Before you buy the best caravan moisture meter, it’s understandable you may want to know what exactly one is – and whether you need one. To put it simply, it can be a very useful piece of kit, allowing caravanners to identify whether there is a leak in their tourer, possibly preventing a problem from becoming a bigger issue.
One thing every van owner will want to avoid in their tourer is water ingress. Ensuring your van has good ventilation is always going to be the most useful way to avoid damp, while the best caravan dehumidifier can also help.
However, a moisture meter will give you a way of keeping an eye on potentially undetected leaks and can be a valuable addition to a caravan tool kit. There are two types – the majority (but not all) will have small prongs, while the other type is pinless. The portable gadgets will then be pressed either against or into your tourer’s wall or flooring panel, before displaying the amount of moisture detected as a percentage on its screen.
A score of 0-15% is considered a perfectly normal score. It’s only when it starts hitting 15-20% that it requires further investigation – our expert, John Sootheran, consulted leisure vehicle technician David Hayes, who said that if this level of score was found during a spring test, it would warrant booking the tourer in for an autumn retest to see how the scores had changed.
20-30% would also warrant further inspection, while a score hitting 30% or more could highlight structural damage and would need further inspection to locate the ingress.
Just be sure to use your moisture meter with caution – one thing you’re not going to want to do is leave prong marks in surfaces that are visible within your tourer. For that very reason, you should not use one in a van that isn’t yours either.
One thing we will also add – a DIY moisture meter is no replacement for getting your van inspected by an expert and the equipment they use. However, if it allows you to catch something before it becomes an irreparable issue, it seems like a highly useful piece of touring kit.
Make sure you get your tourer serviced on a yearly basis too – if you’re not sure why this is so important, John Sootheran explains why caravan servicing is crucial for van owners.
Future Publishing Limited, the publisher of Practical Caravan, provides the information in this article in good faith and makes no representation as to its completeness or accuracy. Individuals carrying out the instructions do so at their own risk and must exercise their independent judgement in determining the appropriateness of the advice to their circumstances and skill level. Individuals should take appropriate safety precautions and be aware of the risk of electrocution when dealing with electrical products. To the fullest extent permitted by law, neither Future nor its employees or agents shall have any liability in connection with the use of this information. You should check that any van warranty will not be affected before proceeding with DIY projects.
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