[CAUT] What to do???

[Paul T Williams]

Thanks Joel,

I have compiled extensive records on the classroom/recital hall with a 
Steinway D and a Benn harpsichord that had wild (I mean wild) humidity 
swings in 24 hour periods.  I presented that and still....nothing done. 
The director now tells me a new HVAC system will cost $6 million.  At 
least he and the Dean are talking about it...probably due to my message to 
the Senior Vice Chancellor (a customer of mine!) about the situation. He's 
also now asked me for some alternatives.  I will compile a quote for 70 DC 
complete units including undercovers.  The other pianos in classrooms and 
concert halls get moved too much by uneducated piano movers and one piano 
gets moved around campus for outside music building events (a completely 
rebuilt Steinway A - 1911).

Do you all think DC will give a discount for that many systems?

Paul




"joel a. jones" <jajones2 at wisc.edu> 
Sent by: caut-bounces at ptg.org
12/02/2008 08:06 AM
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Paul,

Two additional methods that I used in a very similar situation.

1. On you 'day off' do some retail therapy and visit your radio shack, 
discount hardware and purchase
several digital temp/humidity gauges.    Place them in areas such as 
the concert hall, faculty studios,
classrooms, etc. and take readings every am and pm.   Simply bury your 
superiors in paper work.
You now have a record of the situation and it will neatly CYA.

2.  I found a thermohumidigraph which plotted a week of temp/humidity 
changes.  There are probably
nice battery operated digital ones available now, but again it is 
showing the change to an undesirable
environment.   The National Forest Products lab is on my campus, so I 
didn't have far to go to find
colleagues with the proper initials to defend my position.

The advice to find the tradesmen who are responsible for operating the 
HVAC equipment and
sitting down with a pot of coffee and donuts to see what can be done is 
spot on advice.   I continued
to remember them at birthdays, deer season, and holidays with something 
for their consumption.
For 35 years I made friends with my colleagues with the tool belts.

Speaking of the paperwork I asked for advice from the administrators. 
What would you do in my
situation??? Our answer was to place temp/humidify gauges in each HVAC 
area.  We read
the gauges each week and gave that info to the tradesmen assigned to 
our buildings.  Again,
it was a tracking record of the environment, which made the heating 
department look good
by holding the temp/humidify stable throughout the year.

When all else fails.   Keep smiling !

Joel
Joel Jones, RPT
Madison, WI




On Dec 1, 2008, at 4:51 PM, Paul T Williams wrote:

>
> Hi all!
>
> I always appreciate your input.  Here's a new twist...
>
> Our building is currently dangerously dry.  When Richard West was 
> here, the administrative secretary always told him to contact the 
> "facilities" people, directly, across campus who controls the campus 
> buildings to turn on the steam to remedy the situation. I was also 
> told this when I started to do this and and have, regularly. This 
> year,   I have tried for the last 3 weeks to do this with no results. 
>  Our humidity, now, is below 20% and the pianos have gone completely 
> wacky as you can imagine.
>
> After sending several messages to facilities, I got no results.  I 
> sent another to our director, and another to the senior vice 
> chancellor ( a customer of mine for her personal piano) and other 
> esteemed folks.  I got a "cease  correspondance" message back from our 
> director.(probably embarassed)  He now states that I have to report to 
> the finance/business director, who responds to him, who responds to 
> the Dean of Fine Arts, who then calls facilities to turn on the 
> humidity!!!!!!  Is this the biggest load of political crap you've ever 
> heard of?? He states that I have to go through the channels of 
> authority to get anything done in "such a large university:.  With 
> this crap, I might see the steam turned on in January!!!! If 
> ever....How come Richard was able to just get the steam turned on?
>
> I now fear cracking boards, loose ribs, separating bridges, failing 
> glue joints of every kind, and the like.  I then went to the 
> "finance/business manager" (?) and she said bluntly that she had no 
> time to deal with this issue today.
>
> Should I just throw up my hands and say, "whatever"? or should I go to 
> Home Depot and buy 110 buckets to put water in and set them under each 
> piano to try to help them through their "hospice"????
>
> HELP!!!!
>
> Paul


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