[pianotech] Clarification Question: i'll take a pass

[Terry Farrell]

I presume you are referring to what are called "swamp" AC units? Yeah,  
but the swamp AC units are not common at all. In fact I've only run  
into one of them so far down here. It was at a church and the piano  
was in the sanctuary with the swamp unit for years. They built a new  
sanctuary, moved the piano into it and wanted it tuned for service the  
next day. I did that and then was surprised to hear back from them a  
week later that the piano had gone WAY out of tune. I went there  
expecting it to be close to where I left it, but found that the darn  
thing had made a huge drop in pitch - it's been a while, and I forget  
exactly how much - but I think it was like a good 50 cents or so. I  
asked the guy about the nature of the old AC unit and he told me it  
was a swamp job. That was my first rude introduction to swamp AC units.

A modern AC unit DOES remove water from the air. My shop will usually  
go up to about 50% RH if I'm not in there for a couple days - but then  
if I run my AC unit for a few house, the RH will drop to 40% or lower  
if I run it long enough.

Terry Farrell

On Aug 28, 2009, at 8:13 AM, Dean May wrote:

> Be careful about thinking the a/c will keep RH down. Conditioned air  
> coming
> off the A/C evaporator coils is at near 100 % RH. If that air is  
> blowing on
> the piano, i.e., the piano is too close to a vent, then the piano is  
> going
> to pick up significant moisture, even if A/C is on full blast and  
> the room
> is cold.
>
> Dean
>
> Dean May             cell 812.239.3359
>
> PianoRebuilders.com   812.235.5272
>
> Terre Haute IN  47802
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org]  
> On Behalf
> Of Terry Farrell
> Sent: Tuesday, August 25, 2009 8:05 PM
> To: pianotech at ptg.org
> Subject: Re: [pianotech] Clarification Question: i'll take a pass
>
> Hey Wim - I think you and I experience similar evnironmental
> conditions. I find that modern air-conditioned homes in Florida
> provide a very stable environment for a piano - most folks don't hit
> the heat much in the winter and the AC running most of the time in the
> summer keeps the RH down - pretty darn stable environment.
>
> It makes me happy. :-)
>
> Terry Farrell