Piano On Ice.

[KCW]

On Wed, 15 Oct 1997, Don wrote:

> Hi all,
> 
> Nope...the water is coming from the *air* the strings are cold...and below
> the *dew point* temperature.

The water is coming from the air inside the piano.  The air inside
a piano is pretty much isolated (not the right word, but you know what I
mean) from the air outside the case (open up a really smelly piano and
you'll know what I mean...ewww!)  The air inside has high water content
because the wood parts gives out some water during the heat-up process.


> 
> At 11:47 AM 10/15/97 -0400, you wrote:
> >Hi list,
> >	This is just my opinion.  As long as the piano is stored BELOW
> >water freezing point, the piano shouldn't be damaged.  Why?  because the
> >water in the wood won't evaporate therefore the wood won't shrink (is this
> >the right word?)  However, if you store a piano right above the freezing
> >point, the climate will be very dry and the water content of the wood will
> >become very low without humility control.  You mentioned that some piano
> >had rusty strings because water condensed on strings when piano was
> >brought to "normal" room temperature too rapidly (that's because wood and
> >metal have different heat velocity gradient).  Obviousely, the water vapor
> >is coming from the wood!  I actually believe it's better to store a piano
> >below freezing point (with sufficient water content) than to store a piano
> >in a regular home where humility changes _constantly_ because once the
> >piano is below freezing point, the water content of the wood NEVER
> >changes --> the best humility control you can possibly have (well,
> >almost)!  It's a good idea to bring the temperature back gradualy.  Treat
> >it like your car's engine, don't heat up your car's engine too fast in
> >winter (as recommented by virtualy all engine builders).  As a rule of
> >dumb, always make sure the wood has sufficient water content before
> >"freezing" (it should).
> >
> >> 
> >
> >
> Regards, Don Rose (drose@dlcwest.com)
> 

Kuang