Dampp Chaser

[Duffer]

My piano action is starting to squeak and groan after the wettest summer in living memory in Devon (and they can be very wet). I thought about a Dampp Chaser but my tuner says that in his experience they are not very effective on grand pianos.

He suggests de-humidifying the room but this will presumably be expensive and noisy? He also says that he expects that with return of colder weather and the use of the central heating the action will dry out.

Does anyone have a view on the subject?

Regards

Duffer

[Gill the Piano]

Just heat the room gently; a builder's dehumidifier would be far too vicious. Make sure the piano's left open.

[joseph]

yeah i sometimes get sticky notes because of that, a dampp chaser costs so much money so i've never bought one (i'd need two anyway). I just open the windows lots and put the heating on low, usually leave the piano open, this usually solves it.

Interestingly, my old Bluthner, with the patent action, has NEVER had a sticky note. It just gets terribly out of regulation. But when it is regulated, and voiced, and tuned, despite needing a full rebuild, it still has a magic about it!

[Duffer]

Thanks for the thoughts. I agree a builder's dehumidifier would be disastrous but I gather there are machines designed for art galleries etc.

I would still be very interested to hear from anyone who has fitted a chaser to a small grand. In the meantime I will begin heating the room very gently .

Thanks again

Duffer

[Barrie Heaton]

Thanks for the thoughts. I agree a builder's dehumidifier would be disastrous but I gather there are machines designed for art galleries etc.

I would still be very interested to hear from anyone who has fitted a chaser to a small grand. In the meantime I will begin heating the room very gently .

Thanks again

Duffer

on grands you need a damp chaser with an under blanket see here for your local fitter but they are not as good on grands at protecting the action as on uprights . However, household dehmidifire are quite quiet these days and don't run all the time and would do all the room



Barrie,

[Gill the Piano]

I have had some success with silica gel in cases like these; put in a finger bandage tube as long as the action is wide, and rested along the beam of the action. Take it out and dry it occasionally in the oven - gently.

[Duffer]

Once again many thanks. The silica gel seems a nice simple solution which I will try immediately.

I will make further enquiries about dehumidifiers and let you know if I find anything of interest.

Regards

Duffer

[Grenache]

Hi,

I have a standard domestic dehumidifier (£120 in B&Q or similar) which is left on all the time. It has an adjustable humidistat which turns the thing off when the humidity gets below the set level. I used a couple of cheap hygrometers to experiment with the setting.

In the summer months it runs almost continuously, but in the winter hardly at all.

Its rate of drying is much less than a builder's one, so the rate of change is not enough to suddently dry out the piano.

In the summer it will draw out up to a litre of water each day without the humidity falling by more than a few percent, and even with continuous running the humidity rarely goes below 48%.

[Duffer]

How now sirrah! (or should that be Syrah/Shiraz). I shall look into my local B & Q without delay.

Many thanks

Duffer