Brennenstuhl Moisture Detector MD (Moisture Meter / Moisture
Brennenstuhl Moisture Detector MD (Moisture Meter / Moisture Meter for Wood or Building Materials, with LCD Display)
 |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Use | For determining the moisture content of wood or building materials such as concrete, etc. | Polarity test, detection of lines with alternating voltage |
| Batteries | 9V block (not included) | Includes 3 replaceable button cells |
| 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 |
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 ***
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.