diff --git a/python/obitools3/obidms/_obidmscolumn_float.pyx b/python/obitools3/obidms/_obidmscolumn_float.pyx
index a374bbb..e7fc1f1 100644
--- a/python/obitools3/obidms/_obidmscolumn_float.pyx
+++ b/python/obitools3/obidms/_obidmscolumn_float.pyx
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ cdef class OBIDMS_column_float(OBIDMS_column):
         if value == OBIFloat_NA :
             result = None
         else :
-            result = <float> value
+            result = <double> value
         return result
     
     cpdef set_item(self, size_t line_nb, str element_name, obifloat_t value):