Pro Tips For Using the EMC Calculator on the Orion 950 Moisture Meter

It can be costly, for you and your customers, when moisture ruins wood flooring projects. The Orion^® 950 moisture meter, winner of the 2019 AWFS Visionary Award, is your answer for accurate wood moisture measurements, which can help avoid woodworking catastrophes.

Its features, including a temperature and relative humidity (RH) sensor and an equilibrium moisture content (EMC) calculator, work together to give you moisture readings in wood plus RH, temperature, dew point, and EMC readings for the surrounding environment.

The built-in EMC calculator adds another layer of usability and simplicity to your arsenal. To better understand how the EMC calculator works, we’ll discuss:

• Orion 950’s award-winning features
• What is EMC?
• How to use the EMC calculator
• Tips and best practices
• Additional benefits of the Orion 950

Let’s start with what makes the Orion 950 stand out.

Features of the Orion 950

With internal storage for up to 100 readings, the Orion 950 keeps your data easily accessible right in your hand. Not only that, but the 950 also has the ability to take multiple types of readings in different environments (more on that below).

The Orion 950 has a variety of features that make it the great product that it is. Let’s go through what they are and what they mean.

Pinless meter

The pinless Orion 950 moisture meter provides moisture content readings that go far beyond what you can see and feel.

Without relying on pins to detect moisture, pinless technology means more opportunities to measure moisture content in the field because it works on flooring material whether or not it’s been fully installed. Placing a pinless meter on top of an installed laminate floor, for example, can give readings where a pin meter can’t, since the floor can be pretty difficult to puncture with a pin.

Bob Wood, president of Completely Floored, Inc., says that a pinless meter “can dial in so specifically [that] it absolutely increases the accuracy of what we’re seeing.”¹

So in addition to the obvious benefit of avoiding unsightly pin holes, a pinless meter lets you quickly scan more of the flooring, so you can better determine when to move forward with installation.

Temperature and RH sensor

The ambient temperature of an environment directly affects the moisture in the air and, therefore, moisture in wood in that same environment.

The relative humidity (RH) sensor measures the amount of moisture that’s in the air compared to how much moisture the air can hold.²

Though temperature has a lesser effect on the moisture content (MC) of wood than RH does, you still want to measure both in order to get accurate EMC readings.

EMC calculator

Temperature and RH both affect EMC, so having a temperature and RH sensor as well as an EMC calculator in one device is very advantageous. The EMC calculator on the Orion 950 uses the surrounding temperature and relative humidity to calculate the EMC, so you can tell when the wood is acclimated to its environment and ready for installation.

Let’s talk about EMC in more detail.

What is EMC?

Equilibrium moisture content is the point when wood no longer gains or loses moisture in the environment that it’s in, meaning the wood is in balance with its environment. Jason Spangler, Wagner Meters’ Vice President of Sales and a longtime member of the Flooring Contractors Association (FCICA) Executive Board, says, “An environment’s EMC percentage is based on the air’s temperature, humidity, and relative humidity. This is why the Orion 950 can calculate the EMC for a given location, using its ambient sensor to collect the needed data.”

When your wood is acclimating to its surroundings, it’s adjusting its moisture content (how much moisture is in the wood) to match the environment that it’s in. During the acclimation process, the wood is exchanging moisture with its environment. As a result, wood expands or contracts based on how much moisture it’s holding.

Letting the wood acclimate helps prevent the wood from shrinking, expanding, or warping after installation. The wood should be within two percentage points of the long-term average EMC of the installation environment.

The correct percentage of moisture for wood varies depending on the environment and species of wood being used. That’s why every Orion meter comes with a Species Settings Booklet, and Wagner’s species settings Q&A explains how to use the settings to get accurate readings for various species of wood.

Average EMC varies with the temperature and relative humidity of the surrounding air. So it’s important to use the EMC calculator for each project, as the correct EMC range will vary from project to project depending on the different variables involved. When the wood’s moisture content reaches the EMC of its environment, it’s ready to be installed.

Now let’s go over proper use of the EMC calculator.

Using the EMC calculator on the Orion 950

Using the EMC calculator is very simple and can be done in three easy steps:

1. Power on the Orion 950 moisture meter and press the SPECIES/MATERIAL button five times to reach EMC mode.
2. Give the meter time to adjust to the temperature and humidity of the room the wood is in.
3. Check the EMC reading and compare it with the moisture content percentage of the wood you’re installing.

That’s it! It’s really that simple. These three easy steps will give you the best chance of avoiding future wood disasters related to moisture content.

Away from your meter? Our online EMC calculator does the same conversions in a browser, plus year-round EMC trends for your location.

Tips and best practices

Knowing how to use the Orion 950 with the EMC calculator isn’t quite enough…you need to know when to use the device, too.

For optimal accuracy, make sure to use it:

• Before installation
• Throughout acclimation periods (to check progress)
• After acclimation periods, to verify that the wood has reached EMC

You also want to make sure the wood and the moisture meter are in the same environment, which is why the meter needs time to adjust to the environment the wood is in before you take a reading.

One satisfied customer says, “I have a saw mill and a woodworking shop. In the past, I simply let wood dry a couple of years in a barn. I bought the [Orion 950] meter so I could shorten that time. What I like about the 950 is that it calculates the theoretical equilibrium moisture content. That is, for the temperature and humidity conditions where the wood is stored, [it calculates] the lowest moisture to which the wood can dry. With this info, I can increase temperature and/or decrease humidity to reach my target moisture content in a shorter time.”

The Orion 950 moisture meter helps you avoid moisture-related disasters with its accurate wood moisture content readings, and it may even shorten project times.

And that’s not all…

Additional benefits of the Orion 950

The pinless feature, temperature and RH sensor, and EMC calculator are great reasons to use the Orion 950 moisture meter, but it also offers other benefits like:

Dual depth measurements

The Orion 950 offers dual depth measurements with two scan modes: shallow scan mode and deep scan mode.

• Shallow scan mode reads to a depth of .25” (6.4mm).
• Deep scan mode reads to a depth of .75” (19mm).

Shallow scan and deep scan let you match the reading depth to the thickness of the wood you’re measuring.

Grains per pound/kilogram mode

The grains per pound/kilogram mode shows the actual weight of water vapor in the air, often called “specific humidity” or “humidity ratio.”

Bluetooth technology

This feature makes sending and receiving data a breeze. You can set up different jobs so that you’re not mixing up calculations and data for different projects.

You can connect your meter via Bluetooth^® to the free FloorSmart™ or Woodshop MC™ apps to receive and record readings. Both apps are available for Android and Apple smart devices.

On-site calibration

No need to waste time sending the moisture meter to the manufacturer so it can be calibrated. Check and recalibrate your Orion 950 in the field with the On-Demand Calibrator included with the meter.

All of these features make the Orion 950 an award-winning professional moisture meter that will make your jobs simpler, your calculations more precise, and your data more manageable and organized.

Using EMC and MC readings regularly means you can be confident your wood will stay stable over the long term.

And if you’re still looking for a wood moisture meter, try out the Orion 950. The built-in EMC calculator is a feature many moisture meters don’t include, and it makes the 950 the most versatile model in the Orion line of pinless moisture meters.

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Last updated on October 22nd, 2026