Understanding the dials on my water meter

[zebhc]

Can somebody tell me what the individual dials on my water meter
register ?

Thames water have told me that they suspect I have a leak and have
recently fitted a new meter but the meter is still running even when no
water is being used in the house. The meter has 5 dials with black on
white numbers, 2 with white on red numbers then two clock like dials,
one of which has x0.001 written above it and the other has x0.00001
below it.

The larger dial that reads x0.00001 makes one complete rotation every 90 seconds so does this dial record individual litres used suggesting I amlosing 1 litre every 90 seconds

Any help would be much appreciated so I can hopefully understand the
problem.

Thanks for any help

 

[wheeto]

The meter should have its units recorded on it. If the meter's main units are cubic metres (m3) then 1 litre (cubic decimetre) is 0.001 m3.

 

[Combat plumber]

You or they have a leak. When they fitted the meter they should of checked it before they left. Or - your rising main stopcock / valve is letting-by water. The stopcock is your responsibility.

Ditto to wheeto comments.

 

[zebhc]

Thanks for the replies.

Thanks for the replies - much appreciated.

When Thames water came and inspected the meter about a month ago the guy that came to the house turned off the CSVs in the house, we have 2, 1 in the kitchen and 1 in the utility room that both run off the main. He then checked the meter which was obviously still running, he timed the flow and told me that we must have a leak and were losing about 1 litre every 90 seconds (I have to be honest and say I didn,t pay too much attention to what dial he was looking at when he timed this).

Thames water then sent a couple of engineers last week who excavated around the meter and then simply replaced the old meter with a new one and after fitting it they told my wife that the meter was still running even when the CSVs were off but that it was now only indicating a very small leak. On Saturday I ran my own test and turned both the CSVs off and then timed the flow through the new meter, the larger dial which has x0.0001 shown below it is making one complete rotation every 95 seconds so obviously there is still a problem and from what you have said I am still losing 1 litre every 95 seconds so obviously the lads who replaced the meter think this is just a small leak !!

Thanks for your help now I just need to get it fixed !

Neil.

 

[wheeto]

If the units are M3 then from your most recent measurement you're losing a little under four litres of water per hour.

 

[zebhc]

The meter is in m3 so does that mean the dial marked x0.0001 measures 100ml per complete rotation ? If so then the loss is 100ml/90 seconds somewhere between the meter and the CSVs. As we have floorboards with an 18 inches of space under them I am thinking that a poly pipe run under the boards might be better and easier than digging up and repairing the UG pipe that has been there for many years given that the house was built in 1947/8.

 

[Unregistered]

http://www.zenner.com/tl_files/content/ZENNER COM ENGLISCH/Downloads/Water-meter-dial_MID_EU_EN.pdf

As per the diagrams in this PDF the 0.0001 dial is 1/10th of a litre so if this is having a full rotation every 90 seconds then that means you are losing 4 litres per hour, or over the course of a year around 35 Cubic Metres. I have the same problem and based on my current metered water rates that is costing me about £100 per year, so have reported it to Thames Water.

 

[steadyon]

I'd check the cold water storage cistern, usually found in the loft. If the float operated valve is letting water past, even when the float should have turned it off, it will register on the meter. However, every time you use hot or cold water (other than the kitchen tap), the level in the cistern goes down, so it never reaches the overflow. Same can also apply to WC float operated valves, but there is more chance of the water going down the overflow because of the more limited capacity.

The other alternative is to take a month's holiday and ask the neighbours to check the overflows!