Whether it’s the carpenter checking their wood, a building inspector looking for damage, or another professional needing precise and reliable information about their wood, concrete, paper, grain, soil or other material or surface, moisture meters are the solution. From preparing a floor for a covering to a cheese-maker perfecting moisture content of a delicious product prior to packaging, there are a million professional, commercial and industrial uses for the massive modern range of moisture meters.
What do you know about them? That one type has pins while another is pinless? That they’re essential for both safety and quality control? That they range in price from peanuts to thousands of dollars?
While undoubtedly indispensable and technologically impressive, there’s probably quite a lot you don’t know about most moisture meters. So without getting too deep into the weeds in the areas of electrical current resistance and electromagnetic frequencies, let’s run through a few facts about moisture meters that you probably didn’t know … until now:
1. Just how many professionals use them
We’ve told you about carpenters, floorers and building inspectors, but you’d probably be surprised to learn just how many toolboxes out there feature a moisture meter. Farmers use them to test soil; builders use them to check materials, food processing plants use them for health and quality control, concreters use them for the perfect mix. And that’s not even to mention the packaging, welding, forestry, paper and metal-making industries … and so on.
2. Just how many specific types there are
Ask the average moisture meter user, and they can probably tell you either that they have a pinless meter for ease of use, a pin-type meter for accurate core measurements or less consistent materials, or even an all-in-one to cover every base. What they may not know is just how specialised some of the particular moisture meter models. Among the most common calibrations is for wood, but there are also devices specifically for concrete, food ingredients, soil and other materials. With a food quality-specific meter, microwave technology can give a reading that translates directly into food quality indicators, so make sure you understand the full spectrum of the range.
3. The full accuracy/quality range
It would almost be an insult to the manufacturer of $30 pocket moisture meters to say the readings aren’t accurate, but that’s nowhere near the full story. Indeed, it will almost certainly be no surprise to hear that as the dollars add up on that ticket price, the quality, the accuracy and the precision of the calibration go up just about proportionally as well. But it’s not just about better sensors, processors and components, the better meters have been specifically tailored for harsher environmental factors, such as extremes of temperature and the effects of highly-humid conditions.
To get what you need out of the perfect moisture meter for your use and budget, it means getting that product selection exactly right, with all the necessary features you’ll need onboard, and then knowing exactly how to properly use it and interpret the measurements for your specific industry and application. If in doubt, check with an experienced expert who keeps up to date with the current and next-generation of electronic measurement devices – and happy moisture measuring!
