Today I bought a general moisture meter from lowes. Went out and split 3 pieces of wood. I piece of of cherry and it tested 20%. That was cut and split about a month ago. A piece of oak that was cut 2 or 3 year ago and split about 2 months tested at about 23 %. And then a piece of ash that was cut down on monday. And just split today tested at 25%. I brought the 3 pieces into the house and tested them about 2 hours after bringing them in. Cherry 24% oak was 32% and ash was 25%. What causes this big of a difference? User error or does the temperature of the wood affect the moisture content?
moisture meter
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Wisneaky
Minister of Fire
Poindexter
Minister of Fire
Two items.
1. As above, our cheapy meters are calibrated -usually- at +70dF. If your wood was out in freezing weather and then in the heated house for two hours, yup, the reading will go up. I like to have mine in the heated garage for 48 hours before I bother with the MM, my garage is heated to +55dF. I can stick a meter in green wood that I know is 55+%MC wet basis and see "zero percent" on the meter at -40dF outdoors, all that proves is the moisture in the wood is frozen and not liquid state water.
2. Most of our cheapy woodburner MMs are calibrated for Douglas Fir. Other species can require correction. Generally on the magnificent eastern hardwoods the actual corrected number is higher than what the meter shows. There are tables by species for that all over the internet, a couple on hearth dot com. I would consider chimneysweep dot com to be a largely reliable source, also any state forestry department or major academic institute. Google is your friend...
1. As above, our cheapy meters are calibrated -usually- at +70dF. If your wood was out in freezing weather and then in the heated house for two hours, yup, the reading will go up. I like to have mine in the heated garage for 48 hours before I bother with the MM, my garage is heated to +55dF. I can stick a meter in green wood that I know is 55+%MC wet basis and see "zero percent" on the meter at -40dF outdoors, all that proves is the moisture in the wood is frozen and not liquid state water.
2. Most of our cheapy woodburner MMs are calibrated for Douglas Fir. Other species can require correction. Generally on the magnificent eastern hardwoods the actual corrected number is higher than what the meter shows. There are tables by species for that all over the internet, a couple on hearth dot com. I would consider chimneysweep dot com to be a largely reliable source, also any state forestry department or major academic institute. Google is your friend...
Seanm
Minister of Fire
Yup, what Poindexter said, and if you give it more than two hours I bet you will see different readings again.
Ram 1500 with an axe...
Minister of Fire
Probably the the temps. I'm no expert, but I love my general and use it as a guide. Mine seems accurate but I see where your going with this.......
Lumber-Jack
Minister of Fire
Temperature and humidity go hand in hand.
Here's another reason why you might see a higher moisture reading after bringing your wood in out of the cold. Condensation. Have you ever seen what happens to glasses when someone walks into a house out of the cold? Moisture condenses on their glasses. The same thing will happen with a dense piece of cold wood when you bring it in the house, except that a piece of wood will stay cold longer than a pair of glasses which means that more moisture will condense on it over a longer period of time, and because of the porous nature of wood some of that moisture will soak into the surface a little. Now when you stick your moisture meter into the surface of the wood it shouldn't be surprising that it will detect a bit more moisture .
Try splitting a piece again just before you measure it, I bet you'll see readings similar to what you read outside.
Here's another reason why you might see a higher moisture reading after bringing your wood in out of the cold. Condensation. Have you ever seen what happens to glasses when someone walks into a house out of the cold? Moisture condenses on their glasses. The same thing will happen with a dense piece of cold wood when you bring it in the house, except that a piece of wood will stay cold longer than a pair of glasses which means that more moisture will condense on it over a longer period of time, and because of the porous nature of wood some of that moisture will soak into the surface a little. Now when you stick your moisture meter into the surface of the wood it shouldn't be surprising that it will detect a bit more moisture .
Try splitting a piece again just before you measure it, I bet you'll see readings similar to what you read outside.
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