Moisture meter accuracy.

[woodyguy]

Easier to microwave for 2mins on high. Leave it for a few minutes to cool then weigh. Keep repeating til it stops losing weight. Quicker and more energy efficient than an oven imho.

[Hotrod81]

Easier to microwave for 2mins on high. Leave it for a few minutes to cool then weigh. Keep repeating til it stops losing weight. Quicker and more energy efficient than an oven imho.

 

Or if you are a tight Scotsman like my me, you just leave it beside the log burner for a few nights and heat it that way. Cheaper than electric.

[luke_mclachlan]

thanks guys. do you have first experience of oven or microwave? I'm a little wary of using a system (oven) that takes potentially 24+ hours.

 

i stumbled across testing moisture content from the biomassenergycentre.

[woodyguy]

I've only used microwave as I described but never an oven. Certainly if you're patient, on top of stove also works. I did use it to prove that the stihl type meter is pretty useless.

[Lucan]

Then oven method is scientific method (ie 105 C until a constant weight is reached), but having never used it for a firewood log it may well not the most practical. To speed up the process you could use a low density species (eg spruce) and cut the log into kindling sized pieces.

[cornish wood burner]

thanks guys. do you have first experience of oven or microwave? I'm a little wary of using a system (oven) that takes potentially 24+ hours.

 

i stumbled across testing moisture content from the biomassenergycentre.

 

I use a moisture meter from Axminster tools and for chip it is very accurate.

I have calibrated ours at various MC using microwave and scales. It reads a little low at 45%.and above. I have used ours to monitor chip MC both home produced and bought in for many years , and it is still fine.

If you use the microwave method small pieces low power and go steady as you approach 0% otherwise you will have a fire and a wasted test.

[luke_mclachlan]

yes i've read that the stihl meters are pretty unreliable. I suppose the process will go fast if the sample pieces are cut pretty small. I'll give it a go tomorrow in the microwave, short intervals.

[luke_mclachlan]

I use a moisture meter from Axminster tools and for chip it is very accurate.

I have calibrated ours at various MC using microwave and scales. It reads a little low at 45%.and above. I have used ours to monitor chip MC both home produced and bought in for many years , and it is still fine.

If you use the microwave method small pieces low power and go steady as you approach 0% otherwise you will have a fire and a wasted test.

 

they're just down the road from me (i'm an axminster lad) so i'll pop in there tomorrow to see what they have. thanks for the tip!

[cornish wood burner]

they're just down the road from me (i'm an axminster lad) so i'll pop in there tomorrow to see what they have. thanks for the tip!

 

MC6012 is what I use. I just had a look on their site but didn't see that one there now. Might still be available but which ever one you get best to check its calibration yourself.

[Mark Bolam]

The Stihl one is pants, but the more expensive model I bought still fluctuates a lot depending on how hard/deep I insert the prongs.

 

I still think a very cheap calculator with '14%' on the screen works best on my elderly and vulnerable customers.

 

 

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