Does anyone here have a dampp chaser? I never wanted one and resisted the idea, but after struggling to keep the humidity down last summer, and now struggling to keep it up during this nasty cold snap, I’m starting to wonder if it’s time to reconsider.

Does anyone here have one? Do you recommend them?

Ron, if you see this post, do you have any advice? I always hated the thought of drilling holes in my piano, but I hate the thought of dryness damaging it even more…

BTW in case anyone is wondering, it’s not like I’m not doing anything else to mitigate. In the summer I ran a free standing dehumidifier pretty much 24/7, which I hate bc it’s so loud. Right now I have a free-standing humidifier running, also 24/7. Before this cold-snap, it was keeping the piano room at around 35-38%, but now with the cold snap it’s not enough. I have three drying racks with wet towels around the piano, which I am continuously re-wetting. And then I boil a large pan of water and take it into the piano room several times a day. All that, plus the humidifier, and the RH is barely at 30%. When I got up this morning, i.e. after 7-8 hours of not re-wetting the towels or adding more boiling water, the RH was at 20%.

Probably the only other way to make any improvements would be to add a whole house humidifier and dehumidifier, but as a renter, that’s not an option.

I’ve been contemplating getting a second humidifier, and the model I prefer is $250-350. So if I’m going to do that, I figured I might as well consider a dampp chaser…

I have had a dampp-chaser system since I bought my piano in 2006. I can't really tell you how well it works because I haven't kept up with hygrometer measurements after the first year or so. In that first year or so it did seem to keep the humidity up during the winter, and down in the summer, and the tuning of the piano has been rock solid stable. We haven't had any cracking either. Cause and effect? Got me.

When I had my piano shop, I never sold a piano without a system. It was a "freebie". I believe in them. (BTW, I did not pay for piano moving, just the system)They really do help with tuning stability and ward against soundboard cracks. In the long run, a DC will save you $$$.

Have had one for 20 years.

Very stable piano and no cracks. It has been plugged in 24/7/365 and only filled with water during the dry winter months.

Yes, they work well, but....

Letting the tank run dry, or unplugging is worse than not using one (common institutional problem)

The cord provides a tripping hazard depending on piano location. (again, more common problem for institutional use)

The unit attempts to create a micro-climate within the piano. Any breeze (like from forced air furnace) can somewhat negate the effect. To assist in difficult situations, installing a bottom cover (kindof like speaker cloth) will cut down the air flow. Additionally, a wool string cover is also a big help creating the micro climate.

The more the room is controlled, the better the system is able to help.

FYI, the system is always on and never rests. It works by switching back and forth between humidifying and heating to dry. This up and down of the air ends up creating stability in the wood which reacts much slower than the air.

Adding water/treatment and changing pads once or twice a year is the upkeep required. In very hard water areas, some techs will suggest distilled water with the treatment to avoid the heavy mineral deposits on the pads.

What he said.^^^

My brother the tech swears by them. When he maintained aq university's pianos they all had them.

I use RO water and the bacterial water treatment for evaporative humidifiers.

Pads really never get mineral build-up and I have only replaced them once in 20 years. That was about 10 years ago so I should probably check them. lol

I also use two evaporative wick whole room humidifiers in the winter months as I also have solid wood guitars hanging around in the room.

Also have several hygrometers both digital and analog to keep an eye on the hourly/daily/weekly/monthly average humidity level.

Plus an app called Humiditrak from D'Addario that received the data from several digital hygrometers for various rooms and instrument cases.

Thanks for all the info everyone!! This is super helpful.

Ron, does that bottom cover make it hard to add water? Can you just move the cover, add water, and reattach? Or maybe I'm misunderstanding...

BTW your two cautionary remarks won't be an issue, the piano is along a wall and there's an outlet in a great spot. And I am so, so careful about maintaining my piano, I would keep a DC plugged in and carefully monitor the water. It sounds like it would be less labor intensive than the humidifier and dehumidifier that I use.

Mark, what's the RH in your room with those two wick humidifiers? Is the room totally closed off?

Holy macaroni and cheese, y'all!!

So, I don't know how I got this number in my head, but I was thinking the dampp chaser would be maybe in the range of $350-400.... And maybe it was, 10 years ago! Nope, I have gotten two quotes so far, one for $800, and the other one for $795.

Oof.

I still may go ahead and do. Mr. SK thinks I should. But yeah, that's a lot more than I was expecting!

The room is not totally closed off. It is essentially the entryway of the house but then I have a very unique house.

It has a small hallway that leads to the main hallway and a wide ~12ft opening that used to have a slatted accordion type door to the living room.

Here is a photo from 2016. Before we replaced the 1950s entrance door. Don't mind the mess please! You can see the white Dampp Chaser "watering can" below the piano on the right.



These are the humidifiers we use: https://aircare.com/humidifiers/executive-4dts900/

They are rated for 3,600sqft of coverage and they can make it too humid if you crank them up to max. I set them to 45% and they hold that humidity all winter long. Sometimes the humidity will peak to above 50% depending on the variabillity of the outside humidity, temperature, etc. But, I would rather have a little too much vs. too little.

There's your beautiful piano!!

quote:

It has a small hallway that leads to the main hallway and a wide ~12ft opening that used to have a slatted accordion type door to the living room.

So there's only one opening that's always opened? (that hallway) -- If I'm understanding correctly, your space is much more "closed" than mine is.

My piano is in the living room, which on one side, where there would normally be a wall, there's a stairwell.

Another place where there should be a wall is almost completely open and it opens up to a family room space which flows into the kitchen area in a sort of u-shaped configuration (maybe).

So because that, it's very hard to control the humidity, I was a little more successful with dehumidifying in the summer than I am right now with humidifying.

quote:

These are the humidifiers we use: https://aircare.com/humidifiers/executive-4dts900/

One of the piano techs I talked to today recommended an Aircare to me, he recommended this one:

https://www.amazon.com/AIRCARE...75-8bc7-93deae8f9840

At ~$125, it's a lot less expensive than the DC unit... but like any humidifier, or dehumidifier, this requires daily attention (i.e., either refilling the water or emptying it).

The appeal of the DC is that, as I understand it, it can still function while you're away bc even in the winter, it doesn't need daily filling right? More like, once a week or every two weeks?

Yes. A week to 10 days.

I noticed that I had turned them off a few days ago as I was listening to some quiet music. I forgot to turn them back on and my humidity dropped to just below 40%

I turned them on an hour ago and now the cabinetand piano are returningto normal levels.

quote:

Yes. A week to 10 days.

Yeah, if I'm traveling or something and have someone checking on the house, that's manageable. Once a day is not.

Re your humidity control, it's enviable!!