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Climate Control Systems

Pianos are largely made up of wood, felt, and metal.  Extreme levels of humidity, high or low, or a fluctuating humidity level, will have detrimental effects on all of these materials both in the short and long term.  Many manufacturers describe this as "abusive" in the wording of their warranties.

When humidity levels rise, wooden components absorb moisture from the air and will actually swell to the point that they are measurably larger.  Of course, when the humidity level decreases, they will shrink.    Have you ever noticed how the doors in your home stick during one time of year and during another the gaps between boards on your hardwood floors open up?  Imagine this happening inside your piano.  When your piano is repeatedly subjected to these cycles, the glue joints holding all of these pieces together can start to fail and major components like the soundboard can crack.

The piano will also be unstable in pitch.  All pianos go out of tune and need to be tuned regularly.  However, it is not possible to put a "fine tuning" on a piano that has strayed far from pitch.  If the pitch varies and the technician needs to make a significant adjustment to it, several things will happen.  First, and most instantly noticeable, will be an additional charge by your technician.  Because he/she must do more work, they will have to charge you more.  Secondly, the piano will incur more wear and tear and stress the farther it is from pitch every time it is tuned.  And finally, the stability of the tuning will be reduced.

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The system continuously monitors the humidity level of the air inside your piano using a sophisticated electronic Humidistat which is located very close to the soundboard.

When the Humidistat senses that the humidity level is too low, it activates the Humidifier.  When it senses that the level is too high, it activates the Dehumidifier.   This shallow cycle continues day after day, year after year, protecting your piano from external conditions.

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Your piano is primarily made of wood.  Like the living trees that produced the wood used in the building of your piano, wood responds to climate and environment - it breathes, stretches and flexes. All wood instrument musicians are familiar with the effects of changing humidity levels. Guitarists must frequently adjust their bridge heights and fingerboard action. Violinists must pay close attention to maintaining constant, ideal humidity levels - or else they may find their violin rather dramatically springing apart during a performance!

Just as with other wood-based instruments, your piano needs a constant level of ideal humidity - between 40% and 50% - to maintain its pitch and tone, quality of action, and to prevent permanent damage.

The soundboard is the single largest piece of wood in your piano. It is the speaker of the piano. In order for the piano to have proper tone, the strings, bridge, and soundboard must be in tension together. To make this occur, the piano is designed and built so that the strings have a slight downward angle on both sides of the bridge. This is called downbearing. Along with this, the soundboard must have a slight upward curve which is called crown. The downbearing and crown must be very precise. It takes very little change to dramatically compromise the tone.

When the humidity drops, the soundboard shrinks and flattens, lowering the tension of the strings. The pitch will drop or become flat. The technician will have to perform a pitch raise to bring the piano back to the proper pitch before a fine tuning can be done. When the humidity rises, the soundboard absorbs moisture from the air, making it swell and increasing the crown. Now, the pitch will go up or become sharp.

This chart demonstrates how drastically pitch can change when your piano is exposed to fluctuations in the humidity during seasonal weather changes.

The complex mechanical linkage that starts with the key that you press with your fingers, and ends with the hammer striking the strings is called the action. It quite literally has thousands of wooden parts that must all be precisely adjusted to work perfectly together. This adjustment process is called regulation. When the humidity changes, the precision is lost, resulting in the touch you have grown accustomed to changing and becoming inconsistent. Primarily in a vertical piano, the Piano Life Saver System will help counteract these issues.

Just as doors and drawers become tight and difficult to move, the keys of your piano may respond slowly or even stick down in times of high humidity.

Over time, constant changes in humidity levels, with the corresponding shrinking and swelling of the soundboard, will damage the integrity of the soundboard. You will see this damage in the form of pressure ridges and cracks in the board. A crack in your soundboard has an extremely negative affect on the value of your piano. By maintaining a constant level of humidity in your piano, the Piano Life Saver System virtually eliminates these damaging humidity level swings and protects your instrument.

Piano strings are under tremendous tension. The strings are coiled around tuning pins that are driven into holes in a multilayered piece of wood, usually maple, called the pinblock. The tuning pin is actually slightly larger than the hole that it is driven into. The resulting tight fit is necessary for the piano to be tuneable.

When the humidity increases, swelling the wood, the tuning pins may become so tight that the technician has trouble making the delicate adjustments that are necessary in a fine tuning. When the humidity level drops, the pinblock will shrink, resulting in loose tuning pins. This can result in a piano that will not hold tune very long or even render it completely untuneable. At this point you must either replace the pinblock or the piano.

The up and down cycling of humidity can also cause the layers in the pinblock to delaminate. This is virtually always accompanied by cracks developing within the layers themselves. The cost of this type of repair can often exceed the value of the piano.

The strings of your piano are responsible for producing the musical sounds. With exposure to high humidity levels over long periods, strings become rusted and corroded.

At the junction where rusted strings wrap around rusted pins, rust corrosion forms a hardened bond between the two. Then, during a tuning, when your piano technician turns the pins to stretch the strings, the inflexible, rusted string snaps at this joint.

Because the Piano Life Saver System  maintains a safe level of humidity in your piano, rust is much less likely to form on your strings. Remember, never clean your strings with a damp cloth!

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Generic "Room" Equipment Climate Control System
Electricity Used in 24 Hours 5.280  kWh*
0.864 kWh
(Grand System)
0.564 kWh
(Vertical System)
Noise Level and Appearance Noisy, Intrusive, Unattractive, Messy Silent, Discreet, Clean
Piano Owner Water Responsibility Must empty or fill reservoir at least once every day. Fill reservoir twice a month on average.
Monitoring of Humidity Requires daily monitoring with a Hygrometer Automatically monitors humidity
Mold Growth and Home Structural Damage In cold weather, room humidifiers can drive moisture into walls, causing mold growth & structural damage. Will not cause mold growth or structural damage to your home.

*Portable Room Equipment usage based on manufacturer's published specifications.  We selected the most economical of the commonly used models to come up with this number.  Many were much higher.

Climate Control Systems

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  • Piano Life Saver System Grand Piano Humidity Control

    Piano Life Saver System Grand Piano Humidity Control

    Piano Life Saver System Grand Piano Humidity Control

    The PIANO LIFE SAVER is a piano humidity control system.
    As a fundamental component of complete piano care, it protects your piano from the undesirable effects of extreme or fluctuating humidity levels. The Piano Life Saver System will enable your instrument to maintain proper pitch between tunings and protect the myriad of tiny wooden parts that make up a piano. A stable piano will be more enjoyable to play and listen to while rewarding your fingers with a consistent, proper touch.
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    Piano Life Saver System Grand Piano Humidity Control

    Piano Life Saver System Grand Piano Humidity Control

    Piano Life Saver System Grand Piano Humidity Control

    The PIANO LIFE SAVER is a piano humidity control system.
    As a fundamental component of complete piano care, it protects your piano from the undesirable effects of extreme or fluctuating humidity levels. The Piano Life Saver System will enable your instrument to maintain proper pitch between tunings and protect the myriad of tiny wooden parts that make up a piano. A stable piano will be more enjoyable to play and listen to while rewarding your fingers with a consistent, proper touch.
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    Piano Life Saver System Grand Piano Humidity Control

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  • Piano Life Saver System Upright Piano Humidity Control

    Piano Life Saver System Upright Piano Humidity Control

    Piano Life Saver System Upright Piano Humidity Control

    The PIANO LIFE SAVER is a piano humidity control system.
    As a fundamental component of complete piano care, it protects your piano from the undesirable effects of extreme or fluctuating humidity levels. The Piano Life Saver System will enable your instrument to maintain proper pitch between tunings and protect the myriad of tiny wooden parts that make up a piano. A stable piano will be more enjoyable to play and listen to while rewarding your fingers with a consistent, proper touch.
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    Piano Life Saver System Upright Piano Humidity Control

    Piano Life Saver System Upright Piano Humidity Control

    Piano Life Saver System Upright Piano Humidity Control

    The PIANO LIFE SAVER is a piano humidity control system.
    As a fundamental component of complete piano care, it protects your piano from the undesirable effects of extreme or fluctuating humidity levels. The Piano Life Saver System will enable your instrument to maintain proper pitch between tunings and protect the myriad of tiny wooden parts that make up a piano. A stable piano will be more enjoyable to play and listen to while rewarding your fingers with a consistent, proper touch.
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    Piano Life Saver System Upright Piano Humidity Control

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  • Piano Life Saver System Piano Humidity Control Dampp-Chaser PAD Treatment

    Piano Life Saver System Piano Humidity Control Dampp-Chaser PAD Treatment

    Piano Life Saver System Piano Humidity Control Dampp-Chaser PAD Treatment

    The PIANO LIFE SAVER is a piano humidity control system.
    As a fundamental component of complete piano care, it protects your piano from the undesirable effects of extreme or fluctuating humidity levels. The Piano Life Saver System will enable your instrument to maintain proper pitch between tunings and protect the myriad of tiny wooden parts that make up a piano. A stable piano will be more enjoyable to play and listen to while rewarding your fingers with a consistent, proper touch.
    Maximum quantity exceeded
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    Piano Life Saver System Piano Humidity Control Dampp-Chaser PAD Treatment

    Piano Life Saver System Piano Humidity Control Dampp-Chaser PAD Treatment

    Piano Life Saver System Piano Humidity Control Dampp-Chaser PAD Treatment

    The PIANO LIFE SAVER is a piano humidity control system.
    As a fundamental component of complete piano care, it protects your piano from the undesirable effects of extreme or fluctuating humidity levels. The Piano Life Saver System will enable your instrument to maintain proper pitch between tunings and protect the myriad of tiny wooden parts that make up a piano. A stable piano will be more enjoyable to play and listen to while rewarding your fingers with a consistent, proper touch.
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    Piano Life Saver System Piano Humidity Control Dampp-Chaser PAD Treatment

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  • Piano Life Saver System Piano Humidity Control Humidifier Pads

    Piano Life Saver System Piano Humidity Control Humidifier Pads

    Piano Life Saver System Piano Humidity Control Humidifier Pads

    The PIANO LIFE SAVER is a piano humidity control system.
    As a fundamental component of complete piano care, it protects your piano from the undesirable effects of extreme or fluctuating humidity levels. The Piano Life Saver System will enable your instrument to maintain proper pitch between tunings and protect the myriad of tiny wooden parts that make up a piano. A stable piano will be more enjoyable to play and listen to while rewarding your fingers with a consistent, proper touch.
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    Piano Life Saver System Piano Humidity Control Humidifier Pads

    Piano Life Saver System Piano Humidity Control Humidifier Pads

    Piano Life Saver System Piano Humidity Control Humidifier Pads

    The PIANO LIFE SAVER is a piano humidity control system.
    As a fundamental component of complete piano care, it protects your piano from the undesirable effects of extreme or fluctuating humidity levels. The Piano Life Saver System will enable your instrument to maintain proper pitch between tunings and protect the myriad of tiny wooden parts that make up a piano. A stable piano will be more enjoyable to play and listen to while rewarding your fingers with a consistent, proper touch.
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    Piano Life Saver System Piano Humidity Control Humidifier Pads

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