Dampp-Chaser grumblings....an end of the week tale

[atonal@telusplanet.net]

	Lotsa talk about Dampp-Chasers lately...

	Today's experience was with installing one of the new kits on a 
7' Baldwin. By new, I mean one of the G5PS systems with the new 
light panel (nice) and the hard-wired humidistat (not nice at all). 

	Problem #1 Because all the components of this new design are 
wired to the humidistat (except the humidifier and de-humidifier 
plugs) I couldn't mount my components and then route the cable, a 
system that has worked well on my numerous DC installs in the 
past. Compounding this problem was the fact that  the posts on 7' 
Baldwins are approximately 1" from the soundboard and 1/4" from 
the ribs, I had to snake the light panel along the soundboard, over 
two posts, all while following two soundboard ribs to get to a 
location that would allow the wire to be routed properly. More fun 
ensued when I wanted to mount the humidistat in a different area 
than the humidifier. Because the low water sensor is wired to the 
humidistat, and the humidistat is far to big to squeeze between the 
aforementioned gap between the posts and soundboard, I had no 
choice but to remove the sensor from the tank, with the wingnut 
fastener, it is no big deal, but was flummoxed to find that the screw 
fastener on the sensor also would not fit between the board and 
posts... it made the sensor 1 1/4" in it's narrowest dimension. 
Displaying more anger than a seasoned tech should, I grabbed my 
trusty Sears Craftsman sidecutters and sheared off 1/4 inch from 
the screw, which now fit between the board and post. Re-attaching 
the sensor also proved a bit tricky, as the short cable meant that I 
had to hold the humidifier tank up with one hand, and using my 
second and third hands, re-attach the wingnut on the screw, while 
holding the sensor in place, and then hang the tank on the support 
bars, previously installed. 
	Problem # 2 This doesn't seem like a big deal, but it proved to 
be problematic, nonetheless. When I hang the support bars for the 
humidifier tank, I use the Mylar moisture shield as a guide to hold 
the bars in place before driving in the screws on the brackets. I was 
chagrined to find that the holes cut into the shield for the bars was 
now a tiny hole, that barely fit around the thin metal bars, but 
caused the shield to fan out flat no matter where I moved the rods 
to. Out came my micro-tip scissors and the holes were enlarged to 
the old 1/2" or so dimension, allowing the rods some movement, 
and not causing the shield to bunch up. 

	So, what should have been a routine, 1/2 hr or so install turned 
into a 1 hr, cursing, neck-straining, knuckle bruising ordeal. At one 
point, I heard a sound and looking out from under the soundboard 
to see a up-side down pair of feet and legs (at least from _my_ 
perspective) asking anxiously if I was alright, and if there was 
anyting they could do. I realized that backstage at an auditorium is 
not the best place to let it be known vocally what you think of the 
particular design changes on a given piece of hardware.

	Now, there is a particularly ironic twist to this story. My last 
service call of the day was to replace a set of legs on another 7' 
Baldwin, of similar vintage to the one mentioned above. Lo and 
behold, there is a Dampp-Chaser, but it has been sorta patched 
onto the piano, hanging 1/2 a foot or so below the posts, wires all 
over the place, filler tube hanging down, but, miracles, actually 
functioning. Now, before I start jacking up this unit to get into 
serious leg replacement, I grit my teeth for another ordeal and 
decide to install the components where they should be, and 
hopefully save a bucket or so of H20 landing on my feet. However, 
this unit is a couple of years old, and has _oh yes oh yes oh yes_ 
Plugs! as in plugs for the water light and sensor. I had that sucker 
off the piano and re-installed in 20 minutes... chortling each time I 
route a cable along the tight soundboard/post gap and pop it home 
into the already mounted humidistat. Worked like a hot damn. 

I don't blame Baldwin 7' grands for tight Dampp-Chaser 
arrangements, in fact, there are handy cross-bracing posts for 
attaching humidistats, cable, filler tubes, all out of sight from  
normal viewing of the piano. The real monster installations are the 
tiny grands with no posts whatsoever... you have to suspend the 
components with pure mind-power. I don't blame Dampp-Chasers 
in general, I've worked with enough over the years that their merits 
speak for themselves in reduced humidity-related service work. I 
just miss my plugs...sigh.

'Night all








	
Rob Kiddell, 
Registered Piano Technician, PTG
atonal@telusplanet.net

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