Moisture Meter ok?

[byQ]

I just bought a general moisture meter from Lowe's (got idea from what I've read on here). I'm getting some readings below 10%. I guess that's good - maybe too dry. I tried 3 different species from the wood pile,
* cottonwood = 10.6%

* lodgepole pine = 14.1%

* red elm = 9.6%


I have some quartered lodgepole and elm so I checked it, too. 13.1 on the pine and 14.9 on the elm.

These readings seem kind of low. This wood was gathered in the last year.The wood was all dead and this is a desert environment. I sold a few cords and have been throwing the elm off to the side because it was so much heavier than the other wood. I figured it was still moist. But, I guess not, even the large quartered pieces still needing to be split are only 15%.

 

[kingston73]

If your lodge pole pine and cotton wood are anything like my east coast white pine and cotton wood then those are very light wood. Elm is a lot denser so wet or dry it'll be heavier than pine. As for the readings, I'm still pretty new at this as well so I can't help there. I'm still waiting for my moisture meter to be delivered, it might be me posting a thread about this in a few weeks.

 

[Jags]

Does your testing include re-splitting the wood before testing? Testing the weathered surface area won't tell you much about what is going on inside.

 

[Grisu]

Did you resplit those pieces before measuring? The outside may be really dry but the inside is what matters.

 

[Paulywalnut]

Some of your measurements look like the outside of the wood instead of the inside of a fresh split.
Makes a huge difference. I've never seen a 9 on a MM.

 

[byQ]

I'll try to do some resplits and see what the MM reads. The lodgepole has a btu rating of about 21-22 for this area.

 

[Beer Belly]

I checked some of my Ash this morning....16% on the outside....20% on a fresh split....some went as high as 23% on a fresh split....so you can go from something great, to something borderline in a hurry....and it's been in mostly sun for 8 months

 

[byQ]

Well, I checked the moisture of the above wood resplit. The quartered elm that was 14 on the outside was 25 and 40 on the inside (2 different pieces), but the firewood sized elm splits were around 10 on the inside (almost the same). The quartered lodgepole was 14 and 15 on the resplits (1-2% higher than the outside reading).

And I found some old unsplit ash and split it, it read 10.1. All of the firewood sized pieces were resplit and read. They were all about the same (6-12% moisture). In fact, the lodgepole was lower for a different piece I resplit (14.1 on the outside of first piece and 10.6 on a resplit different piece). I guess the desert, high elevation, and 100+F days are good for drying out firewood. I look north, south, east, and west and I see no trees just treeless land, and now I understand why.

 

[Jon1270]

Such low readings are totally plausible if your outdoor relative humidity is typically around 60% or less. Most of the country has considerably damper air than that, but I'm sure there are areas of Idaho where this could be normal.

 

[Bluezx636]

Push the Moisture Meter into your palm, it should read 34%

 

[Lumber-Jack]

Well, I checked the moisture of the above wood resplit. The quartered elm that was 14 on the outside was 25 and 40 on the inside (2 different pieces), but the firewood sized elm splits were around 10 on the inside (almost the same). The quartered lodgepole was 14 and 15 on the resplits (1-2% higher than the outside reading).

And I found some old unsplit ash and split it, it read 10.1. All of the firewood sized pieces were resplit and read. They were all about the same (6-12% moisture). In fact, the lodgepole was lower for a different piece I resplit (14.1 on the outside of first piece and 10.6 on a resplit different piece). I guess the desert, high elevation, and 100+F days are good for drying out firewood. I look north, south, east, and west and I see no trees just treeless land, and now I understand why.

OK, time for a quiz.

If we assume your moisture meter is inaccurate by as much as + or - 5%;
(1) Which wood could you safely say is be ready to burn now?
(2) Which wood should you leave to dry for another year?
(3) True or False: Even if a moisture meter is slightly inaccurate, it can still be considered a useful tool for determining when firewood is ready to burn. (a) True (b) False

 

[BrianN]

Push the Moister Meter into your palm, it should read 34%

Don't push it in too far though

 

[byQ]

OK, time for a quiz.

If we assume your moisture meter is inaccurate by as much as + or - 5%;
(1) Which wood could you safely say is be ready to burn now?
(2) Which wood should you leave to dry for another year?
(3) True or False: Even if a moisture meter is slightly inaccurate, it can still be considered a useful tool for determining when firewood is ready to burn. (a) True (b) False


I think the moisture meter is accurate. The wood is just very dry. I live in the southern part of Idaho that borders Nevada and the air is thin and dry.
1) Everything except the quartered elm - it read from 25-40% moisture. The quartered lodgepole pine is ready to burn (when split).
I can forget about covering, not needed. A little moisture might help slow down 6-10% firewood's burning rate.
2) Split up the quartered red elm and check it's moisture next year.
3) True. What is a moisture doing to obtain its reading? It's not useful in a few extreme circumstances (like wet wood), but in general for measuring semi-moist firewood it works well.

 

[Jon1270]

Common inexpensive moisture meters are just specialized ohm meters, which measure resistance. There are also capacitive models, but they're much less common and more expensive.

 

[Lumber-Jack]

3) True. What is a moisture doing to obtain its reading? It's not useful in a few extreme circumstances (like wet wood), but in general for measuring semi-moist firewood it works well.

Actually for our purposes it's still useful even if it is totally inaccurate over 30% MC, if it over 25% MC we really don't want to burn it anyway.
I think what they should market is a moisture meter designed specifically for wood burners, that instead of displaying numbers it would display Red for anything over 25% MC, Amber for anything between 20%-25%, and Green for anything under 20%. It would simplify things for a lot of people I think.

 

[oldspark]

Simple little tool that works fine for some one who needs one (or thinks he does) a few years down the road you probably wont use it much any more.
My cheapie HF works fine, I played around with it last night on some Cherry I CSS back in March, fresh split was about 21% in the very center, moving towards the outside of the split the readings went down (as it should) to 18% and then 16%, I think 16% is also what I read on the outside of the split.
Putting the MM to my hand I could vary the reading with how hard I pushed on the device until I had a OL (over the limit of the device) which for mine is 40 or 42%, at that point I was about piercing my hand.
Just another way of checking to make sure these things work like they are supposed to and the readings change like they should.

 

[Lumber-Jack]

If you're in a position where you have 3 years worth of wood stored for 2 or 3 years, and have no reason to be tempted to burn any of it until then, then you shouldn't have any use for a moisture meter. It still might be interesting to check your wood every so often, but you wouldn't really need it. But how many NEW wood burners are in that position? Really, that's not a rhetorical question, how many people, who are just getting into wood heating, are going to be able to stash 3 years worth of wood, then sit on it, and wait 3 years before they start heating their homes with it ? ..... My guess is zero. Or at least I've never heard of it.
So for the first 3 years, at least, of a wood burners career, a moisture meter is going to be a fairly useful tool for determining which wood they have, or are getting, is good to burn and which isn't,,, after 3 years they're hopefully going to get things figured out and they won't need it so much anymore.Of course if they don't manage to get that 3 years ahead it might remain something they could use quite frequently, on an ongoing basis.

 

[oldspark]

For all the yacking we do about burning dry wood you think everyone would promote a MM for the newbies.

 

[Lumber-Jack]

For all the yacking we do about burning dry wood you think everyone would promote a MM for the newbies.

You'd think so, but it seems some of the biggest advocates of "making sure you burn dry wood" here tend to poo poo them, based mainly on the fact that (they) don't personally have any use for them, because (they) are already 3 years ahead in their wood supply.
Of course many of these old timers here burned green wood for years before they figured it out, maybe they secretly reason that if they did it the hard way to start, so should everyone else, Dam it!