Digital Moisture Meter Spotlight: L622 Recording Moisture Meter
Product Update: The L622 moisture meter mentioned in this article is no longer available. It has been replaced by the L5300 Industrial Hand-held Wood Moisture Meter, which offers enhanced features and improved performance. The L620 is also no longer available. See our current industrial handheld meters.
In the primary and secondary wood products markets, industry-leading sawmills and wood processing companies must control their critical moisture levels in their lumber or wood products. Accurate and convenient electromagnetic wave technology is now routinely used for monitoring of product moisture content (MC).
Wagner Meters’ L622 Digital Recording Moisture Meter (and its predecessor, the L612) with the L722 Lumber Stack Probe accessory were used effectively in high-production sawmills as a valuable tool to allow dry kiln personnel to easily perform moisture checks in stickered packages of lumber.
Additionally, the L622 could be used alone as a very convenient handheld moisture meter for fast checks of lumber in the planer mill. The L622 stored up to 5,000 moisture readings in as many as 200 groups, calculating the average and standard deviation statistics for each group of readings. The L622 also came with Stat-Pak statistical software to allow downloading and storage of readings to a personal computer. Standalone or with the L722 Lumber Stack Probe, the Wagner L622 was a convenient tool for comprehensive tracking of lumber moisture quality control.
For lumber or wood processing operations that didn’t need to probe stickered packs of lumber with a stack probe, and didn’t require PC storage of information, Wagner’s L620 (predecessor, L610) digital moisture meter provided the same scanning technology, with data storage and some statistical calculation for up to 500 moisture readings.
Testimonials
Glen Hodges, lead kiln operator for Spearfish Forest Products (Spearfish, SD), had used the L612 moisture meter for three years at the time of this 2012 article.
“It’s much simpler than how we used to check our kilns,” says Hodges. “We use the wand with this…and we use the different groups in different zones for hot checks. We download a graph for every kiln chart, and it’s pretty nice. They [Wagner Meters] provide more feedback than we’ve ever had on moisture with the wood planer.”
Glen Hodges recommended the Wagner L612 moisture meter for its ease of use.
Jeff Eades, purchasing director for Somerset Wood Products (Somerset, KY), stated that the company’s Wagner L610 meter had delivered consistent MC readings at an accuracy rate of over 99% from true bake-out conditions, for a decade. Somerset processes maple and hickory species.
“They’re valuable,” says Eades. “We check off the truck, out of the kilns, through wood planing and ripping systems…throughout the whole process. I’ve tried several brands, and… I’ll continue to use them. They’re a good product.”
Wagner also offers a Calibration Verification Block (which came standard with the L622) to help users confirm that compatible Wagner meters, including the L601-3 and the L722 Lumber Stack Probe, are within factory calibration. Wagner Meters has effectively used leading-edge measurement technology for many years and continues to explore new applications and technologies for its markets.
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Tony Morgan is a senior technician for Wagner Meters, where he serves on a team for product testing, development, and also customer service and training for moisture measurement products. Along with 19 years field experience for a number of electronics companies, Tony holds a B.A. in Management and his AAS in Electronics Technology.
Last updated on October 22nd, 2026
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