Where did the RH Go

[Sarah Fox]

Hi Bill,

So it wasn't "old'ndrafty," but possibly leaky? Hmmmm...  Isaac joked about
the secret lab in the basement.  But seriously...  I presume it has hardwood
floors.  Does it have a heated basement?  If not a basement, perhaps a
heated crawl space?  Those hardwood floors can leak like a sieve
(literally).  Hot air floats upwards, hence the structural prudence of
doming and reinforcing the roof of any legislative building to contain the
enormous upwards pressure.  My guess would be that the house also could have
clapboard ceilings -- a very charming feature in moderate climates.  These
also leak.  *Perhaps* warm, dry air was rising from the basement, through
the bizillions of tiny cracks in the hardwood floor, while the warm, moist
air from the room was rising through the bizillions of tiny cracks in the
clapboard ceiling, thus heating the attic.  (I don't think it occurred to
builders to block airflow with paper of any sort.)  Of course from there,
the warm, moist attic air would rise through the roofing planks and slate,
thus heating the great outdoors, while the cold outside air somehow
infiltrated into the basement.  Just a theory!  ;-)

Peace,
Sarah


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bill Ballard" <yardbird@vermontel.net>
To: "Pianotech" <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Thursday, January 15, 2004 10:06 AM
Subject: Re: Where did the RH Go


> At 3:26 PM -0500 1/13/04, Sarah Fox wrote:
> >If....
> >
> >(1) It was cold outside, and
> >(2) there was no insulation in the walls, and
> >(3) the radiators in the room were not active, and
> >(4) it was still warm (and stable) inside the room,
> >then there had to be some considerable source of external heat.  I can
only
> >conclude that the room received a substantial flow of warm (and dry) air
> >from the rest of the house.  I think there's no need to look further for
the
> >answer to the plummeting RH mystery.  ;-)
>
> I did cherchez la femme, but got to talk with her teenage son
> instead. In this age group they don't know much but he could at least
> tell me that it was a drafty old house and that the bump-out for the
> room where the piano was was also very old (if not original). Last
> Friday was a cold blustery day, and so indeed there was had to have
> been a constant air change to the outside. The 64º had to have been
> the ambient temperature during this air change. What had me ruling
> this out at first was as you say the lack of any "considerable source
> of external heat". The radiators were off (at least the one in the
> corner of the room with the piano), and although this was a
> south-facing room (on a bright sunny day) the rice-paper shade on the
> window by the piano was down. (Both of these actions were following
> my advice to the piano owner.) I know "old'ndrafty" and this wasn't
> that.
>
> There was a second possibility, that either my hygrometer (the $80
> Mannix from PianoTek) or myself were hallucinating. I can't vouch for
> myself (having had my adolescence in the '60s) but the Mannix has
> been behaving consistently right along. I note temp/RH on each
> invoice, "for the record". This Tuesday, I tuned five pianos: two
> living rooms, a nursing home, a rehearsal room kept cool until the
> chamber musicians show up, and the backstage of a movie theater (the
> old-fashioned sized with murals and molding to match). Nobody was
> above 30%. The blue ribbon prize winter was not the nursing home
> (72º/17.5%), but the movie theater (75º/8%). The occasion was for a
> chamber music performance/demo for several waves of  bussed-in
> grade-schoolers starting at 8AM the next morning. When I arrived to
> tune the 1897 Stwy B moved in for the occasion by the chamber music
> group (a regular account of mine), the theater was warming itself up
> for that evening's movies, and sauna-hot air was blasting out of
> large hot air registers, 30' up.
>
> Seems like we've been getting more of this cold arctic air exported
> from our Neighbor to the North since NAFTA. (Maybe it's a return
> favor for all the hot air our president sends up there.) I think
> Dennis Kucinich is the candidate who's promising to repeal that. He's
> got my vote.
>
> Bill Ballard RPT
> NH Chapter, P.T.G.
>
> "Lady, this piano is what it is, I am what I am, and you are what you are"
>      ...........From a recurring nightmare.
> +++++++++++++++++++++
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