear them. If you wear the cleaned jewelry every day, sweat, interaction with the outside environment, grinding on your skin, as well as contact with your dark clothes will lead to dirt accumulating faster, which then leads to your jewelry being cleaned every week.
That said, if your piece of jewelry falls into a category that is listed in the above section and is safe for cleaning, you shouldn’t worry about cleaning it too often. It won’t remove its natural shine or damage its quality. If the material is prone to damage, you should definitely avoid it.
Final Words
We hope that our buying guide and compelling reviews helped you pick the right ultrasonic jewelry cleaner for your household or jewelry store. The final decision is up to you, although all the features and functions we listed should help you find a personalized choice that is equipped with features that will meet all your requirements.
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