Actual Beech MC with meter?

[Tocramed]

I have a cord of beech that was, I thought, around 20-22% MC when I bought and stacked it in September. It has been stacked on pallets and just top covered since. Yesterday I pulled a load and brought it inside to warm up. I split one of the larger pieces today and checked the fresh face in the middle with a Dr. Meter MD912. 27% at 70^F. That sucks. So I put it out in the garage. I just checked is again (2 hours later) and it is 19% at 50^F.

The MD912 is supposed to have an auto temp correction feature, so now I am not sure what to believe. Any thoughts on how I can get a little better accuracy out of this? I can't imagine the fresh split face of the wood dropped 8% in 2 hours.

I put three big splits in with some other dry wood (16%) just to see how it goes.

 

[BrotherBart]

What is the MC of one of those pieces in the garage? Re-split just before you measure it.

 

[ctswf]

Do you have it set on 3 ? There are 4 settings

 

[Tocramed]

What is the MC of one of those pieces in the garage? Re-split just before you measure it.

I did not split the wood a second time after it sat in the garage for a bit. I will try that.

Do you have it set on 3 ? There are 4 settings

It is set on 3.

It seemed to burn fine last night. A few pops right after loading it, but it didn't seem too bad. I am sure it would be different if I loaded it full.

 

[Tocramed]

I should clarify on the temp. The temps I mention above are taken from the surface of the wood with an IR thermometer. Although I did take the second moisture reading while out in the garage which was around 40^F.

 

[Tocramed]

I did not split the wood a second time after it sat in the garage for a bit. I will try that.

I have a cord of beech that was, I thought, around 20-22% MC when I bought and stacked it in September. It has been stacked on pallets and just top covered since. Yesterday I pulled a load and brought it inside to warm up. I split one of the larger pieces today and checked the fresh face in the middle with a Dr. Meter MD912. 27% at 70^F. That sucks. So I put it out in the garage. I just checked is again (2 hours later) and it is 19% at 50^F.

The MD912 is supposed to have an auto temp correction feature, so now I am not sure what to believe. Any thoughts on how I can get a little better accuracy out of this? I can't imagine the fresh split face of the wood dropped 8% in 2 hours.

I put three big splits in with some other dry wood (16%) just to see how it goes.

I tried this test again the same way as explained above.

This was using the same thermometer and checking the surface temp of the fresh split. This time I did re-split after it sat in the garage for a bit and dropped to about ~50F. The internal temp was a little higher, but I got the same results.

I presume the meter needs to be at the same temperature as the wood for the auto-temp compensation feature to work? If the wood is cold, but the meter is indoor temp; I presume it will still be off.