Milkweed Seed
ArboristSite Operative
What are some good reliable meters out there? Anything good under $100?
Tool Shop brand meter at Menards for $12. Im happy with the one i bought so far.
Extech
Generally speaking, most old timers who have been burning wood since God was a boy will tell you they do not need no stinkin' moisture meter. And they are right. They know, because they had to learn the hard way what burns and what doesn't burn. It's called experience.
Two groups who should have them are firewood sellers and those relatively new to wood burning.
Sellers need one because when callers ask if your wood is seasoned, telling them it is at 20% moisture content is a lot better than saying of course it is dry, because I say it is. Not to mention the wow factor caused by customer knowing you are high tech!:msp_biggrin: Newbies need one because they do not have the experience that old timers have.
Knowing the MC of your firewood is pretty important for tons of reasons. A little testing with one will tell you how long it takes for firewood to dry in your neck of the woods, how dry your wood burning unit needs wood to be, and other reasons. The main advantage for a newbie is that you will now know, and then when you read really really stupid suggestions about drying wood on this site, you can just laugh and say, yeah, ok, whatever, idiot!
Well worth the few bucks!!
Ted
I have found that the old , experienced guy, burns wetter wood in a non epa stove. Swears up and down how to burn wood, with out regard to the smoke out his chimney, or the creosote in it. This is just my experience in my neck of the woods.
I have found that the old, experienced guy, started out with his dad and granddad, cutting firewood with ax and bucksaw… dragging it from the woodlot using real “horse” power. That experience has also given him patience and a sense of humor so he can just smile and nod when someone tells him, in order to burn wood properly without burning his house down, he needs a chainsaw with electronic carb, 4x4, ATV, splitter the size of a small car, roof and walls to store his firewood, moisture meter, manometer, $2000.oo EPA stove, automatic draft control, no flue damper, thermometer on his pipe, stainless steel chimney, wind directional chimney cap with spark arresting screen, ................................
Then, after smiling and nodding, he can meet the other old, experienced guys at the coffee shop… and they have something to laugh about.
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