I recently ran an enquiry here about using a moisture meter for checking the moisture level in wood for a wood burning stove.
There wasn't much help offered - in fact there was a degree of flack about wasting effort and money.
Well, I think that is worth feeding back what I am finding.
The first thing is this quote from the website of a wood burning stove manufacturer :-
"Wood
Most types burn well provided they are properly seasoned with a moisture content below 20%. NOTE.- It is bad practice to burn recently felled timber or wood that is wet. The heat output will be poor and it will cause excessive tar deposits to form in the chimney. "
I was questioned in the original thread over my statement that the flue had blocked possibly because of damp wood being burnt. I think that statement is now justified - the caveat is the 'possibly' but this is clearly stating that the tar level will go up if the wood isn't dry enough.
The quote also gives a baseline figure for acceptable moisture content.
I bought a cheap two pin digital read-out moisture meter off Ebay. I used it to check the moisture level of a stack of well seasoned (5 years old most of it) pile of logs stored in an open, roofed, log shed and found a consistent level of 18% at the surface of the wood. I then cut up several of these logs and found that the moisture level was 18% throughout.
I then investigated the beech that I have recently been logging - this is off a tree that died 15 months, fell 11 months ago and was cut up in May. It's moisture level is 25% currently and again is consistent throughout each log.
For a tenner this has given me valuable information and reassurance.
I don't apologise for now thinking two fingers to the naysayers.
Rob