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Is it worth buying a 2 in 1 humidifier/dehumidifier to keep the piano at constant humidity to extend the longevity of the piano and/or keep it in tune better? If so, what is the ideal humidity level to target?

It depends on whether there are wide humidity changes in your area. If the humidity change is slow and stable then you might be okay.

But if the humidity changes considerably between seasons or during the day then you might need one.

Most manufacturers advice to keep the piano room at about 45-55 % relative humidity. A stable humidity level will help keeping your piano in tune.

Very low humidity levels below 30% are considered harmful, as well as excessive humidity levels above 60-70 %.

It is more important to reduce variations in humidity than the absolute value so keeping a constant humidity anywhere around 50% +-10% is likely to keep your piano happy but do check the manufacturers recommendation for your particular piano.

So that gives you a 'happy for the piano' range of humidities you can choose. From there I suggest monitoring your humidity to see the range you get in your climate and living conditions, then pick a target within that 'happy piano' range that is closest to your natural average humidity. That will minimise the costs, energy consumption and noise of your air conditioning. You may also find that you need to do mainly humidifying or mainly dehumidifying and that a 2 in 1 device isn't necessarily the best answer.

Finding the right device isn't always easy either, for instance I live in a quiet environment and don't appreciate mechanical noise, particularly in my piano room. Many of the smaller quieter devices are simply not powerful enough to have much of an effect, many (all?) of the more powerful devices are noisier than I would like so there are compromises to be made.

I’ve had that dampp chaser system on a piano once, and I never want another one. I can’t exactly say why and may simply be ignorant; I just don’t want to install an apparatus on a piano. If I had dramatic swings or extreme humidity, I guess I would. You can use a Venta air washer to humidify and a portable dehumidifier. Call a few techs in your region, perhaps? When is your piano arriving?

Still a few weeks to go as I have to take a flight to choose between two of them and that will have to wait until after Easter.

I'm looking to purchase a humidifier/dehumidifier in the near future as well.
Trying to stabilise the tuning on the 30 year old Yamaha WX7 I got a couple years back...
I've had a tuning every six months so far. I wouldn't really mind that if if was only a little off after six months, but the lower register has been going quite flat.
My tech ( who has a wonderful reputation ) assures me that there is nothing wrong with the piano...it's just my drafty, forced-air, older home ( Canada ).

I'm with you gwing...I dread getting a noisy machine in our smallish living space.
Like you, I've heard that the smaller quieter ones are useless. Do you have a machine at the moment?

I would much rather avoid anything installed in the piano as well dhull100

I'll be watching this thread with interest...congrats on your soon-to-be beautiful new piano Sonepica!

I have a stand alone humidifier and keep the humidity at 42%. My piano stays in tune very well. My tuner loves me because I make his life easy. All he does is tighten up the unisons a bit. In winter I add water in the morning and before bed.

In the rather temperate west coast micro-climate where Victoria is located, we do not get extreme cold, heat or humidity from one season or from one year to the next, although winters are more humid and summers are more dry.

I can keep my home at around 40% to 45% RH in the winter when heat is on by running three Venta Air-Washer humidifiers in a single-floor 1600 sq. ft. townhouse. While Venta Air-washers are not inexpensive they are quiet (inaudible) when run 24/7 on the lowest speed (which is usually sufficient). Their other advantage is that there is no (smelly!) wick to change after a certain period of operation. I clean mine out with soap and water once a month and keep them filled daily. My piano likes them.

Regards,

Interesting comment. However I have a Dampp Chaser in my upright piano and wouldn't be without it. Although we don't have very hot & very dry weather here, were I to purchase another piano I would certainly still want to install the same system, unless it was an extremely cheap piano that I didn't particularly care for. Once installed the dampp chasers are out of sight - but not totally 'out of mind' as the water reservoir needs to be topped up periodically, together with far less infrequent pad changes, which I always do myself and find enjoyable. Having an integral hygrometer inside the piano assists in knowing just how efficient the dampp chaser really can be.

RayR3004 would you mind sharing the make/model of your humidifier?

They sound great Bruce...I'd have no problem paying more for a silent machine. I think I may be able to get away with only one, the room can be closed off if necessary. I love the beautiful west coast...I'm on the other side

It depends on your circumstances, your beliefs and your budget! If your indoor humidity is fairly stable at about 45% and there are no significant temperature swings from season to season (due to heating, cooling & outdoor temps) then you probably don't need humidification/dehumidification. It would be best if you had measurements over time to know whether or not that is the case.

The climate in Sydney is considered "humid subtropical" and is subject to significant RH swings from season to season and even day to night. I would think humidity control would be a good idea for any decent piano there.

To call Sydney humid subtropical is going too far. You really have to go North to Brisbane before you encounter a subtropical climate. For those who've never been to the East coast of Australia, the far North (Cairns) is true tropical like Papua New Guinea with tropical rainforest (it used to be connected to PNG actually), while the far South (Tasmania) has a climate like New Zealand with moss and lichen covered temperate rainforest. Sydney is somewhere in between. I once heard an Indian guy on the bus describing Sydney as "the best place in the world" because everywhere else is too hot or too cold or whatever...

I didn't use the term flippantly. I was trying to be helpful. Here are some sources; you will see the descriptors humid subtropical and subtropical oceanic:

WeatherSpark:Sydney
World Climate Guide
Climate of Sydney

I would conclude that humidity/temp control would be a good idea for any decent piano in this locality.

On Monday, my piano room (okay, my living room) was 21% relative humidity at 2 in the afternoon. Now as I glance at my hygrometer it reads 42%. A 21% upward swing in a matter of days.
(I use an Aircare H12600 3700 sq ft evaporative humidifier, which I apparently need another dozen of...)

At the same time on Monday, the hygrometer under the sound board was 35%, and right now it's 44%. Thanks to the Dampp chaser the swing was only 9% versus 21%. I can only imagine the dampp chaser is helping in my scenario.

So I think the takeaway is, if you need it, you need it.

I have tried small dehumidifiers inside the piano and not liked them. The problems are essentially the inconvenience of regularly opening the piano to keep emptying the small reservoir and that the piano cabinet and soundboard amplify the fan noise. On the other hand the dampchaser heater rods are a nice maintenance free fit and forget system, my only reservation is that they are not particularly effective and inside my large and very well ventilated upright with multiple 'sound ports' they do not reduce humidity that much (perhaps 5 to 10% max). I have retained these in the piano as a backup to my portable dehumidifier but as they are set to only turn on once humidity has risen above the value my dehumidifier normally maintains they generally get no use.

Any 'proper' compressor based dehumidifier is more than sufficient for a single room in the UK climate and so I chose the MeacoDry ABC-12l model which was the smallest and quietest machine I could find. It can pull a frightening amount of water out of the air - particularly at the start when it is sucking water not just out of the air but also the furnishings, the walls and the piano :-) It is noisier than I would like but it is silent most of the time and just comes on in cycles when needed, and I can always switch it off while I'm in the room playing the piano. To be fair I find the noise from it less unbearable than the shrill tone of protest from my piano when, without the dehumidifier, the humidity rose. I can thoroughly recommend these models but, if you have a greater humidity problem in your climate to deal with, you might find a larger capacity model better - these will be noisier though.

We have much less of a problem with low humidity here and I am not currently trying to control this. Last year we had an unusual extended dry period in the summer with lower humidity levels than I have seen before and I did briefly try one of the well like Venta air washers. I was not impressed, it was not as silent as I had hoped (although quieter than the dehumidifier) and was not effective enough to be worth the inconvenience in general in that, despite being used in a small room theoretically well within its capabilities, it did not raise the humidity much more than seven or eight percent. At the moment I am using a collection of my own best and silent humidifiers (potted plants) which are quite happy doing their job. If we have serious dry spells this summer I may supplement them with the Venta.

Thanks for sharing your experience and information gwing...I've only been tracking the humidity in the piano room since November. We had a rather mild winter this year, and the humidity was decent for most of it. February and March saw the hydrometer down in the low 30's mostly, occasionally the high 20's...not great, but spring is pretty much here now.

I second the mention of houseplants. I have several in the room as well and it really helps...you just have to resist the temptation to over-water them in order to help the piano!

@Whited I may end up getting a damp chaser in the end...I'll take my time with deciding how to deal with this issue. I hate buying twice

We have both a Dampp-Chaser and a string cover, and in our climate, I can't imagine being without. The relative humidity can swing as much as 40% in a couple of days here, and we live in an old house.

Yes! I have both Dampp-Chaser and Moisture King systems in my pianos down here in Brazil, and they both work great and are very important in keeping the instruments stable and free of humidity concerns.

Fwiw here's a side by side chart comparing humidity under my sound board vs room when I installed a dampp chaser in March. My house was built in the 40s with horrid (by today's standards) insulation.

It's able to reduce the severity of humidity swings by about 10% rh. I've recently installed a wool string cover, and I'm considering putting an undercover under the soundboard too which I expect will significantly increase the capability of the dampp chaser.

Here in the Midwest, I have a whole house humidifier to keep the humidity around 35% in the winter. Any higher and the windows would ice-up. For the other 8-9 months, the combination of furnace and central A/C keeps the humidity between 40% and 50% with almost no tweaking.