Damp Chaser in old upright

[Tony Caught]

Hi Don,

Understand what you mean but:-

You say that "A British Thermal Unit is defined as the energy it takes to
raise one pound of water one degree f."  But you do not give a time span. If
you immerse a 50 W heater into 1 pound of water for 10 hours what would the
temperature be ?

However, (just for fun)

If 1 BTU will raise 1 pound of water by 1 degree f., then 180 BTU's would
raise 1 pound of water by 180 degrees f..  Add this to the 90 degrees f.
and.
Now that is getting warm.

Now let us assume that the water in the air in the piano is only about 1/2
an ounce. Does this mean that the water in the air is going to be heated to
180 * 16 (ounces) * 2 (1/2 ounce) = 57,160 degrees f. ?

In reality the bar is not that hot but that's the stats. based on BTU's and
water.

What I do know is that a 50 W rod in a confined semi insulated space (an
upright piano) is going to heat the internals of the piano up by more than 2
degrees f..

I will have to measure the direct radiated temperature of the bar, work out
the insulation factor to the upright piano cabinet, then give up trying to
calculate what the resultant temp. would be when the outside temp was 95
degrees f.

All I know is I have felt the heat on my knees when I have been tuning a
piano that was fitted with a 30W bar with no humidistat, and that was hot.

Oh, and yes, I tune a piano in Finke, in central Australia. It gets up to
47C there. Fortunately its a dry heat.

Regards

Tony


----- Original Message -----
From: Don <drose@dlcwest.com>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Monday, July 09, 2001 12:46 PM
Subject: Re: Damp Chaser in old upright


> Hi Tony,
>
> A little point 50 watts is about 180 btu's. A British Thermal Unit is
> defined as the energy it takes to raise one pound of water one degree f.
> Assuming an upright piano weighs 400 lbs 180 btu's is *never* going to get
> the piano to 50 degrees C. (unless the room is 48 C already *grin*)
>
> Use the 50 watt rod with a humidistat. Things will be just fine.
>
> Regards,
> Don Rose, B.Mus., A.M.U.S., A.MUS., R.M.T., R.P.T.
>
> Tuner for the Saskatchewan Centre of the Arts
>
> mailto:drose@dlcwest.com
> http://donrose.xoasis.com/
>
> 3004 Grant Rd.
> REGINA, SK
> S4S 5G7
> 306-352-3620 or 1-888-29t-uner