Water Meter 101 for Homeowners
A water meter is one of the biggest tools in helping manage water effectively. Water meters can also deliver bad news if your house has a leak.
Homeowners should know enough about water meters to be responsible. This blog will tell you everything you need to know about your water meter. You can also watch our video on water meters here:
So, what does a water meter do? A water meter measures water. It does this by having water come in the bottom half of the water meter. When the water comes in it moves parts inside that turn the dial.
You need to get to your water meter to see it. Sometime you can fit a wrench in the slot to open it, but we recommend just using a meter wrench and meter key instead. It’s much easier.
A water meter is as simple as it sounds. It’s important to know your water meter to know when your house has a leak. You should also know how to check your water meter properly.
When you watch the dial on your water meter turn, there’s a little dial that is a low flow indicator. This is what tells you if you’re losing water and if you might have a leak in your house.
If your water meter is turning and you aren’t using anything inside the house, that’s the meter’s way of telling you that there’s a leak. Your water meter has a shut-off valve on one end, a threaded connection, the meter body, and a threaded connection headed towards the house.
Any leak after the meter is all yours. It is your responsibility if the leak is anywhere leading up to the house.
If it leaks from the body of the meter, the threads from the inlet side of the meter, or at or before the valve, that is the cities responsibility. As a homeowner, you need to look at and understand how the meter works. Watch the dial turn and watch the big arrow indicator that slowly spins around.
A good thing to do is get a five-gallon bucket, hook it up, turn on the water, watch how many times the little indicator spins, and how far the big one moves. The big one may not move very far. This depends on if you have one zero or two zeros and if your meter is reading gallons or cubic feet.
If you think you have a problem with your meter, always do a five-gallon bucket test first. If you can prove to yourself that your water meter is broken, it’ll be easier to prove to the city you live in.
If you run your water meter, it reads a crazy number, and you only ran five gallons through it, you know there’s a problem. Now, you can talk to the city about it.
For any questions, please call us at (972) 498-1047 or message us on Facebook. To read more of our blogs, click here.