HOW TO READ YOUR WATER METER
HOW TO CHECK FOR WATER LEAKS

HOW TO READ YOUR WATER METER

Your Water Meter

Your water meter measures the amount of water used in your household. The readings from your water meter determine the amount your are charged every month on your water bill. You can read the meter yourself to verify your bill, monitor your water use, check suspected leaks, or experiment with efficient water conservation procedures.

Most water meters are located inside the apartment in the air conditioning/water heating closet. The meters are read remotely via a hard wire from the meter to an exterior reading device.

Straight Reading Meter

The straight reading meter records gallons of water used in much the same way that a car’s odometer records miles. The dial with a single hand measures gallons of water. Each 360 degree sweep of the hand is 10 gallons.

The odometer records the use to nearest 10 gallon increment. The red triangle is a leak detector. The triangle will rotate if water is passing through the meter. If no one is using water but the triangle is turning, you may have an undiscovered leak in your plumbing system.

Customers are welcome to access their meter. Your meter can be a valuable tool for detecting and measuring leaks or measuring the amount of water used by specific activities or appliances. To measure the amount of water used for any activity, follow these instructions:

  1. Before you begin the measurement, write down the meter reading to two decimal places.
  2. Perform the activity you want to measure, but be sure that no other water is being used during the test.
    some examples include:
    * Washing a load of laundry or dishes.
    * Taking a shower or bath.
    If you are doing an activity that may have a variable duration, such as taking a shower, you should measure the number of minutes the activity required. This information will allow you to determine the number of gallons per minute the activity requires.
  3. After the activity is complete, read the meter again. Subtract the first reading from the second reading. To get gallons per minute divide the number of gallons by the number of minutes the activity required. For example if you took a shower for 10 minutes and used 110 gallons of water, your system use 11 gallons per minute.

If you suspect you have a leak, you can measure the volume:

Write down the meter reading and the time of day to the minute.

  1. Don’t use any water during the test. Usually it is best to do this when you will be away from home for an hour or more. Make sure devices such as evaporative coolers and ice makers are turned off.
  2. Read the meter again when you return and note the time of day.
  3. Subtract the second reading from the first. This is the number of gallons that passed through the meter during the test period.
  4. Divide the amount of water by the number of minutes in the test. For example, if 17 gallons leaked out during a 180 minute period, you have a leak of 0.094 per minute.
  5. Multiply the gallons per minute by 1,440 to calculate gallons per day. Multiply gallons per minute by 43,920 to calculate gallons per month. In this example, just 0.094 gallons per minute equates to over 4,128 gallons each month.
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