Pipe Organs and Condensation

[myorgan]

The other day when I read John (jbird604) recounting his experiences with a pedal cipher on the Reuter organ at his church, I had just finished band practice with my students. It started me wondering:

When a person plays the Trumpet, the condensation from the compressed air needs to be released via a "spit" valve. I began asking myself if metal organ pipes ever have condensation issues when high-humidity air is forced through the languid of a pipe? Has anyone ever observed it?

What think ye all?

Michael

[aeolian pat]

Most pipe organs receive their wind from a centripetal blower. This fan raises the organ wind from atmospheric pressure to the normal working pressure needed for the type of action and pipe scaling . Compression of the wind raises the wind temperature of the wind as well. The wind travels through metal or wooden conductors to wooden reservoirs to wooden chests.
All these wood components absorb or release moister to the moving air. Organ air is very dry in the winter and often needs a bit of moisture. Organ wind is not like the warm moist air from a human.It posses no problem to the pipes or reed motors. However a person blowing into a reed is not good practice.Damage from exterior moisture will destroy glue joints and cause damage to many other parts of the instrument. Condensing moisture is not the most common form of damage.

[myorgan]

Good answer. I've always wondered about that, but it does make sense that human breath would contain more moisture than a mechanical blower. OTOH, I would also imagine it depends on the relative humidity level of the ambient air.

Thank you for a well-reasoned answer!

Michael