How to Gauge Readings From Moisture Meter

Moisture meters are crucial tools for many unlike professionals. From agriculture, to lumber manufacturing, to water damage restoration, to construction, there are many applications that rely heavily on wet testing to produce optimal end results. All the same, to become the best testing results, it's important to understand wet meter readings—how they work, what impacts test results, what the unlike moisture reading scales mean, and how to ensure the nigh accurate results possible.

Hither is a bit of information to help you better empathise moisture meter readings:

How Moisture Testing Works

Agreement how a moisture meter works is crucial for understanding wet meter readings and what can impact them.

There are ii primary methods past which moisture testing in solid materials works:

1. Electric Resistance Moisture Testing. This method uses a pair of electrodes that are inserted into the fabric being tested. And then, an electric current is generated—ane which uses the fabric being tested to complete the circuit. The resistance to the menstruum of electricity from one electrode to the other is used to measure out the wet content of the textile being tested, which is and then translated into a wet meter reading. Considering water is a conductor, less resistance ways that in that location is more than moisture present in the material, more resistance ways at that place is less moisture. This is the moisture testing method used past pivot-blazon wet meters.
2. Electromagnetic Frequency Scanning. This method uses an electromagnetic radio wave to pass through a solid material to "scan" for the presence of wet. When the radio wave returns, the wet meter checks the distortions in the wave to estimate the moisture. This is the moisture testing method used past pinless wet meters.

Each of these ii wet testing methods has their own unique strengths and weaknesses. For example, pinless wet meters are typically faster and easier to use than pivot meters; they likewise can scan large areas in less time. Even so, pinless meters require a flat, solid surface to work properly—if the scanning plate cannot brand smoothen contact with the surface of the textile being checked, the meter's accurateness will be reduced.

Pin meters, on the other hand, are meliorate able to determine the distribution of wet throughout a material sample from the beat to the core and tin be used in materials with curved or uneven surfaces. Withal, they're somewhat slower at testing moisture over large areas and the pins/electrodes may exist decumbent to breaking when forced (though most meters make replacing broken pins easy).

What are Moisture Reading Scales?

Dissimilar materials will have physical properties that make them react differently when tested with a moisture meter. For example, wood has a unlike level of electrical resistance than drywall—this will affect how a moisture meter gauges the amount of moisture each cloth possesses.

So, a moisture meter is ordinarily calibrated to provide accurate, quantitative results in a specific kind of cloth. The blazon of fabric the moisture meter is calibrated for is usually referred to equally the meter's moisture reading scale. In other words, a moisture meter calibrated for wood is said to accept a wood moisture reading calibration, whereas a meter calibrated for drywall has a drywall moisture reading calibration.

Withal, not all moisture meters have a reading calibration optimized for a specific cloth. These moisture meters have what is chosen a "reference" moisture reading calibration. These meters provide a qualitative, or estimated, assessment of the moisture content of a cloth.

Why would someone want to utilize a reference moisture reading scale instead of a more specific (and accurate) ane? Part of the reason is that there aren't set moisture reading scales for some materials. For example, concrete does not accept a truthful, quantitative moisture reading scale because the mix used to make concrete tin vary likewise much from one batch to the adjacent. This leads to inconsistencies that make it almost impossible to reliably assess the moisture content of concrete directly.

Another reason could be that, while not peculiarly accurate, reference calibration moisture testing can provide a quick pass/fail assessment of moisture content.

Pro Tips for Measuring Moisture with a Reference Scale Moisture Meter

When using a reference scale moisture meter, it tin be helpful to have a moisture reading from a sample of material that you know is dry before conducting further tests. This gives you a comparison point for future reference—assuasive you lot to more reliably identify moisture-compromised materials.

Additionally, when using a reference scale meter, it'south of import to remember that the number provided isn't an exact measurement of the moisture content of the material beingness tested. Reference scales tin take arbitrary number ranges such equally 0-255, 0-300, or 0-100. However, even for a reference scale meter with a 0-100 range, the number provided is not an absolute, percentage-based indication of moisture content.

What Can Affect the Accurateness of a Moisture Content Measurement?

There are several things that can impact moisture meter accurateness—and different types of moisture meters may be affected differently.

Some examples of things that tin impact the accuracy of wet testing include:

1. The condition of the meter;
2. Whether the meter is in the right reading scale fashion;
3. The temperature of the material being tested (for pin meters);
4. Whorls in wood or other flaws that bear on textile density (for pinless meters); and
5. Wet on the surface of a cloth being tested.

Why and how do these factors affect moisture meter readings?

How the Condition of the Moisture Meter Impacts Reading Accuracy

Damage to a moisture meter can have a pregnant impact on the meter'southward accuracy. For example, a dented or scratched scanning plate on a pinless moisture meter tin can go on the meter from making smooth contact with the surface of the material being tested. This throws off the moisture reading's accuracy. Broken or rusted contact pins might not conduct electricity every bit readily—increasing resistance so materials read as being drier than they really are.

Another issue with a moisture meter's status that can impact accuracy is a moisture meter having low batteries. Weak batteries can foreclose the meter from functioning correctly, and trying to use a meter with depleted batteries can even cause permanent damage to the meter over time.

Making Sure the Meter is in the Correct Moisture Reading Scale

Some college-finish wet meters may have the ability to switch between dissimilar moisture reading scales. All the same, as convenient as this feature is, it can atomic number 82 to some erroneous readings if the user keeps the meter in the wrong reading scale when testing other materials.

Office of knowing how to understand moisture meter readings to go accurate results is understanding the capabilities of the meter itself and ensuring the meter is in the correct reading style. Then, before starting work on any moisture testing task, be certain to check what reading mode the meter is in.

Additionally, for woods moisture meters, it's important to cheque if there is a species correction feature for the meter. Different types of wood tin can accept different physical properties that might change the results of a moisture measurement. Applying a wood species correction to the moisture exam results is necessary for ensuring accurate readings. Similar with moisture reading scales, it's important to check that the appropriate species correction is applied earlier starting to test for moisture in wood.

How Extreme Temperatures Tin can Impact Moisture Readings for Pin Meters

Because pin meters piece of work on the principle of electric resistance, the current temperature of the material being tested can have a significant impact on the accurateness of moisture testing. At college temperatures, the electric resistance of a fabric decreases. At lower temperatures, the resistance of a material increases.

In most cases, this isn't a major issue. A pin moisture meter volition remain accurate between temperatures of 50 to 90 degrees Fahrenheit (10 to 32.ii degrees Celsius). Outside of this range, however, a temperature correction may demand to exist applied to the wet testing results.

Pinless meters aren't generally affected past farthermost temperatures, unless the material being tested is frozen solid.

How Flaws in Materials Can Affect Pinless Moisture Meter Readings

While pinless wet meters aren't every bit susceptible to inaccuracy from changes in material temperature, they tin can be afflicted by flaws in a fabric. Why would flaws in the material being tested matter? Considering the electromagnetic frequencies used to scan the textile in question use distortions in the radio wave to measure moisture content in building materials.

Flaws in a material, such as whorls in wood or air pockets in poured floor, affect that textile's specific gravity (SG) value. Considering pinless meters are calibrated using specific gravity as the standard for measurement, random changes in SG for a material can impact the accuracy of their wet readings.

So, when testing dissimilar building materials, information technology's important to check for these kinds of flaws. By identifying the flaws, it is possible to marker them down and account for their event on moisture meter accuracy.

How Surface Wet Skews Wet Testing Results

A final major gene that can affect the accuracy of wet meter readings is the presence of water on the surface of an object. With pin meters, the standing h2o on the meridian of a piece of wood can cause the electric current to be routed through the water instead of the cloth beingness tested. With pinless meters, surface moisture can spoil the contact between the meter and the material being tested.

In either example, the accurateness of the meter is impacted.

In that location are ii ways of dealing with this issue:

1. Cleaning up the excess h2o before testing; and
2. Using a pin meter with insulated pins.

A moisture meter with insulated pins will only release electricity from the tips of the electrodes. This helps to prevent the electricity from escaping from the base of operations of the electrodes and passing through the water. As a side note: Insulated pins are likewise excellent for determining the distribution of moisture between the shell and core of a cloth sample.

Checking the Accuracy of Moisture Meter Readings

Over time, a moisture meter may, through repeated use or accidental damage, fall out of calibration and beginning generating erroneous moisture testing results. Considering of this fact, information technology's important to test the accuracy of a wet meter before putting it to use.

There are a few ways to check wet meter accuracy, including:

• Using a 2nd Moisture Meter to Cheque Moisture Testing Results. Some people use a second "reference" meter to bank check against the moisture testing results provided past the showtime meter. However, this method of checking meter accuracy is problematic because it takes fourth dimension, requires a second meter that is identical to the kickoff, and is less reliable than the post-obit two methods.
• Using a Moisture Meter Testing Device. Some manufacturers make wet content standards (MCSs) or sensor blocks for testing the accuracy of their moisture meters. With pivot meters, MCS devices provide a spot to tap the pins to—this completes a circuit with a preset level of resistance. For pinless meters, sensor blocks are samples of material that are designed to return a precise moisture content measurement when the meter is used on information technology. Both of these external accuracy checking devices have to be specifically manufactured for the moisture meters they're meant to be used with—otherwise, the accuracy of the examination suffers.
• Built-in Calibration Checks. Some meridian-of-the-line moisture meters have built-in calibration tests where all the user has to do is push a button and they get instant verification of the wet meter's accuracy. These are the well-nigh convenient meter accuracy checks available since they don't require extra tools for the test.

Need more help with how to sympathise moisture meter readings? Speak to a moisture meter specialist from Delmhorst!

Topics: moisture meters moisture readings

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