Damp Chaser in old upright

[Daniel Lindholm]

Hi,
Well, compared to most of you (it seems) I would say I live in a dry area :)
Summers 45-50% and winters around 15-20%. Since I live in Sweden some of you
might now that we have alot of winter here :)

The best for me would be a device that also could dehumidify the air, when
it actually gets higher than this, but since its not alot over those
recommended 42% I thought that raising the humidity in the room so the
variation becomes less, would be better than not doing anything - Its not
perfect however.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Warren Fisher" <fish@communique.net>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Friday, July 06, 2001 9:03 PM
Subject: Re: Damp Chaser in old upright


> Daniel,
>
> Do live in a dry area?  You said you got a humidifier for your house.  If
your
> normal humidity is less than 42% most of the time, you don't need a
> damppchaser..  The humidity in my area is running around 85% right now and
goes
> down to 35% in winter.  I do.
>
> How does it work?  Heated air holds more moisture than the regular air.
If you
> heat the air inside an upright for instance, it will remove moisture from
the
> soundboard as it rises past it. If you remove an amount of moisture from
the
> inside of the soundboard equal to what the soundboard is absorbing on the
back
> of the piano,  then the moisture level of the soundboard will be in
balance and
> board will not swell and cause the pitch of the strings to go sharp.
>
> Does that answer your question?
>
> Warren
>
> Daniel Lindholm wrote:
>
> > Thanks for that post!
> >
> > I've always been somewhat curious about how it works in a piano. I
thought
> > it might work pretty good in a piano since its inside the cabinet and
not in
> > the open. Still, the outside wouldnt get the same humidity as the
inside, I
> > was thinking that at least the soundboard would be okay. Could you
please
> > tell us something about the soundboard? How did the strings look like?
> >
> > I've been told NOT to get a dampchaser for my grand piano. Most techs
just
> > say 'that will ruin it', and when you think about it. How good could it
be?
> > The damp will get concentrated around smaller parts of the piano and the
> > same goes for the heatingdevice. I bought a humidifier for the room and
(I
> > guess many of you will say that I'm all wrong about this dampchaser and
that
> > its really really good, but...) noone could ever say that its better to
use
> > a dampchaser than to control the whole room that the piano is in
> > (humidifier-dehumidifier and something to circulate the air).
> >
> > To summorize my post so I dont have to get 100 angry replies saying that
I'm
> > all wrong etc:
> > I'm a bit skeptic to this dampchasersystem, but I dont say it doesnt
work.
> > I'm pretty sure that it will have some effects (but I'm not quite sure
if
> > they are good or bad). I wouldnt want a heatsource or a humidifier that
> > close to the wood in my piano. I think its pretty obvious that the
> > heat/humidity will be concentrated to some areas around the actual
device.
>
> No the heat causes the air to rise, which draws in cool air from the
outside to
> flow to the rod to be heated.  To make it work right you have to have the
> humidistat switch to turn the rod off when it gets down to 42% so it
doesn't get
> too dry.
>
> >
> > That I know for certain is that the best thing is to get a system to
control
> > the entire room.
> >
> > Its an interesting topic. All salesmen recommends them and are selling
them
> > hard, but I havent heard a tech that recommends them. I hope to see some
> > more post regarding this topic, with people telling about their
experiences
> > with dampchasersystem (both in uprights and in grands). Taking up an
> > instrument that has had a system like that installed for 25 years is a
> > really good example. If anyone else have experience with instruments
with
> > system installed over a longer period, please do reply!
> >
> > I'm really curious although I have already made the choice for my piano.
> >
>
> --
> Warren Fisher RPT                   Beginners & Lurkers
> fish@Communique.net                 Basic Pianotech discussed
> 1422 Briarwood Dr.                  Ask any question.
> Slidell, LA 70458-3102              fish@gs.verio.net
>
>