Brennenstuhl Moisture Detector MD (Moisture Meter / Moisture
Brennenstuhl Moisture Detector MD (Moisture Meter / Moisture Meter for Wood or Building Materials, with LCD Display)
Weight: | 99.8 g |
Size: | 1-Pack |
Dimensions: | 15 x 6.5 x 2.5 cm; 99.79 Grams |
Model: | 1298680 |
Part: | 1298680 |
Colour: | 24er Sortiert |
Pack Quantity: | 1 |
Batteries Required: | Yes |
Batteries Included: | No |
Manufacture: | Brennenstuhl |
Dimensions: | 15 x 6.5 x 2.5 cm; 99.79 Grams |
Quantity: | 1 |
Size: | 1-Pack |
We suspect a leak but couldn’t feel any dampness, and opted to get a moisture meter before ripping up carpet and floorboards. We tested it on the ceiling downstairs and skirting boards upstairs and it has certainly confirmed there’s a leak somewhere. We’ve even been able to narrow it down to a specific spot. Handy little tool and very inexpensive.
I cant really say if these are accurate or not, but they seem very consistent. I initially bought the meter to tell me when my firewood was fully seasoned, but I also had the bonus of going around my house and testing the interior walls to see how much moisture they were holding. This was very revealing and subsequently ended up costing me a fortune in damp proofing course costs, but that’s another story. I can recommend this meter. 5 stars
I needed this to check whether a roof leak had actually been repaired fully. It did the job simply and easily. I don’t know how accurate the percentage moisture readings actually are but for general household use it is much better than trying to detect whether a building material is damp or not merely by touching with one’s finger.
As a lover of wood working projects i like to make things look good and one of these definitely helps
keep you on the right track for a better, easy set up to make a job easier to assemble and stay straight before and after assembly, especialy if you into the furniture side of the hobby
Jury is still out but it appears to be no more than 1 or 2 % out in comparison with an expensive sophisticated professional meter so as long as it stays within those numbers it will do me fine to check moisture in logs.
Living in a Victorian house, I had damp patches and wanted to see how bad it was. Great tool that’s easy to use, you’ll need to buy a battery for the product. But, apart from that it is good value for money. It found damp where it wasn’t obvious, which I need to fix. Highly recommend!
Bought this detector for my motorhome, been having a bit of bother with rain water getting in around a window. The detector was able to identify the damp areas & it gave me an idea of how bad it was, was able to see the damp area had dried a good bit when we had that good weather spell. If you have an older motorhome/camper/touring caravan this detector is worth the money & not expensive
Cannot compare to others, but did the job well for me, checking the dryness of concrete base before laying laminate in living room and hall. Easy to use and seems pretty reliable (I didn’t just ‘trust’ it would be, did comparative tests).
It has helped me to pinpoint the exact location of a leak in my roof and allowed me to monitor the moisture levels in a damp wall, which was caused by a roofing issue, and accurately show the difference in moisture compared to the surrounding walls.
Although there have been a few instances where the accuracy has been questionable, such as with soaking wet wood that was deemed dry, these occurrences have been rare and do not take away from the overall effectiveness of this amazing tool.
Great bit of kit for the price, adequate for the basics of checking moisture in fire wood. Can turn the beeps off, but have to do that every time you turn it on, which is a bit frustrating. It doesn’t remember that I don’t need the beeps. Not the end of the world though, just deal with it.
I bought this to test for dampness in a lime plastered wall in a recently purchased house. It is easy to use and very clearly indicated the damp patches and allowed me to map out the affected areas. It leaves two small holes as you have to push the probes in to get an accurate reading. These are easily covered up when you have finished. I also used it to track a leak in a plasterboarded ceiling and it again worked well. I am very pleased.
I honestly didn’t expect this to work that well. I have a chimney breast that had staining in the paint. I thought it might have been historical because a new airbrick has been fitted to the exterior of the chimney. I got a reading of 22% and the 3 raindrop icon showed. On an internal wall, it was more like 8% with 1 raindrop icon. I was about to repaint the room because the plaster looks and feels dry but now I know I need to do remedial work. The 20 odd spent on this device probably saved me the task of decorating again next year. 5 stars.
Bought this moisture meter to identify areas of dampness on my caravan floor. Easy to use, has a reading lock button for areas you cannot view the reading. Also has a beep function, the frequency of which increases with the level of dampness. Really useful when taking readings in awkward places. You get to know the dampness level just by the frequency of the beeps. Not sure of the accuracy but found a nice dry spot and used that reading as a dampness base line. The relative increase above the base line gave me a good idea of the amount of moisture present.
This is a straightforward tool to use. As a keen DIY-er, I’ve found it ideal because it confirms whether my wall is damp or not. I don’t need to rely on some possibly dodgy tradesman who wants to damp-proof my walls whether they need it or not. There is a lot of conflicting information on the internet about damp in walls, and how to measure it. In practice, it’s easy to see if your wall is damp, or to feel for damp with the back of your hand. This little device just confirms what you’ve seen and felt. Don’t get obsessed about the exact number on the readout. I’ve attached some photos showing the device in use on a damp patch of wall and a dry section.
Takes a 9v oblong battery, which is not included.
Good Points:
Cheap to buy;
Easy to read the digital screen;
It tells you whether the wall is damp or not. I think that the reading is probably accurate if you stick it into your wall firmly enough, but you don’t really need detailed accuracy. You just want to know is it damp? Yes or no?
Not so good points:
Doesn’t come with a case. These days, a lot of the Chinese produced electrical items come with some sort of carry case so rightly or wrongly, I’m starting to expect one. I just keep mine in the cardboard box it came in.;
The plastic feels a bit flimsy. It’ll last for the DIY customer, but I think it would fall apart if it was in daily use by a builder.
Conclusion:
A great buy if you’re just curious about the damp patch on your wall or a keen DIY-er.
On my ceramic tiled bathroom floor with a grey grout I had one line of grout about 6″ long that appeared black rather than grey. It didn’t feel damp but I thought it was whereas the bathroom installer said it was where the grout wasn’t mixed properly. As said – you couldn’t feel it damp and even pressing a tissue paper on top didn’t seem to pickup or show any signs of moisture / dampness.
The fitter and I vehemently disagreed on whether the cause was damp or the grout mix. With that I bought this little Brennenstuhl Moisture Detector and determined the darkened grout was very damp compared to the grout even an inch or so away. No more arguments with the bathroom fitter now and he accepted the proof. So easy to use and for 20 or so how can you go wrong?
PS – Ignore the guy whose review said this device was made in a town called ‘Germany’ in China – he thinks the earth is flat and that man never landed on the moon. Though clearly made in Germany I really don’t care – it does the job very nicely indeed.
I had some concerns about damp in some places around the house. We have had work done to remedy the problem in the past but during a lockdown clean-up had moved some furniture and some areas worried me as to whether they were old damage or new. We live in a 110 year old stone house so some damp comes with the deeds.
This gadget has answered the questions I had. Very easy to use, nice clear and precise instructions with the do’s and don’ts. It has two modes one for wood and one for construction materials (brick, plaster, stone and soil!).
It doesn’t come with a battery, but that is not a mark against as looking at the dates of reviews on here they could be sat on a shelf for years.
All in all a good purchase and I unreservedly recommend it.
And the result of my damp survey? All the walls came back in the low range and vindicated the work of my builder. Not so the original bunch of damp-proofing professionals who it seems only know how to inject a damp course.
I bought this as I’ve had repairs done around my chimney and needed a way of checking that the leak had been resolved. This arrived promptly and neatky pakcaged. The detector is typical of these types of devices with two strong prongs at the top that measure the mositure contnet. The device has two settings, one for wood and one for building substrates (brick, stone, etc). There is a simple guide on the back that explains what the readings mean. Additionally, a simple user guide is also included which gives a fairly good explanation on how to use the detector (along with what not to do!). I took several readings over the surface of the wall and intend to go back in a few days in the hope that the readings will be lower (thereby demonstarting that the leak has been fixed). The detector requires a 9v batterry which is not included in the package. Overall this is a decent moisture detector and has done the job that I needed it for.
PROS
– Quite compact and easy to grip
– Two good strong prongs for detection
– Audible sound when moisture increases
– Has settings for wood and brick
– large display
– Has a “hold” function so that you can lock the display to get a reading
CONS
– LCD display means you can’t read the figures at certain angles
– Doesn’t come with battery included
Overall I would recommend this moisture detector.
*** Please could you click yes if my review has helped you in any way ***
Just got mine and haven’t tried it yet but as others have said, a drawback is that the instructions are in German only. To assist other users here, I’ve located the maker’s site where the multi language instructions can be found:
http://www.brennenstuhl.com/index.php?module=products_downloads&index%5Bproducts_downloads%5D%5Btype%5D=7,9&index%5Bproducts_downloads%5D%5Bcategory%5D=135
On this page you’ll see various manuals. The one you want is this:
Moisture Detector MD
1298680
instruction_manual_1298680_0451781_ba.pdf (5.25 MB)
It is in a large number of languages but to read or print just the English section, select pages 6-9 inclusive.
You’d think they would include the multi page instruction booklet with the item.
Update August 1st, 2014
I’ve now had a chance to use it.
Mine did not come in a bubble pack as shown in the pictures but in a cardboard box. Upon opening it, I found that contrary to the description it did include a battery, thus making the price even more attractive.
The battery cover was a bit stiff to remove, bearing in mind that you need to do this very carefully so as not to break off the retaining tab. Once off, the connector is not fixed in the unit as on many devices, but is “floating” on the end of two wires. This connector is plugged into the battery terminals and then the battery is dropped into the compartment. I then found that when the cover was replaced, it bulged out a little which was a bit worrying in case it broke.
Now it was ready to try out. I wanted this to test firewood dampness, having just had a wood burner stove installed. I found that the probes cover was stiff to remove, similar to the battery cover and again, was concerned lest it broke. But I got it off and there’s a handy holder at the bottom of the unit to store it whilst in use.
The previous owner of my house into which I moved recently had left a load of logs for us as they had an open fire which I have converted to the wood burner. These logs do not look like the sort of thick split logs you would get from a pro supplier of firewood. They are much thinner, too thin to split and have all the bark on so I’d guess they were probably cut by the chap himself. Anyway, I stuck the meter on a few of them and all showed under 20% moisture which I understand is the stove requirement to avoid excessive smoke and chimney deposits. I guess the wood had probably been in the storage bin for some time.
It’s got nice rubber grips either side making it easy to hold. Once turned on, it has two settings, brick etc. or wood. You simply stick the two probes in the wood or whatever and read the percentage moisture. The reading has an optional hold button, good for poor lighting conditions. It also bleeps with increasing rapidity as the readings increase. You can turn off the bleeper.
So the unit seems to work fine, though I have no way of knowing how accurate it is. Having only just got it, I can’t know how long it will last either.
Finally, since I won’t be using this until the winter, I thought it better to remove the battery until then. Removing the battery connector which was tight, needs to be done carefully so as not to break it by excessive force.