I was moving some 9 month seasoned ash splits today. Some of them were heavier than the rest. Split one and internal moisture was below 20% to my surprise. Im wondering if the cold affects the MM? I keep it in my truck. Any thoughts? EDIT: just read the owners manual and it states operating temperature from 32-104* f or 0-40* c
Yes...the wood must be room temp or so...the meter itself, I dunno, good question. My guess would be yes.
I’ve read that it does but I’ve used mm when it was 15 outside and then took the piece inside and let warm up and only had a 1% difference. If you have the time do a little test and see.
You can find charts online with the differences of temp and your 1% is often in line with the results on those charts. Many meters auto compensate for temperature as long as you are within around 10 degrees to 90 degrees. Many meters are not accurate under 10 degrees and some are not accurate above 90. Considering the average person really doesn't do a relatively robust enough sample size for an accurate representation arguing about temp range accuracy of an unknown meter is rather moot. Still beats knocking two splits together.
Many meters are calibrated to be accurate at 70F. Reasoning for splits being brought to room temp for testing etc. There is a link in one of my posts recently that is a good read on this topic. If I can find it I'll post it here. Now where did I post it??
just read owners manual. (luckily didnt throw it away) 32-104* operating temp. It was in the mid to upper 30's this afternoon.
I thought I had read in the manual I got with my meter that there was a temp range but it has been awhile and did not want to say for sure. I was not as smart as you and threw out my manual.
Temperature does change moisture meter results. Increase the moisture meter reading by approximately 1% for every 20 deg below 70 deg F (if the meter does no auto correct). A meter reading of 18% moisture at 32 deg F is actually 20% moisture. My meter measures and displays the air temperature, but the instructions do not say if the meter does or does not do the temperature adjustment. If the measurement is important than I bring the wood inside for a day and then split the wood outside and measure the moisture quickly before the wood cools off (with the grain). For a quick approximation, I just measure the cold fresh split moisture and figure it is actually 1% or 2% higher if the wood is at 50 deg or 32 deg. edit: I just looked in the meter manual and it says not to use the meter below 32 deg F.
Heres some real science -> https://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/fplgtr/fplgtr06.pdf It talks about temperature and shows the resistance of various species. Which shows that a meter can be several points off depending on what species it is calibrated for.
A weak /old battery may also give you inaccurate readings. I keep mine in the heated shop most of the time.
I like how it is presumed to be tested inside... and freshly split. I’d like to see what Mrs. FancyPlants says when I get set up to do some splitting in the living room.
i just bought the MM late last Winter and keep it in the box so it was still in there. Dont really use it a lot.
