DC competition

[Dave Nereson]

Is it time to get some competition   in Climate Control for Pianos ?

    Yes, I think so.  D-C's are OK, but only OK.  I have installed several and I guess they do what they're supposed to, but I always feel like the customer is paying too much for what they're getting, and that there should be other alternatives.  
    I know there are room humidifiers, and they're OK also, as long as the owners remember to run them and for the proper amounts of time.  
    The D-Cs just have this "junky", or "flimsy", or "cheap" air about them that bugs me.  There's too many rods, straps, hangers, clips -- things that can buzz.  Too many cords to coil up and hang in ugly bundles all over the place.  And in uprights, there's all that stuff in the way every time you have to adjust pedals, replace a string, or vacuum it out.  I don't like the way the low water probes are mounted to the plastic tank.  The mounting clip corrodes, then they break off, or the cord gets yanked by kids or a dog's tail and the probes end up not sticking straight down, so the low water light stays on and the wing nut doesn't tighten enough to hold them or else there's no nut, just a rivet that pivots.  And too much crud forms on the heater bar and it's hard to clean (I know, they have the new one that's not spozeta do that, but all the already-installed ones still will).  And the pads get crusty too fast.  And customers complain about the fill tube and mold forming in it and spills and ugly tanks and cords hanging under the piano like brake gear under a box car.  Then it accidentally gets unplugged for a few weeks or months during carpet cleaning or renovation or vacation, then you gotta pitch raise and go through a several-tuning re-stabilizing period.  And slime (algae) forms in the tank, so now ya gotta deal with chemical additives and ahh, jeez....
     Those are admittedly details, but one of the more serious concerns is:  does that plastic moisture shield or baffle or whatever it's called really distribute the moist warm air evenly over the whole area of the soundboard, or just at the two ends of the plastic baffle?  And even if it is even distribution, it doesn't get to the top of the soundboard, just the bottom.  And it doesn't do anything for the pinblock or the action.  One local dealer here, who sells only high-end pianos thinks that moist air under there all the time can compromise glue joints (ribs, beams) and that the systems are essentially "junk".  His entire store, instead, is temp.- and humidity-controlled.
    I know -- I shouldn't complain if I can't think of anything better, but I'm busy tuning and repairing and don't have time to (without pay) sit and design something different . . . 
    --David Nereson, RPT