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I know that temperature and humidity (or non) can wear away a piano. )Our next piano will have a humidifier in it. (I will research those once I find the piano.) Our living room is small. We have two outer walls (probably not insulated much), one has a fireplace in it (Wish I had the funds to get rid of it. All it does is make us freeze in the winter due to the grate, not the flue.) And one inner wall, where we have the piano. Opposite the piano is the swamp cooler spot. The humid-ish air blows directly at the piano. Since all the innards are contained in the case, is that an issue or not?

Hi Christine,

A swamp cooler is basically an evaporative cooler/air conditioner (adds moisture to hot, dry air and it evaporates quickly creating a cooling effect… been around for thousands of years).

However, I would say it is certainly NOT good for your piano to be in too close a proximity to the swamp cooler. Some of the humidity might be good for the piano, but too much will be detrimental.

I suggest getting a temperature/humidity gauge and place it near the piano to keep a check on the relative humidity in the room. It would be nice if you could move the piano further away from the swamp cooler itself.

Hope this helps.

Rick

The issue is the humidity of the air around the piano. Any humidity near it is going to get in, unless the piano is sealed inside a glass jar. Your humidity should be kept in a moderate range if possible (40 to 50 percent is ideal) but stability is probably even more important than the range. (i.e. if your humidity keeps swinging back and forth then you are going to have more problems than if it stays in one place.)

Worst = wild fluctuations
Second-worst = consistently very high or very low
Best = stable and moderate

Minor fluctuations in humidity are unavoidable without exotic equipment. Keeping it reasonable is the main thing.

It's very dry here, so dry that we can cool the house (or parts of it) by adding humidity. We do not run the swamp cooler all the day long all summer, but more like 4-8 hours on many days throughout the summer. Is a swamp cooler that much of an issue? It might add 10% humidity. The thing is that the air blows toward the piano.

A simple Google of "swamp cooler" + "piano" renders a bunch of information: swamp coolers and pianos

A swamp cooler blowing directly on a piano sounds like a VERY bad idea to me. The area closest to your swamp cooler will have the greatest and most rapid fluctuations of humidity and temperature in your home. You want the LEAST and most gradual fluctuations in humidity for your piano. You live in an EXTREMELY dry environment and the relative humidity will jump by far more than %10 directly in front of your evaporative cooler.