Whether you're a wood craftsman or the building & construction trade, you lay floors, you produce food, you sell firewood or a thousand other industries or operations, and you should put a new moisture meter in your toolbox.
Why's that? Getting a fast and accurate moisture content reading
rather than relying on educated guesswork alone saves time, improves quality,
reveals troublesome secrets, protects brands and reputations, dodges failures,
prevents mould, bolsters record-keeping, saves money - and lifts profits.
If it sounds like a no-brainer to start browsing for the most
suitable moisture meter for your organization or application, you'd be right.
Before going shopping, though, you have a few things to get your head around,
including whether to get a pin-type meter or the other moisture meter option -
pinless. The simplest option is pin-type, with two pins producing a low
electrical current pushed into the material surface. Depending on the moisture
saturation, the flow of current between the probes and through the material
will be higher (more moisture) or lower (less moisture).
The more modern moisture
meter type is fully pinless, with a sensor plate producing an
electromagnetic field replacing the probes so that multiple, fast and
non-destructive readings can be taken on a wider and more diverse range of
material qualities.
In this piece, we're going to take a closer look at the average,
fully affordable moisture meter that you could easily buy today and start using
for your moisture-sensitive tasks tomorrow.
1. Pins or plate
Let's start with the most important component - the part that
does moisture sensing. With a pin-type meter, the pins - robust enough to
penetrate the material surface - sit parallel to one another and are often
insulated at the tip. As for the pinless meter type, the sensor plate is not at
the top of the device as with the pin type, but on the back of the unit so that
you press it against the material and easily read the measurement at the front.
2. Display
While analogue meters with a scale and needle still exist, much
more common these days is a fully digital moisture meter. Technological
progress means it can display much more than the moisture saturation
percentage, but pictorial representations including graphs.
3. Buttons
Today's most basic configurations comprise several user
interface buttons, including power, hold and mode - with the latter enabling
the user to switch between materials and other key functions. The precise
buttons and layouts, though, are specific to the manufacturers and models, so
always pay close attention to the user manuals.
4. Extras
Depending on the meter type, certain features or extra
components may be present in your particular product. These may include spare,
longer, or more robust pins, penetration-assistance attachments, pin caps,
straps, and other features.
Are you ready to select the perfect moisture meter for your
industry, setting, or task? There's plenty to think about, including the
required accuracy, price-point, specific materials and operating conditions,
measuring depths, ease of use, durability, pin-plus-pinless functionality, and
more. Always allow your selection to be guided by proper research and expert
assistance if possible - and all the very best for a productive future with
your brand new moisture meter!
0 Comments