Cheapo moisture meters

[Acer Forestry]

Has anyone bought and used the Chinese moisture meters on ebay etc., I'm not expecting fantastic results from something under a tenner but everything it touches at the moment seems to be largely 20% or less, when it definitely shouldn't be. Are Stihl's the most reliable?

[Ukulian]

Mine's from Aldi. Seems OK

[IVECOKID]

Take moisture readers with a pinch of salt no matter how much you pay. ... there have been a few threads about how dry my logs are showing 20% , true readings of moisture should be taken splitting log .so taking readings on the outside is a load of bollocks pardon my French. ..here's a pic of my moisture reader after wood felled a week old.

Aldi special.

 

Edited November 22, 2016 by IVECOKID

[Logsnstuff]

I use the 2" pins on the hammer drive with my meter seems to work fine.

[Paul in the woods]

I've got one I picked up from Lidl and it seems to work as expected provided you push the prongs into the wood. I.e. it happily shows readings around 30-50% for fresh cut wood and goes down to 20% for seasoned and even less for wood stacked near the fire.

 

It's this one, a Burg-Wächter DRY PS 7400: https://www.burg.biz/international/p/measuring-tools/dry-ps-7400/

 

I would add though I've bought a few cheap measuring tools, a pair of identical digital callipers from the same shop, and one set worked perfectly the other was useless and returned. So I'd do a few simple tests and return if it doesn't work as expected.

[TuscanPhil]

Only for home use, I have one of these Damp Moisture Meter Tester Wood Plaster Logs Non Genuine & Genuine STIHL | eBay which I believe is the same internals as these Stihl Wood Moisture Meter Digital Damp Tester Detector Wood Timber "New Design" | eBay

 

Seems to be ok for my 'home' use but if I was processing wood to sell, I'd want something with a bit more credibility (ie calibration) behind it.

[neiln]

I thought they were all a bit tosh unless it has adjustment for wood type and temperature?

[Daerve]

Moisture meters simply measure resistance, you can use a multimeter too. I'll have a play in a min with a cheapy ebay special and a professional multi meter. Give me a few minutes and I'll post the results.

[Daerve]

Interestingly couldn't get the meter to even read when MC gets below 20%ish. Tried on a piece of seasoned oak and kiln drid ash plus a 42% soaking wet lump of oak. Only the wet oak would read which was 2.5 mega ohms.

 

Though I suspect cheapy moisture meters aren't laboratory accurate, they're more than good enough to test if something can be chucked on the fire.

 

More here if anyone's interested. http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/fplgtr/fplgtr06.pdf

[cornish wood burner]

As long as you use the same meter and have an idea what reading you need for the wood to be be ready to burn, then that should be all you need.

Its been said on here many times but if you need an accurate reading then calibrate your meter with scales and microwave or oven. Mine is mid range quality but strays from the truth with high and low MC.