How to choose a moisture meter
By Grant, Inspection Tool Specialists. Reviewed November 2026.
The material you measure decides the moisture meter you need. A grain meter does not read timber, a timber meter does not read concrete, and none of them read a bulk pile of woodchips. Settle the material first, then decide whether you need a quick field reading or a laboratory result, and most of the range falls away.
This guide covers portable meters for grain and seed, hay and forage, wood, building materials, soil, paper and bulk biomass, and halogen moisture analysers for the laboratory.
Which meter suits my material?
| Material | How it is measured | Typical meter |
|---|---|---|
| Maize, wheat, soya, rice and other grain and seed | A sample poured into a cup or chamber, with a calibration curve per grain type | Cup-type grain meter |
| Hay, straw and silage | A long probe pushed into the bale or stack | Hay probe meter |
| Sawn timber, pallets, furniture stock | Pins driven into the wood, or a pinless pad pressed on the surface | Wood moisture meter |
| Concrete, screed, plaster, brick | Pinless pad reading a few centimetres into the surface | Building moisture meter |
| Soil and sand | Pin or probe meter | Soil moisture meter |
| Paper reels and stacks | Pins or sword probe between sheets | Paper moisture meter |
| Woodchips, pellets and bulk biomass | Sample container or probe in the pile, with density where needed | Bulk biomass meter |
| Powders, food, chemicals and laboratory samples | Weighed, dried under a halogen lamp and reweighed | Halogen moisture analyser |
If your material is not listed, tell us what it is and we will check what we can source for it.
Pin or pinless?
- Pin meters measure electrical resistance between two pins pushed into the material. They give a reading at the depth of the pins and leave small holes. Best for timber, hay and paper where you can penetrate the surface.
- Pinless meters use a pad pressed on the surface and read a few centimetres in without damage. Best for finished timber, floors, walls and screeds, and for scanning a large area quickly to find damp spots. Readings are relative on many building materials, so they are better for comparison and finding problems than for an absolute percentage.
A common approach is to carry one of each: a pinless meter to find the wet area and a pin meter to confirm the reading.
Field screening or laboratory result?
A portable meter gives a quick, repeatable reading for sorting, intake checks and deciding when to dry or sell. That is enough for most farm, workshop and site use. When a buyer, laboratory or specification requires a reference result, a halogen moisture analyser gives it by drying a weighed sample, which is the loss-on-drying method most standards refer to. Laboratory analysers cost more and take a few minutes per sample, so they suit quality control and disputes, not routine intake.
What accuracy and features matter?
- Calibration curves for your materials: a grain meter is only as good as the grain types it is calibrated for. Check your crops are on the list.
- Measuring range: grain meters typically cover about 5 to 30 or 40 percent, timber meters about 6 to 40 percent, building meters a relative scale. Make sure the range covers your wet material, not only the dry product.
- Temperature compensation: moisture readings shift with temperature; better meters correct for it automatically.
- Probe length: the probe must reach the middle of the bale or pile to give a true reading. Measure your bales before you choose a probe, because a 500 mm probe will not reach the centre of a large round bale.
- Memory and data output if readings must go into records.
- Calibration certificates can be supplied at extra cost on many models; ask when you need one for a client or an audit.
Which meter should I buy?
| Application | Suggested starting point |
|---|---|
| On-farm maize and grain checks, tight budget | M640 grain moisture meter |
| Grain intake and storage, several grain types | AM-128GC cup-type grain meter or PCE-GMM 10 |
| Grain, seed and granulates with records, many calibrations | Humimeter FS1 series grain meters |
| Hay, straw and bales | Hay moisture meter with 500 mm probe or Humimeter FL2 |
| Timber, pallets and furniture stock | M660 wood moisture meter or PCE-PMI 1BT |
| Building inspection, floors, walls and screeds | PCE-PMI 1BT building moisture meter or PCE-PMI 2 concrete moisture meter |
| Soil and sand | AM-128SOIL or PCE-SMM 1 |
| Paper reels and stacks | AM-128PP paper moisture meter |
| Woodchips, pellets and biomass fuel | Humimeter BMC bulk woodchip meter or BMA-2 moisture and density meter |
| Laboratory reference results | TMW series halogen moisture analyser or PCE-MA 100 |
As a guide to our current range, including VAT: entry-level grain and wood meters from about R1,300 to R2,200; cup-type grain and building meters from about R5,000 to R9,000; professional multi-calibration and bulk material meters from about R15,000 to R150,000; halogen moisture analysers from about R12,000 to R35,000. Prices change, so check the product pages.
Questions we will ask you
Tell us the material, the moisture range you expect, whether you need a quick field check or a laboratory result, how deep or how far into the material you must measure, and whether readings must be recorded or certified. With that we can recommend a meter and provide pricing.