Anybody use a wood moisture meter for your firewood?

[Dudders]

Please excuse the following rant, and the excessive paragraph separation!

In the UK, no-one is allowed to sell small quantities (less than 2 cu.m. - a pick-up load) of firewood unless he's:
1. registered
2. firewood samples tested below 20%
3. premises inspected
4. no criminal record
5. paid over $620 for the above, and then $470 every year after that.
6. certificated.

If you go bankrupt, you may not thereafter sell a barrowload of firewood to your neighbour. $370 penalty.

It's a jolly good earner for the single private company to which the state has given an absolute monopoly to administer the regs nationwide.

All of the above is to make sure that no-one burns firewood of more than 20% moisture.

If you sell larger amounts, however, that's OK - it can be dripping wet or oozing sap, no problem, no registration, etc...

This is the sort of bureaucracy we have to live with in Little England - domineering (you will do this), patronising (we can't trust people not to burn wet wood) and illogical (a big load is OK, but a small one is not).

Anyway - to the point, at last - I use a cheap meter to demonstrate to each customer that the logs he's loading are below 20%. Split a log, stick the meter in the middle and let him see the reading.

 

[mrpike18]

Wow, from green to ready to burn in four or five months. That's pretty good!

Where I live in the heartland green wood split in the spring will be ready by winter. Mostly locust, dead ash, oak, red elm, and mulberry under roof with good air movement. 30" lengths.

 

[wardog]

I only use wood I cut myself to heat in the home as well as domestic water in the winter in an outdoor wood boiler. I bought a cheap moisture meter when I first bought one of these that was "SUPPOSED" to be a gasification unit and the seller would not guarantee anything unless dried wood 20% or less was used. Well, it wouldn't have mattered what you put into it the thing ate firewood and did NOT heat. I used an entire barn full of wood the first year that I had collected for years prior to even having this outside unit. Needless to say this unit went to the wayside and I replaced it with another stainless steel one that I really do not put much stock in the exact moisture content as the actual heating of the home and domestic water comes from the boiler water and not the wood itself. The guy I bought it from uses his year around and merely heats his domestic hot water in the summer with leaves. Seems after I get this thing fired up the first time of the season it will burn anything I put in it without a problem. For the cheap moisture meter it seemed to work but I doubt it was accurate but at least gave me something to show I checked the wood before complaining about the first JOKE of a gasifier, I got took on. By the way it was bought on fleabay and I haven't checked in quite awhile but last time I checked he was still selling them on there.

 

[WoodyGuy]

Agree with others - split a piece and stick the meter pins near the pith,
and near the edge - core MC will almost always be higher.

Figured I'd post this chart - it shows the "off the stump" moisture content
of various species - depending on species, you can get a head start. Ash
starts at 46% MC - Walnut is 90% ... don't need to be a rocket scientist
to see which one will dry faster.

 

[Mad Professor]

Make a fire, throw a few chunks of the wood in question into it. After a few minutes is moisture coming out the ends?

I just saved you $30.......

 

[jolj]

No, I do not dry my wood, some moisture is lost, between stacking & drying, but burn it as I come to it, no fanfare.
If I get around to making a wooden bowl, I would dry it, but not to burn.

 

[Hermio]

It doesn't matter with a boiler. Dead is dry enough. As long as the ends cracking. You are golden.
Wood stoves I do like a few weeks if it's dead. Most of what I burn is 1 month to a year dry. It just depends on the weather

I have mainly used a moisture meter on rough sawn lumber. Below 15% is OK, but when I store it indoors, it gets down to 8%. I keep my firewood under an overhang, and it gets to about 10-15%. Dead wood that is rained on will never get that low if it is in the open. It will still burn, but some of the energy is lost to evaporating the water.

 

[OM617YOTA]

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00275F5O2
That's the meter I have. Bought more out of curiosity than anything else; anyone who's been burning wood for any length of time can look at a piece of wood and lift it up, and know whether it's good to burn or not. I wanted to correlate that feel with an actual percentage reading.

In my area, wood stored outside will never get below 15%. Anything below 20% is good to go. It came in handy when I was storing wood under a tarp, as the moisture meter would show me where there were holes in the tarp that I couldn't see, and I'd know the whole column of wood below that section would be too wet to burn.

I don't know how long it actually takes to season wood here, as I let everything sit at least a year.

 

[bryannewton]

I usually cut late summer early fall and burn it that winter

 

[chainnut]

Hi. have one. If reading under 10% usually ok. I just knock two pieces together, listen for nice, clear sound.

 

[Pflum]

Make sure you get your reading from the face of a split, with the grain. Sticking it on the butt end of a piece will not give you an accurate reading.

 

[Section VIII]

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00275F5O2
That's the meter I have. Bought more out of curiosity than anything else; anyone who's been burning wood for any length of time can look at a piece of wood and lift it up, and know whether it's good to burn or not. I wanted to correlate that feel with an actual percentage reading.

In my area, wood stored outside will never get below 15%. Anything below 20% is good to go. It came in handy when I was storing wood under a tarp, as the moisture meter would show me where there were holes in the tarp that I couldn't see, and I'd know the whole column of wood below that section would be too wet to burn.

I don't know how long it actually takes to season wood here, as I let everything sit at least a year.

That's the same one I have as an older model was "issued" to me when I was a home inspector.

I Googled the optimal moisture content for wood burning stoves and the results ranged from recommending less than 15% to less than 25%. Some sites even said that less than 15% was too dry as the wood would burn too fast.

In my experience, wood where I live is best burned when it's less than 15%.

 

[Hard_Yakka]

Proster Wood Moisture Meter www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MV3PSF6​

Most of the wood is stored in a wood shed, 16x52', south facing and open for the NW summer breeze, for at least two years. Wood (oak, mixed and madrone) was 11-14% last year, might be burning some three year old stuff this year.

 

[Bill G]

I know my opinion is in the minority but I haver never seen the point of a moisture meter for firewood. Unless you are checking kindling I cannot see where you are getting much information. The moisture meters are only taking a reading in the outer inch or so. If you have a piece that is 10 inches thick the outer inch might be dry but not the middle. The moisture meters most folks have are for lumber and are accurate for that as even 8/4 lumber can be checked from both sides and get an accurate reading. I know others disagree with me and that is fine but I see no reason in buying a moisture meter for firewood

 

[Blue Oaks]

Where I live, if you split oak or madrone before the end of July and leave it in the sun it'll be ready to burn in the fall. This weekend it is supposed to be about 105* or so for several days with 30% or less humidity. As long as it's split, it'll season. I bought 3 cords of oak/madrone a few weeks ago and it was already very, very dry. It's getting pricey though. I thought Ted was getting good money at $500 a cord, then I paid that, sigh...

 

[ericm979]

I know my opinion is in the minority but I haver never seen the point of a moisture meter for firewood. Unless you are checking kindling I cannot see where you are getting much information. The moisture meters are only taking a reading in the outer inch or so. If you have a piece that is 10 inches thick the outer inch might be dry but not the middle. The moisture meters most folks have are for lumber and are accurate for that as even 8/4 lumber can be checked from both sides and get an accurate reading. I know others disagree with me and that is fine but I see no reason in buying a moisture meter for firewood

You're right that if you use the meter on the outside of a piece of firewood it'll show less moisture than is in the interior wood, giving an inaccurate reading. But if you split a piece and use the meter on an interior face, you'll get a reading on the moisture content of the interior.

A quicker way is to tap two splits together. If they're dry they will make a hollow sound. The drier they are the more hollow the sound. Once you have tried this on some wet and dry splits it's pretty obvious. But not everyone has the experience to do this, or they want to tie numbers to it. That's where the meter comes in.