This question comes from one of our viewers Elizabeth from Cozumel in the Caribbean.
She asks, “What can I do about the extreme humidity where I live?” when it comes to her piano.
There are several things you can do to help alleviate the problem of humidity or climate when it comes to the life of your piano.
Buy a Dehumidifier
Install the dehumidifier and make sure that you keep all the windows closed.
You can also use Air Conditioning to do pretty much the same thing.
However, if you are living near the beach or somewhere where you want to enjoy the elements, you might have second thoughts about keeping your windows closed. After all, you have to balance the enjoyment of your life with the longevity of your piano.
But is there anything you can do other than close everything up? Sure.
Close Your Piano at Night
At nighttime when the marine layer comes in, that is the worst time of day for your piano.
This shouldn’t just be something you do if you live near the beach either. Generally, closing your piano at night is a great idea to prolong the life of the instrument.
Buy a String Cover
With excessive humidity it might be a good idea to buy a string cover.
This is a piece of felt that will match the shape of the inside of your piano. It will cover the strings and protect them from humidity without affecting the sound too much.
Put a Cover over the Entire Piano
If you want to protect the piano even more, you can close the entire piano and put a cover over it to prolong the life of the instrument.
But if you want the enjoyment of having your piano open a good deal of the time and still protecting it, there is one thing that might be the right solution for you.
Install a Dampp Chaser System
This is a very interesting way to prolong the life of your piano and still be able to enjoy it’s beauty without having to close it or cover it.
This technology puts heating rods beneath the piano with a humidistat. Whenever the humidity gets above a certain level, the heating rods will become hot.
This will help to keep your soundboard stable and will make tuning more stable over time.
Bottom line, just make sure that no matter what you do to prolong the life your piano, you are able to get the enjoyment out of it that you want.
3 thoughts on “Helping Your Piano Last Longer – Pianos and Humidity”
What about if I live in the mountains of Big Bear Lake, California where the relative humidity is often in the single digit to no more than 20% or 30%? Is there risk of the adhesion of wood parts losing their ability and the piano literally coming apart at the seams? What risk is there to a fine old 1887 Steinway & Sons Model B in such arid conditons? Thank you
You bring up an excellent point. Extreme dryness can also present major problems for pianos. The high desert in California as well as parts of Arizona can experience single digit humidity! The real danger is in drying out the soundboard. Cracks can develop, or hairline cracks which present no problem in most parts of the country can open up and cause buzzing. Other wood joints can also potentially suffer particularly if the piano was previously in a humid environment and gets moved to an extremely dry environment. So, a moderate humidity level is important for the longevity of pianos. You can mitigate the effects of weather in a number of ways which I described in my humidity video except in reverse:
• Buy and install a humidifier and make sure that you keep all the windows closed.
• Put a large, shallow pan of water underneath your piano.
• Install a Dampp-Chaser humidification system.
Be sure there are no heating vents blowing up at the soundboard of your piano (or behind an upright piano) no matter where you live. The key to providing the right environment for your piano is, if you would be comfortable sitting in the room where the piano is day and night, then your piano will probably be O.K. However, you may check the humidity level of you home and make adjustments if necessary with the previously described techniques.
– Robert
Thank you for sharing your tips about pianos and piano performance.