Dampp-Chaser Piano Life Saver System

Protecting Your Piano – Piano Life Saver System from Chupp’s

Swings in the humidity level in a room can be very detrimental to your piano. An inconsistent moisture content can cause your piano too quickly drop out of tune and cause damage to the wooden piano components. Here at Chupp’s Piano Service we highly recommend protecting your beloved instrument with a Piano Life Saver System from Dampp Chaser. This dual humidifier/dehumidifier is one of the best ways to ensure your piano stays in top working order.

The Piano Life Saver System is an internal humidity control system that is engineered to protect what is arguably the world’s most complex musical instrument: the piano.  It is widely held that a grand piano has more individual parts than a car. The vast majority of those parts are made of wood. It’s a remarkable piece of engineering and a wonder of construction. Many of the world’s most respected piano makers build their instruments today in almost exactly the same manner as they did over 100 years ago. They go to great lengths to assure that the many species of wood used in the construction of their instruments are carefully chosen and dried to the proper moisture content. It is extremely important that this moisture content is maintained throughout the life of the piano.  Piano makers deem this so important that they include a clause in their warranties that excludes coverage to instruments that have been subjected to extremes of temperature and humidity.

The most critical step in piano care and maintenance is keeping it in an environment where the relative humidity (RH) and temperature are stable at approximately 45% and 70 F respectively.  Ambient humidity levels determine the moisture content of the wooden parts in your piano, and the moisture content determines the dimension and integrity of the wood.

Creating the Correct Environment

Unfortunately, creating and maintaining that environment is difficult, even impossible in some areas.  The world is a very diverse place climatically. In the driest areas, like the southwestern US, getting the humidity level up to 45% is difficult, while in regions of higher humidity like the Gulf Coast, getting it down to that level is nearly impossible. Many areas even have both of these problems, depending on which season it is!  Consider the sultry summer days and the frigid winter nights experienced by the midwestern states and provinces.  Humidity levels are all over the chart!
Attempting to keep the humidity in your entire home at a constant 45% is extremely challenging and may not even be desirable.  Every time you walk out the door, the humidity level you worked so hard to achieve goes right out with you. The same thing happens when you come in from outside. You bring the uncontrolled outdoors in with you. If you do manage to bring the RH up to 45% on a frosty winter day, every window in the house will have condensation or ice buildup on it.  In relatively little time, you will be dealing with mold and mildew problems.  During the hot humid time of year, your air conditioner, while it is running, will lower the humidity somewhat.  The second it stops, the humidity starts to climb again until the air conditioner comes back on.  Since it is designed to regulate temperature, not humidity, it turns off once the set temperature is reached, with no regard for the humidity level.

The Piano Life Saver System is an affordable, easy to maintain solution to the problems listed above.  Maintaining it is so simple that many users have their children do it! No other system can achieve the results of the Piano Life Saver System for a comparable cost or expenditure of effort. We highly recommend these systems to our customers.