# Moisture meter



## pintodeluxe

mine is all over the place. I check the same holes and never get the same reading twice. It gives me a rough idea of the m.c. which I find helpful.


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## Dal300

Pintodeluxe,

You can't expect to get the same readings even if you use the same holes. 
Readings will be skewed because of differences in evaporation, depth, contact of the probes, etc.

The best you can do with any meter is take a number of readings and take either an average or a mean.

Moisture meters work with resistance and as the resistance changes, so do the readings.


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## treaterryan

When you say "high", how high was the %MC? There is not a moisture meter on the market that is accurate above 25%.


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## Tennessee

I'm not a real fan of the pin meters anymore since I started using the Ryobi pad unit, but jeez! The Harbor Freight unit is 1/4th of what I paid for the Ryobi!! And I don't have a temperature gauge onboard.


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## Salmo

I use a simple rule…Two or three checks with the H Freight and if it's above 15% it's stays until it dries more.
Since I had nothing before this meter at least now I can get an idea of how the MC is.
During the winter the basement workshop is much drier because the furnace is running daily, so the wood dries more quickly. Would be interesting to do a test using say 5 pieces of wood and measure the MC now and then every two weeks until the same time next year. Think I'll do that and see what the results are. Should go up during the summer because the humidity would be higher..


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## Howie

Where in Florida do you live? I live in Florida.


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## Salmo

I live in eastern Canada….visit there in the spring. The store was in the St. Pete's area.

Salmo


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## dhazelton

I have a digital micrometer for measuring bearings I picked up for under ten dollars after coupon that is fantastic. It's identical to ones I've seen for up to a hundred dolllars. Also have the non contact infra red temp gun that works fine. I think anything with the Pittsburgh name on it as just as good as HD's Husky or Lowes Kobalt brands, at at least half the price.


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## Tennessee

I'd sort of agree with that, but they do have their dogs, like the chainsaw sharpener, and those silly plastic bar clamps. On the other hand, some of their spray equipment is just silly cheap and works great!


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## Bob817

I just bought one and it works great!


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## jgreiner

Heya Howie,
I live in Florida as well, a new Harbor Freight just opened by me in Apopka FL (not sure if this is the one he's refering too) .. which is near the 441 and 429 interchange.

-jeremy


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## WoodworkGuy

Like other HF products, some are diamonds in the rough. Can't beat the price, if it works.


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## dannmarks

Just bought one myself and it seems to work well on 2-3-17. I have some wood that was cut into lumber maybe 4 months ago. It has been stickered and covered since - but out side. Then I brought some of it into the wood shop (not heated) for a month. It is red oak 1 inch thick. This wood reads between 10 and 11% consistently. While a piece of wood that has been in the house about twenty years (Cutting board) checks at about 7%. All of this seems to be reasonable readings. I am happy to have this moisture meter. I am planning on making a small wood kiln/storage space in the garage. And it will be good to keep weekly readings on this same oak. I have a lot of it out behind the shed stickered. Be nice to have a few hundred board feet drying.


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