Aldi moisture meter...
 

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[Closed] Aldi moisture meter accuracy (firewood content)

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Anyone compared the moisture meter to a known good one?

Just had our stove installed so reluctantly bought a net of firewood from the petrol station to try it out. It struggled to really get going, so I tried a bit of Douglas fir which was only felled and split a couple of months ago...as I understand it this needs to be particular well seasoned as it's not ideal for burning. Surprisingly it was more successful...when I got the Meter out it says 14% for the net of wood and 16% for the recently split stuff. Measured on freshly split pieces. Wondering if the tree was dead before felling which could account for dryness?


 
Posted : 09/10/2013 8:39 pm
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seems a bit low without assisted drying.

Coincidentally I went down to my log pile this morning with a cup of coffee, an axe and my moisture meter.

2yr dry willow was showing 18-20% from core to edge.

Winter 2012 harvest poplar, split in June this year was showing 20% edge to 34% core.

So I reckon that atmospheric moisture will settle the wood at c.20%.

To get lower than that you probably need some kind of kiln drying or greenhouse/solar kiln storage.

If you want to test your meter you can do a series of experiments using a kitchen scale and an oven at 60dgrees ish.


 
Posted : 09/10/2013 8:44 pm
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Thanks. Will dig out the instructions as it has a calibration thing in the cap (a resistor I think!) And it was about 2% out according to that.


 
Posted : 09/10/2013 9:06 pm
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Anyone else tried the aldi Meter... is it reliable?

Happy days if it turns out my wood was seasoned before felling! It doesn't sizzle when burning, pops a bit but I think that's normal for Douglas fir.


 
Posted : 10/10/2013 9:30 am
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bought a net of firewood from the petrol station to try it out

I also bought a net of firewood from the petrol station. It was absolute crap and really struggled to burn


 
Posted : 10/10/2013 9:33 am
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I'm glad to hear that...waiting to collect some decent stuff.

Any recommendations for online suppliers, I need >250mm seasoned wood. I'd be up for a delivery of green split wood for next year as well.


 
Posted : 10/10/2013 9:39 am
 ski
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Spooky, if you are after cheap greenwood and happy to chop and saw it yourself, it might be worth giving your local council a call, some offload recently cut wood at very reasonable prices.


 
Posted : 10/10/2013 10:01 am

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