extreme winter weather/DC effectiveness

[paul bruesch]

I'm thinking maybe that piano just isn't s'posed to play in Peoria!!

But seriously, if you're in the vicinity regularly, can you just drop in to
check the water level yourself?  I'd be suspicious, given that it's supposed
to be closed and covered. I tell my customers with DC's to check them every
day.

An obvious question... is it near a heat source? I'd think that heated air
blowing under the piano would not have a good effect.

Assuming that's all well and good, what does anyone think of putting a SMALL
humidifier directly under the piano? The DC should keep it from getting
terribly over-humidified... and a local rebuilder didn't bat an eye when I
told him about one of his rebuilds presently having such a setup (not by my
suggestion, however!)

On 2/16/07, Barbara Richmond <piano57 at insightbb.com> wrote:
>
>  Howdy,
>
> Hope you're all nice and cozy, it's been dang cold here.  I've got a
> question for you DC experts, I would have called DC themselves, but I didn't
> get home in time this afternoon.
>
> Early this past fall I regulated a 1920s S&S A and installed a full DC
> system--but no undercover.  The piano is kept closed and covered when not in
> use.  The church has AC, though to me it felt humid  (for some reason I
> didn't have my hygrometer with me).   Anyway, before Christmas I tuned the
> piano again and it was 17 cents low.   Today I tuned it again and it was 14
> cents low. Yikes.  The weather here lately has been extremely cold (OK, you
> nanooks of the north can laugh) and the church was incredibly dry--it didn't
> register on my not very good hygrometer.  A couple weeks ago, the music
> director called to tell me that tuning pins were slipping like crazy on the
> harpsichord I worked on last December.  I thought today that the tuning pins
> on the piano felt looser than in the past (or was it my imagination?).  AND
> I noticed that the regulation was off, too.  Geeze.  Apparently the heat is
> always on in the church--not one of those where it gets turned off and on,
> and it has felt warm to me the times I've been in there.
>
> So...you get the picture that the place is dry.  Here is the question--how
> good a job should the DC system be doing in these circumstances?  Is anybody
> else experiencing this?  The music director said he is filling the DC tank
> at least once a week.  I even took a look to see if I had plugged things in
> the wrong place.  Is there anything else I can do, besides put an undercover
> on?  Can undercovers make a huge difference in a situation where there
> isn't significant air movement, etc?
>
> I thought about recommending that the church look into a big April-Aire
> system.
>
> Any suggestions are welcome.
>
> Thanks.
>
> Barbara Richmond, RPT
> near Peoria, Illinois
>
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