I too live in south Texas. I have installed the dehumidifier system that DC makes (there is a specific humidistat for this system). The venue with the S&S D also had a dehumidifier only system installed by the dealer. Right in the middle of the concert season we had a "Canadian" cold-front blow through and RH plummeted from the mid seventies to the low thirties. I was doing pitch corrections between concerts. The dean of the college was frustrated and asked what could be down to prevent this. I told him that the other half of the system would make a big difference. We installed in a couple weeks after he pushed funding through. These last two winters have been cakewalks. I discuss the matter with clients and usually they decide for the whole system with the beeper to remind them when it is dry. I tune at least twice a year for my private clients and replace the wicks each time I tune, value added service for which I bill. For them it is just a matter of shutting that beeper up with some more water every time it starts yapping. Customers agree that blinking lights will go unnoticed "passive aggressively" but when it goes MEEP MEEP MEEP... like they say, "The squeaky wheel gets the grease." I had an upright in the teaching studio with just a dehumidifier (humidistat controlled) in it and that improved stability quite a bit, but the other with the full system was much more stable. Unless you are certain that they will never move to North Dakota (or most other places in the US interior) a full system really is best. Be careful to educate customers that select the cheaper dehumidifier systems only to be aware that this will not protect the piano in a dry climate. I always use undercovers or backcovers, just makes sense. In south Texas, if the piano is in an institution utilizing water chiller air conditioning or if it is in a house where they like open windows and sea breezes, use the wet humidistat. Good luck, Andrew Anderson On Dec 24, 2008, at 4:57 PM, Matthew Todd wrote: > I have a lot of work to do where I am at. There are several tuners > around who, shall we say, at best, "tooners". If they come to a > client with a sticking key, most of the time, they won't take the > time to evaluate the situation, they'll just recommend to install a > dampp-chaser. The bad thing is, they just install the dehumd. and > NOTHING else. In fact, they don't even install it, they just plug > it in and lay it in the piano! > > I have quite a few clients in that situation described above, which > I will be attending to one at a time. My thing is, I really don't > want to get the humidifier as it has some maintenance that goes > along with it. I live in South Texas, so it does get quite humid, > but I would gather that indoors, the RH rarely gets below 42%. > > Can I get away with just the dehumidifier and humidistat? There > were a few clients I serviced whose RH in their homes was in the > 30's. But, like I said, how often will that happen? Maybe it's > like that constantly (million dollar word there). > > Like I said, I am just shying away from the humidifier maintenance. > > Thoughts and comments? > > By the way, I really didn't mean to start a huge big thing with my > initial post, but I guess I did. I apologize. > > TODD PIANO WORKS > Matthew Todd, Piano Technician > (979) 248-9578 > > http://www.toddpianoworks.com > > > --- On Wed, 12/24/08, Keith McGavern <kam544 at allegiance.tv> wrote: > From: Keith McGavern <kam544 at allegiance.tv> > Subject: Re: [pianotech] Dampp-Chaser Brochure response > To: pianotech at ptg.org > Date: Wednesday, December 24, 2008, 9:52 PM > > David, > > The Piano Life Saver System (PLSS) is a remarkable thing, and when I > feel the customer will benefit with reduced pitch drift and extended > tuning stability, I have no reservation in recommending the > installation of such. > > As to your particular inquiry, I know this much. I have service one > university institution for 30 years with an inventory of > approximately 80 pianos. In some of the piano studios that that have > two grands, only one piano in each of those studios has a PLSS. At > a minimum of two tunings per year, the grands with the PLSS are > always closer to pitch and more in tune than the grands without the > PLSS system. However, in a truly hostile environment, the ability of > their purpose can be thwarted dramatically. The best to find out is > install a system in one of these areas on one of these pianos, and > you'll find out soon enough of its benefit. > > You don't feel these systems would be able to react that quickly. > The newest versions of these systems are designed to react more > quickly than ever before based on the more recent installs I have > done. > > The Dampp-Chaser folks are constantly (now here's where that word > really applies) making this product better and better. They aren't > sitting back on their laurels. > > Okay? > > Keith > > On Dec 24, 2008, at 3:30 PM, David Ilvedson wrote: > >> I maintain 9 pianos at the SF Ballet. These studios have wide >> fluctuations of temp and humidity. When dancers are in studio the >> heat goes way up...sweating bodies...at night heat goes down...or >> off...would a damp-chaser help in this situation? It seems to me >> it wouldn't be able to react that quickly...? >> >> David Ilvedson, RPT >> Pacifica, CA 94044 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech_ptg.org/attachments/20081225/5db17a29/attachment.html>
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