Interesting moisture testing results--range of woods
- Thread starter dreezon
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![[Hearth.com] Interesting moisture testing results--range of woods](/talk/data/attachments/33/33303-35c523e3681b1cfa241ae5a9375e1702.jpg?hash=m8f17TZ3Qu)
Battenkiller said:
Funny, you don't look like Jay.....did. Some cute.
How about a review of the tome for the unwashed ? What's changed ?
Dennis- to answer where I concluded that moisture meters can't measure right in different species:
(broken link removed)
has a booklet called "Electric Moisture Meters For Wood" with a chart (Table 1) on page 4.
It shows for instance for 20% moisture, the resistance in red oak is 2.09 megohms but for 20% MC in
american elm is .48 megohms. A previous post in this thread says that the meters without species knowledge
are calibrated for douglas fir (also red oak by chance). So they don't know the real MC when stuck into
black ash or american elm which have only a quarter as many megohms of resistance at 20% MC.
HMM, that link don't work. Anyway ya can google for filename fplgtr06.pdf to get the booklet.
(broken link removed)
has a booklet called "Electric Moisture Meters For Wood" with a chart (Table 1) on page 4.
It shows for instance for 20% moisture, the resistance in red oak is 2.09 megohms but for 20% MC in
american elm is .48 megohms. A previous post in this thread says that the meters without species knowledge
are calibrated for douglas fir (also red oak by chance). So they don't know the real MC when stuck into
black ash or american elm which have only a quarter as many megohms of resistance at 20% MC.
HMM, that link don't work. Anyway ya can google for filename fplgtr06.pdf to get the booklet.
fjord said:
Ha, ha! Geez, that's some puss, eh? Rare picture of me smiling. :lol:
I took it with my built-in computer camera and never really looked at it before I posted it. Musta taken that before I had my second cuppa. Good photo for scaring the kids on Halloween. :coolgrin:
The book is dated as far as the latest technology goes, but the science he did is still quite valid. Yes, they did understand all about secondary combustion back then, just that none of the makers cared much until the EPA cracked down on emissions. The book goes into considerable depth, but is definitely understandable by any layperson.... no physics required. I personally think it's way better than any of the modern books I've looked through. Most of the tables and graphs I've posted here were scanned from that book. All the correct formulas are there for just about every aspect of wood burning, from chimney design to moisture content calculation to fuel BTU content across a wide range of moisture contents. A thorough explanation of wood combustion theory is included, something that every burner should understand. Safety, stove design, fuel choice and preparation, efficiency testing, etc. are all covered in detail and in a way that is easy for anyone to understand.
There are some things that make you just scratch your head, but those were the Wild West days. You were expected to clean your own chimney, and to do it often. Clean burns were the goal, but folks didn't freak out about finding some creosote somewhere up the flue. Some heat went up the chimney and you just lost it and accepted it.
There are numerous pages describing dozens of great stoves.... every one of them now out of production due to EPA standards. Still, nice to look at and read about these (mostly) wonderful old stoves.
All in all, still the best book out there. No fluff, just good, concise explanations of some pretty complex and confusing phenomena. I'd recommend it to any new burners, and it can still be found (cheaply) through independent booksellers listing their inventories on Amazon.
i just used my harbor frieght moisture meter for the first time and was pretty suprised...white spruce that was bucked up in july, didnt split till about a month ago. Now its at 16%...
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