Pipe Organ Humidification

[BronYrAur]

I don't have specifics here but have been asked to give my opinion on the following:

Have you ever been involved in a church project, or more specifically, an auditorium with a pipe organ? I’ve been asked to determine how humidification can be accomplished in a large space with radiator heat to protect the organ’s leather baffles from drying out. Any suggestions?

Any thoughts?

 

[MintJulep]

I'd say leave it be.

Pipe organs with leather bits have been in churches - heated and unheated - for centuries.

An occasional wipe-down with an appropriate protective product will do far more to protect the leather than any attempt to control humidity in the space.

 

[stanlsimon]

Adding humidification to existing buildings can be a big disaster, especially in northern climates where the windows and vapor retarders are not built to handle it. Most of the humidity will be condensing inside the wall and running down the windows. The Lawyers will be on your case for mold, mildew, asthma attacks, etc.

 

[danw2]

Interesting you ask. A friend with home pipe organ is concerned about the low RH that winter heating produces in our northern climate. He installed a humidifier on his forced hot air furnace but encountered the necessity for 'high-level' maintenance on that unit, due to the float switch 'hanging' due to hard water deposits. His choice is either changing humdifier technology or conditioning his very hard water.

He is looking at an in-space humidifier that is a centrifugal atomizer, a stand alone unit that doesn't connect to the forced air furnace. He found it here

http://www.humiditysource.com/products.html

 

[ChrisConley]

Depending on budget you could go from a gas-fired humidifier located in a small AHU to carefully control the space to 25% RH (or whatever level the glass doesn't condense at). Or if is a more typical church budget project I'd recommend wet towels on the radiators...

 

[blutfort]

One of the things to consider is consistency if temperature and humidity. I was programming a controls job for a church with a big pipe organ and while there were some specifics on minimum humidities they were more concerned with constant temp and humidity. Every time the humidity in the space changes they needed to spend several hours re-tuning the organ.
I always wondered what they did when the church had no AC.

 

[KiwiMace]

I always wondered what they did when the church had no AC.

They moved the stool a little to one side and carried on playing!

There really is little chance of controlling the humidity to any extent unless you look after the whole building or encase the bellows.