It’s key to burn wood that’s not overly wet in wood burning stoves to prevent the glass from blackening, being harmful to the environment and being efficient as a fuel. To guide you, this is our Stihl wood moisture gauge review.
The general consensus is burning logs with a moisture content of less than 20%; between 10-20% is ideal. If the logs are too dry, less than 10%, then the wood will burn too quickly and this isn’t efficient as a fuel source.
Looking at and feeling a log will not give you insights into its moisture so we purchased a Stihl moisture gauge to help us. All you need to do is turn it on, and firmly press the extremely sharp ends into a piece of wood and it’ll give you a moisture percentage. It’s super easy to establish which wood is best to burn.
It’s worth mentioning that it can also be used as a tool to measure moisture levels in other materials like plaster, board or cement.
The device is powered by four small batteries (1.5V, LR44) and due to its size is super portable. Our sole criticism is that the batteries died within a few weeks and had to replaced. They’re also quite fiddly to get into the unit.