Damp Chaser in old upright

[Farrell]

Hi Judy. Relative humidity (RH) is about the same in Tampa as it is in your
part of Texas. Please remember, it is indoor RH that we need to monitor. I
recommend Damp-Chaser systems for both verticals and grands because I
believe they help (I don't push them at all on older pianos unless the owner
is having tuning stability problems). In Florida I only install the
dehumidifier and humidistat. I do not install the humidifier portion of the
system. If your indoor RH does not drop below maybe 35% (that's about the
lowest I have ever seen in Tampa) I would recommend the same should apply
for your area - so not to worry about water droplets building up on your
soundboard (not that they would anyway).

Whole house humidity control is by far the best. Individual room humidity
control would be second best. But keep in mind, room RH control is not
accomplished by an unregulated humidifier from Eckard that is turned on
manually when "it seems a bit dry in here". Good humidity control would be
accomplished with an appropriate electronic device that controls an
appropriate dehumidifier (or humidifier) that is capable of adjusting the RH
in that room to the desired level.

In my shop (900 square feet) I have a basement-type room dehumidifier
controlled by a Damp-Chaser humidistat. The dehumidifier is large enough to
adequately dehumidify my shop. The dry-calibration humidistat turns the
dehumidifier on-and-off at 46% to 50% RH. When I run my air conditioner, or
during the dry winter months, the RH will drop to around 40%. I feel I have
adequate whole room humidity control in my shop.

A Damp-Chaser system for the piano is next in line for preference. The piano
you describe MAY have accelerated glue failure because of the heater bar
left on for 25 years. I have seen a number of older pianos with glue failure
problems (wait until you get an old Aeolian spinet with all the hammer felt
popping off the core - what fun!!!), and almost all had an unregulated
heater bar in them. But, keep in mind, that is not a proper humidity-control
device installation. The system REQUIRES a humidistat - installed properly.

I have yet to see a vertical piano humidistat properly installed. The few
that have a humidistat - it is always hanging from the heater rod.
Damp-Chaser specifically instructs that if a humidifier is not used, the
humidistat should be mounted above the rod somewhere on the side of the
case. The humidistat needs to be in a place where it can react to the
changing RH in the interior of the piano - in an area ideally where the RH
is most representative of the average RH in the piano.

Anyway, end of words. Hit us with any more questions that you may want!!!
Good luck!!!

Terry Farrell

----- Original Message -----
From: "jstuart1" <jstuart1@pdq.net>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Saturday, July 07, 2001 9:16 AM
Subject: Re: Damp Chaser in old upright


> Thanks Clyde. I ommitted my first name because I am not sure how everyone
accepts female
> techs. When I was into electronics (pinball machines) it was my experience
that if I
> posted my name, no one would reply but if I just posted JStuart everyone
thought I was
> male and would answer my questions. My name is Judy. Usually the humitity
here is
> houston runs between 40 and 100% There are very few days where it is less
than 50 % and
> on average I would guess 70-80.
>
> Judy
>
> Clyde Hollinger wrote:
>
> > JStewart (a first name would be nice),
> >
> > A piano equipped with an uncontrolled heat rod could be worse off than
having no
> > humidity control at all, depending on the humidity of the Houston area.
At the very
> > least it should have a humidistat to shut it off when it gets dry
enough.  These are
> > available from Dampp-Chaser.
> >
> > All of us were beginners at one time.  Hang around this list, go to
conventions and
> > you'll learn a lot!
> >
> > Regards,
> > Clyde Hollinger
> >
> > jstuart1 wrote:
> >
> > > I believe this piano has just the heating rod. I am in Houston so the
humidity
> > > here runs from the 40's to the 100 range. I don't believe the bar is
on any sort
> > > of timer or other control and the owner indicated that it stays on all
the time.
> > > I am not sure what the rating of the rod is.
>