Damp Chaser Question

[Farrell]

Good question indeed Gordon. Especially on a vertical piano with a DC dehumidifier installed on a humidistat. I tuned a fairly new Yamaha studio in a church recently with a DC dehumidifier. The pitch seemed to wander around quite a bit (4 cents or so) during a 5-cent pitch raise and a tuning. As soon as you open the piano up, everything is going to change. So you ask the church keeper to have the A/C set to their service temperature when the piano is played closed, and you need to open it to tune it. What is a tech to do???

Any thoughts or observations on this apparent problem?

Terry Farrell
  
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "gordon stelter" <lclgcnp@yahoo.com>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Sunday, August 18, 2002 6:47 PM
Subject: Re: Damp Chaser Question


> There are actualy mini-refrigeration units one can buy
> to build their own cooler around. Checkout Real Goods
> Co.,( probably realgoods.com ) purveyors of stuff for
> "off-grid" living.  But that raises the question: How
> importanmt is temperature control, as long as humidity
> is kept constant? Thoughts?
> --- Farrell <mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com> wrote:
> > Hi Greg. No one seems to be biting on this one, so
> > I'll tell you what I think I know. I have been
> > extremely happy with the climate control I have in
> > my shop. A Sears basement-type dehumidifier and an
> > automatic air conditioner. RH stays right at 50%.
> > However, I don't have the need for humidification -
> > RH never gets below 35%.
> > 
> > My shop is a little bit bigger than your box (not a
> > whole lot!). But you might want to consider
> > partitioning off a small room for the piano rather
> > than just a box. That way it could be serviced and
> > tuned in its climate-controlled room. Small room
> > humidifiers are also available - look on the web. I
> > had my old dehumidifier plugged into my DC
> > humidistat because the humidistat on the unit was
> > junk. My new dehumidifier has a humidistat that
> > works quite well. If you used an unregulated
> > humidifier of less than 600W, you could use a DC
> > humidistat to regulate its function.
> > 
> > You could do all this in the little box also - but
> > if you wanted to regulate the temperature in the
> > summer with an AC unit, I think it would be hard to
> > find a small enough unit for the box. Electrical
> > heater bars than run 24/7 do not sound like a hazard
> > to me - IF they are regulated with a humidistat.
> > Also, if they are running 24/7, you don't have
> > enough wattage in there. If you make your little
> > box, maybe a few heater bars and a very small room
> > humidifier both plugged into a DC humidistat will do
> > the trick for you.
> > 
> > I am planning on a similar climate controlled
> > storage area for a theatre I service. It is a small
> > room about 15' by 15'. Two grands are stored there.
> > As I do not need to worry about low RH, I will
> > simply be recommending a small AC unit for the
> > window and a dehumidifier similar to the one in my
> > shop. Or, if they have $$$ to spend, a fancy system
> > designed and installed by folks that provide climate
> > control for laboratories, etc.
> > 
> > As to the effects of pulling the piano out of this
> > idyllic environment and onto the nasty stage with
> > high/low RH and wild swings of temperature??? I
> > think you just need to practice the line: "Hey, it
> > sounded fine before we moved it out here!"
> > 
> > Recommend full climate control for the entire
> > facility!!! Tell 'em it will save on painting costs!
> > 
> > Good luck.
> > 
> > Terry Farrell
> >   
> > ----- Original Message ----- 
> > From: "Greg Newell" <gnewell@ameritech.net>
> > To: <pianotech@ptg.org>; <MPT@philbondi.com>
> > Sent: Thursday, August 15, 2002 9:06 PM
> > Subject: Damp Chaser Question
> > 
> > 
> > > Greetings listees,
> > >          I have a customer who is going to build a
> > piano closet off of 
> > > their stage. I'd like to ask the opinion of the
> > lists as to how to outfit a 
> > > humidity control system in this closet. My thought
> > was to daisy chain some 
> > > systems together or perhaps two or more entire
> > separate systems to keep the 
> > > piano controlled ( I know, I know, control is an
> > illusion) while it is in 
> > > storage. Since this is a performance instrument I
> > recommended controlling 
> > > the box rather than the piano since some part of
> > the Damp-Chaser system 
> > > will inevitably be visible if mounted on the piano
> > itself. My customer writes;
> > > 
> > > The Apartment Complex for our Asian Musical Tenant
> > will be:
> > > 4'-0'' High
> > > 6'-0'' Wide
> > > 11'-0'' Long which equals 264 Cubic Feet inside,
> > > (less a little bit for corner tangent framing)
> > > Hope this helps. It sounds like box, rather than
> > piano mounting is
> > > better.
> > > The big question for me is ventilation. Electrical
> > heater bars that run
> > > 24/7 inside a wooden box sounds like a hazard
> > waiting to occur.
> > > 
> > > Can someone more experienced than I (even Roger if
> > you're reading these 
> > > things) suggest a system of components that will
> > adequately cover the need? 
> > > The piano is in Northern Ohio and is normally
> > subject to RH swings of 
> > > roughly 15% to 85% or more.
> > > 
> > > I'd also like to ask those who have done this what
> > one can expect when 
> > > pulling the piano out of the closet for a
> > performance. Does it goes 
> > > unstable right away or what?
> > > 
> > > Thanks in advance for your input.
> > > 
> > > Greg Newell
> > > mailto:gnewell@ameritech.net
> > > 
> > 
> 
> 
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