Ash Moisture Meter Test

[drewboy]

I finally got a hold of a moisture meter through work - the place has been shut down for a month (the boat business is scary slow right now between the season and economy) and I have been testing freshly split splits of an ash I cut down in Aug.
The ash is all I am burning right now - all the wood I have left.

The results - the max moisture I have found was about 23% with most being in the 18 - 20% range.

I also checked the inside of a piece of oak that was in the pile for over 2 years and it was at 14%

That's all

Rob

 

[Jags]

Just as a couple of notes. Make sure the wood was at room temp, not freezing cold. Moisture meters act funny with "frozen" moisture. Also, I am assuming that you re-split the wood and are testing the newly exposed surface.

 

[Valhalla]

Jags,

Excellent point on trying to measure frozen wood.

Many wood burners take their moisture meter to the frozen wood pile. I always keep the meter in the house during most of the winter, except for those rare days of thaw. I check the wood samples indoors. Outdoors, also in my barn and shed, I use the knock, feel and visual tests to access my seasoning status.

 

[drewboy]

Yeah Jags, I did re-split the splits and check the fresh interior but they were cold yesterday. The stuff that I brought in last night tested 22% today.

This meter is pin-less and the manual states that it reads moisture up to an inch and a quarter under the surface.

Sometimes this wood still seems like a pain in my ash...

 

[Jags]

22% should burn pretty decent.

 

[drewboy]

It just seems to fight me when the stove is ramping up in the morning. The other thing is it doesn't leave me much for coals in the A.M.

But trust me - I'm not complaining - well maybe a little.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

We like to burn a little soft maple with the ash because the soft maple is a fast burner whereas the ash is a slow burner. We'll even burn elm with the ash. I agree, only ash in the fire sometimes can be difficult to get going good, but mixing wood teases it to burn faster.