I think I just easily figured out a nagging problem that started this year.

[ddahlgren]

I have been fighting not being able to close the air down all the way to get a good secondary burn along with longer burn times. I first checked the wood it looked well seasoned or at least enough.and sounded like it was as well. So re-split some and measures 16 to 20% MC. I thought I have read here that the range of MC I am seeing is fine and what I remember from last year but towards the end of last year this problem and wrote it off as getting warm low draft etc. This year started to wonder if a door gasket is letting some air cheat around it and not get as much air from the secondary air tubes. So I wondered if the battery is low in the moisture meter and changed it to see. Then notice a small tag with very small print on the back of the meter it is a moisture chart! Well 16 to 20% is in the middle of high MC and low ends at 12%.before going to medium. Tested to see if it was the MC was way to high and loaded 4 bio bricks onto a bed of coals and in 15 minutes stove was 600 vs. 450 to 500 and air fully closed down with secondary's burning and stack with probe is 425 instead of 500 to 525. I am a bit lost now and it looks like it is going to be a cold winter at my house.

I have about 1/2 to 3/4 of a cord of close to 4 year old oak I am saving for Jan. and Feb. overnight burns and will re-split a few pieces and see where they are for MC.

 

[Beer Belly]

I would imagine the MM has a accuracy range of +/- 4% or so.....I may be wrong, but I use mine as a guide, not the gospel. Most here say that below 18% is good to go, and with all the years of experience of the guys and gals here, I'm running with what they say.

 

[ddahlgren]

They claim +-3% though remember it being better as being an engineer I generally belly up for something good in instrumentation. I end up with the attitude that bad data can easily lead you down the wrong path. I measured a piece of plywood and it read 5% a piece of bark that has been with 2 ft of the stove for weeks it was a 5.5% a bio brick could not get a reading as it was to hard to jam the probes into them tried me and it started to get painful at 46% and did not want to go for blood..LOL..

As a side note the stove is still a bit above 100 degrees and warm to the touch so a believer on that. When I started last year I had no probes and no MM so just sort of banged 2 pieces of wood together to see if seasoned and looked through the glass to see if burning hot enough, suspect I wasted a lot of wood too. Tonight I will try some wood and an hour before bed get 2 or 3 bio bricks on top and see how I do.

 

[brenndatomu]

A couple thoughts came to mind here.
1. The chart on the back of your meter sounds like a lumber MC chart, not firewood. Lumber needs to be much dryer than firewood.
2. It seems like maybe your meter is reading high. Mine says that when checked on your dry (you weren't sweaty were you?) palm or finger, it should read 30-35%
3. FYI, throwing a bio brick or two in with your other wood on each load will make it burn quite nicely if wet wood is the problem.

 

[lml999]

There's a couple of pretty good threads on The Gear forum regarding meters. One thing I just learned (and I haven't even gotten my meter yet) is that you should test freshly split wood with the two probes parallel to the grain.

 

[ddahlgren]

A couple thoughts came to mind here.
1. The chart on the back of your meter sounds like a lumber MC chart, not firewood. Lumber needs to be much dryer than firewood.
2. It seems like maybe your meter is reading high. Mine says that when checked on your dry (you weren't sweaty were you?) palm or finger, it should read 30-35%
3. FYI, throwing a bio brick or two in with your other wood on each load will make it burn quite nicely if wet wood is the problem.

1. I would assume it is because it is listed to see if wood is dry enough to paint or check for moisture in bricks or sheetrock.
2. Tried it just now and did not push to the point it was becoming a oh s$$t moment and then some at 32%
3. Will try that tonight and bet it will work well. I will start with some re-split oak split down to 2X3 size let it burn down pretty good then some bio bricks on top.

 

[ddahlgren]

There's a couple of pretty good threads on The Gear forum regarding meters. One thing I just learned (and I haven't even gotten my meter yet) is that you should test freshly split wood with the two probes parallel to the grain.

That is exactly how I do it. I have fooled around trying different places and the bark is always the highest.