I'm thinking maybe that piano just isn't s'posed to play in Peoria!!<br><br>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.
<br><br>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.<br><br>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!)
<br><br><div><span class="gmail_quote">On 2/16/07, <b class="gmail_sendername">Barbara Richmond</b> <<a href="mailto:piano57@insightbb.com">piano57@insightbb.com</a>> wrote:</span><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
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<div><font face="Arial" size="2">Howdy,</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2"></font> </div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">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. </font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2"></font> </div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">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.</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2"></font> </div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">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? </font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2"></font> </div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">I thought about recommending that the church look
into a big April-Aire system. </font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2"></font> </div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">Any suggestions are welcome.</font></div>
<div> </div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">Thanks.</font></div>
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<div><font face="Arial" size="2">Barbara Richmond, RPT</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">near Peoria,
Illinois</font> </div></div>
</blockquote></div><br>