Keeping in mind that my winters are cold, with low humidity, and that my fall and spring are quite temperate with high humidity, I am wondering what others think about furnance system humidifiers/dehumidifiers.

Do you think the damp chaser is adequate, or preferred, or do you use instead, or in addition, a whole house system?

Either is much better than what I think most people with pianos do, which is nothing. And BTW there is a third way, which I think is more common than either of the ones you said: individual humidifier units for the room or area where the piano is.

I think most experts would say that whole-house humidification is best, but that the Damppchaser is darn good, and that area humidification is very good too if you do it conscientiously and well, which is sometimes very hard. I personally am not a fan of the Damppchaser, although it's been recommended by several techs, because of the possible bad hazards (although I've been told they are rare) and because of the related thing that I just can't get comfortable with the idea of drilling holes in the piano and putting what amounts to a tub of water against its bottom. Anyway, while most experts love the Damppchaser, the consensus does seem to be that it doesn't keep the humidity as constant as a whole-house system and that the latter is preferable in other ways too. The trouble with whole-house, of course, is that it's much more elaborate to put in, but if your house already has it or if you're OK with doing it, you're in great shape.

This has been discussed many times on the site but mostly in a different section, Piano Forum. I was in some of those discussions when I first came to the site and haven't looked since then because I found out what I wanted to, but I'm sure there have continued to be discussions there. If you don't get enough answers here, you might want to look over there and perhaps do a search -- or maybe just repeat your post on that forum, because I think more of the people who really know about this are on there.

My Dampp chaser helped stabilize my piano's tuning.

if you have forced air heat, then a whole house system will be beneficial to both your piano and your health. I'd recommend that you get a good one - Aprilaire is one good brand, though there are a number of similar units these days. I live in a similar climate to you and that's all I use to keep my piano stable and our nasal passages from drying out during winter. On the other hand I will be installing a Damp Chaser in a new piano I'm acquiring as it will go in to a part of the house that is separate from the force air main furnace system. The problem with room units is that you have to been feeding them constantly especially in a dry winter climate like WI (or here in ON). They work fine as long as you keep adding water.

Hi Beth,

I'm also in the frozen north. I have a whole house humidification system and it does a nice job of keeping the house at an even 40% plus or minus a percent. The last three times I've had my piano tuned it's only needed minor touchup.

I've not seen the need for a dehumidifier but then I keep the house closed up during the warm/wet days.

The humidifier was relatively inexpensive. I don't recall exactly how much but I'd say significantly less than $500 and was definitely worth it in terms of hassle free humidification.