Moisture Meter Instructions
Delmhorst Moisture Meter
Turning on the Moisture Meter
Turn on the Meter, by holding down the centre button for 3 seconds.
Moisture Detection Methods
Pinning Probe (invasive)
Invasive probes or “pinning”:
The Delmhorst can read moisture levels, by attaching an electrode (the probe) that has two pins at the tip of it. By poking a surface and penetrating its surface, the probe can measure the level of electrical resistance between the two points of contact (the pins). This gives an indication of the moisture content within the material. It is important to note, that these pins are invasive, and will leave behind small holes, once pinned. The meter will provide a reading between 5% and 60%. If the meter reads below this, it will show a result of “low”, and if it reads above 60%, it will show a result of “high”.
For this mode, please follow these steps:
- Turn on the Moisture meter.
- Attach the electrode (probe) to the Delmhorst meter by grabbing the metallic end of the cable, and fastening it to the top of the Delmhorst. This is done by poking the insert metallic bar into the port at the top of the meter—once inside, pull the screw cap down, so that it covers the connection, and fasten it by rotating the cap clockwise until tight.
- Using the main menu on the meter, select “pin mode” by navigating using the arrow keys, and pressing the middle button to select.
- Please ensure that the moisture meter setting is set to “doug fir”, which should be found under the word “dry” on the moisture scale. If it is not, navigate to the setting that is incorrect, and select it. This will bring up the menu. Please select “doug fir”.
- Insert the pins in the desired test area. You can poke this into carpet, gyprock, gaps between wooden floors etc.
- Press the middle button to turn the meter to live testing. The number on the screen which may fluctuate, is the current moisture testing reading measured in percentage according to WME (wood moisture equivalent). Pressing the middle button again will pause the measurement on the last reading it received.
- When done, navigate back to the exit option, and press the middle button. Once in the main menu, navigate to “Off” and select it. The moisture meter is now off.
Please note that pinning metal will cause the meter to measure the reading as high WME. When pinning, try to avoid touching metal surfaces as this will give an inaccurate reading.
Scan Mode (non-invasive)
Scanning with the Delmhorst is a non-invasive option in detecting moisture in surfaces. This is advantageous as is non-invasive and does not leave a mark where it has read. Scan mode however is not as accurate, and does not give results that can numerically correlate to a moisture content level. Therefore it should only be used to give cursory detection of moisture, through means of comparison. By scanning a known dry area, and comparing this relative number to the results of a scan in a suspected moist area, this can help indicate if the area is dryer or wetter than its counterpart.
For this mode, please follow these steps:
- Turn on the moisture meter. You do not need an electrode to be attached.
- In the main menu, select the scan mode.
- Place the moisture meter’s back against the intended area of testing (E.G. against the surface of the wall you intend to inspect).
- This should give you a reading between 1-300. Remember, that the first area you should test is a known dry area.
- Repeat steps 3-4 on an area you suspect is wet, and is the same material as the first test. Compare these two numbers.
- If these numbers are relatively similar (within a difference of 50), it may indicate that there is no difference in moisture.
It is strongly recommended that pinning be used to confirm moisture content levels, as there are particular materials that may inhibit the meters ability to measure through scan mode. Other materials may naturally sit much higher on the scale. It is very important to compare dry standards to suspected wet areas, making sure that the dry standard is of the same building material as the test area.
Acceptable drying goals
It is hard to quantify what exactly dry is, as this is quite a subjective term. Additionally, there are different standards which may claim different levels. Particular places may have an average moisture content level lower than that of locations that tend to have more humid environments. Lastly each material may naturally sit at WME levels higher than others.
With this being said, we recommend that you take readings of known dry areas, to create your own dry standard. Comparing this number to the readings you will receive when reading dry areas will help indicate whether it is “dry”.
For simplicity’s sake however, 16% or lower is a cursory generalisation of an acceptable WME level, for materials such as gyprock, concrete, carpet and foam underlay.
