Dallas 2003

[David M. Porritt]

Fred:

At SMU we have a large engineering school, and a new art museum on
campus with moderately sophisticated climate control.  I'll check
around and see if there is anyone qualified to participate in this.
Our largest recital hall also has good climate control because of the
$1,000,000 organ in there.  Somehow that stays quite good, but the
people who take care of the rest of that same building always seem to
be in over their heads when you ask them about even temperature
control.  This will be a good excuse to try to find the right people.

I'll get back to you.

dave

*********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********

On 10/18/2002 at 3:41 PM Fred S. Sturm wrote:

>Fellow cauts,
>    For those of you who haven't heard yet, the caut segment of the
2003
>convention/institute in Dallas will focus on "Humidity Control in
the
>Institutional Environment." We'll have three periods devoted to that
>topic, which is so dear to all our hearts (or, more likely, ulcerous
to
>our stomach linings), and a fourth period for other caut concerns
>(probably open forum with a presentation of some sort to do with the
>Guidelines and supplementary material). All 4 periods will be on
Sat,
>July 5. Roger Wheelock has agreed that Dampp-Chaser will sponsor the
>event, defraying any extra costs we may incur. So send a big thank
you
>Roger's way when your paths cross.
>    This idea grew from a couple things. First, Roger Wheelock
>approached us in Chicago offering to do a presentation for us. And
>second, PTG home office was planning a mailing to higher education
music
>administrators across the country (a list of about 1900) as part of
a
>long term project to raise the profile of PTG. It seemed reasonable
to
>follow up on Chicago's Symposium with an invitation to academics to
>attend Dallas (as observers, not panelists), and humidity control
seemed
>a good topic to garner interest. (BTW, several of the academics I
>conversed in Chicago were very much struck by how often cauts
mentioned
>humidity control, saying they hadn't realized the degree of its
impact
>on pianos). Whether or not any actually attend, just informing them
of
>what we are doing, and giving them a small taste of the importance
of
>humidity control, will help our image, and maybe have a small
positive
>affect on the overall state of things.
>    As it stands now, we will have Roger Wheelock doing a
presentation
>first period, featuring, among other things, results from the
datalogger
>loan program. Second period we are hoping to have an outside expert
or
>two doing a presentation on whole building humidity control. And
third
>period will be a panel of three to four cauts presenting success
>stories: how they have successfully dealt with humidity, with
questions
>and discussion from the floor following.
>    For periods two and three, I'd like to solicit your help in
>identifying appropriate people (or volunteering yourself),
particularly
>so for experts in whole building systems. After some initial
>investigation, it seems that one likely possibility would be to find
an
>engineer with HVAC expertise, either on the faculty of a local
>university or from a local engineering firm, to give us some design
>background; and a person from physical plant/facilities management
at an
>educational institution or perhaps a museum which has such
equipment, to
>give us some practical information on the care, maintenance, and
control
>of such systems in the real world. So if any of you from the greater
>Dallas area would be willing to make some local inquiries and/or
make
>some initial contacts, that would be very helpful. (Even just a
listing
>of the universities with the largest engineering departments, and
names
>of any institutions that have humidity control systems, would be
most
>helpful as a start).
>    I'll note here that there is a professional engineering
association
>devoted to HVAC - The American Society of Heating, Refrigeration
and
>Air-conditioning Engineers, http://www.ashrae.org ). And that it
seems
>humidity control as part of institutional HVAC systems is custom
>designed using three types of components - humidification,
>dehumidification, and controls - each of which is made by a separate
>manufacturer (at any rate, I have found manufacturers specializing
in
>each area, and so far none that covers more than one of the three).
So
>the notion of pursuing a manufacturer's representative doesn't seem
>likely to be very fruitful.
>    That said, any suggestions as to how to find a good presenter or
two
>on the subject of whole building humidity control would be very
welcome.
>
>Regards,
>Fred Sturm
>co-chair, caut committee
>
>_______________________________________________
>caut list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives


_____________________________
David M. Porritt
dporritt@mail.smu.edu
Meadows School of the Arts
Southern Methodist University
Dallas, TX 75275
_____________________________