Hi!

I would like to know if the heater is enough to protector the piano from humidity? I wonder if it necessary to buy a dehumidifier to put in the room where the piano is? Hope to hear some advices on this matter. Thanks in advance!

Regards
Raymond

It would help to know where you live, and what the climate is like there!

I live in Singapore. It's a tropical country so it's quite humid. I had not buy any hygrometer so I don't know the level. I intend to buy 1 hygrometer to measure the room humidity and decide whether to buy the kind of size of dehumidifier. I just wonder if it is necessary to buy one unit for better protection for piano.

Of course every situation is different, but fluctuations in humidity and temperature can effect the tuning stability of an instrument in the short term and its lifespan in the long term.

A heater is better than no heat, but there are much more sophisticated systems out there, the most popular of which is the Damppchaser system. My best advice is to have a piano technician visit, service your piano, and give you a professional opinion based on the environment that the piano has been placed in.

I hope that helps,

Hi Raymond and congratulations on your piano purchase.

I believe that controlling the humidity of the whole room, rather than the just the inside of the piano, is the best solution. It's more effective, more economical and benefits the contents of the entire room as well as the people!

As temperature fluctuations in Singapore are small compared to most countries, humidity is the prime concern and I would recommend a dehumidifier if your aircon doesn't maintain the humidity at the levels Petrof recommend - please see link below. (Most European pianos like the 50% mark) We use dehumidifiers in our warehouse to maintain a constant 50% rh and the benefits are huge.

As Rich suggested, discuss this with your dealer/tech - that should be part of his service and what you've paid him for.

Please read through Petrof's maintenance guide for more useful info.

http://www.petrof.com/files/ke_stazeni/jak_pecovat_o_nastroj_aj_07.pdf

Best wishes.

If in a tropical country where the humidity is always in the 80% relative humidity, the question, I believe, is if one has air conditioning. With air conditioning, the humidity control of the room is automatic. Without air conditioning, the windows will be open all the time and a room dehumidifier would be trying to dry the world.

My actual experience living in a tropical climate without air conditioning is a damp chaser rod works just fine.

The weather has never been so crazy where I live since I bought my first acoustic a few months ago... The first week of my proud ownership was a week of uninterrupted rain...
I do use a small humidity absorber for my music room (not an electrify one, it is just a powder that absorbs humidity).
I will discuss the issue with my tuner at the beginning of next year. That's what you should probably do too. (S)He probably had similar experiences with other customers in your area.
When my tuner tuned my piano for the first time she said it is not necessary in my area, but the weather patterns seem to have changed lately.

I had been monitoring the humidity for new piano for a week using my hygrometer. I don't know the accuracy of the device that I bought. I put the hygrometer inside my camera dry box with an in-built hygrometer to compare. There is a difference of around 7% RH. When the in-built meter shows 43%, the hygrometer shows 50% RH. So I use the difference of 7% from my hygrometer.

Currently, it measures around 60-69%RH inside my piano. Minus the differences, it would be around 53-62% RH. My piano has a 25watts heater and I also put Dehumidifier silicon inside the piano with a full piano cover when not in-use. So I think it is enough to protect my piano without any dehumidifier system like Dampp Chaser. Moreover, the dehumidifier silicon is so cheap. With the price of a dehumidifier system like Dampp Chaser, I could buy the dehumidifier silicon to use for about 14 year.

Now, I don't think I will buy any dehumidifier system since the humidity inside my new piano is not too bad. Any advice or comments?

Wood objects should be kept between 40% and 60% relative humidity for the best preservation (according to the Smithsonian). In my experience, pianos do best when the year-round humidity stays within a 10% range, inside those limits. The less humidity varies, the less damage.

Measuring your piano's pitch is one sure way of telling how it is responding to humidity. They go sharp with moisture, and flat with dryness. Please continue to monitor humidity year-round, and if you're in the Northern Hemisphere, unplug that heater bar in winter. By the way, 25W is far too little to attack 62% humidity levels; it's like the heat from a night light. I use 100W of heat in that environment (controlled with a humidistat, of course).

--Cy--

Has anybody here ever used something like this? I think it would be the best solution for me because humidity is bad for me too, not only for the piano, but the comment on that page says it is not 100% quiet.

On eBay and elsewhere you can buy what's called a "Humidipak." It costs almost nothing. Within 24 hours it allows you to precisely compare the reading on your hygrometer with a totally controlled humidity of 75%. Most cheap Chinese hygrometers allow for adjustments. Thus, if your hygrometer reads 72% in the 75% environment, by reading the instructions that accompanied your hygrometer you can adjust your hygrometer up to 75%, knowing it will then be precisely accurate. If your read is too high, of course an opposite adjustment can be made. Without this information (and given that you're already getting 2 disparate reads) it's all a pig in a poke. The extremely cheap cost of the "Humidipak" vs. the high cost of a piano makes this an easy call. Good luck.