How to choose a water meter. Which water meter to choose

What is a water meter? How to choose a water meter? And how can you save on consumption of communal resources? The answers to these and many other questions can be found in this article.

What is a water meter?

The meter, or water meter, has recently become more and more popular due to the reform of housing and communal services. With its help, the actually used water is taken into account, both hot and cold. For a month it will help to save about 100-500 rubles. When installing meters, the savings are palpable. Also it should be remembered that the tariff should be paid only for those who are registered in the apartment.

Currently, in the Russian market, domestic manufacturers are doing an excellent job of making measuring instruments, and the percentage of imports is small. Many manufacturers still use imported components for the manufacture of meters, in most cases they are imported from European countries: Germany, Italy, France, etc.

Classification

So, before choosing a water meter, you need to stop at the varieties of these devices. In the modern market there is a large number of water meters. They are classified according to the principle of action:

• Mechanical (vane and turbine).
• Vortex.
• Electromagnetic.
• Ultrasound.

In addition, these devices can be volatile and non-volatile. In the first case, the device functions from an electrical network, and a battery is provided in the floor structure, which is a safety (additional) power source.

If you do not know which water meter to choose, it is important to know that the mechanical meters are also divided into two types - for hot or cold water. Their fundamental difference from each other is the material from which the counter elements are made (bearings, impeller). The cold water meter can be used up to a temperature of + 40 ° C, hot - no more than + 130-150 ° C. The counter, designed for hot water, can also be used for cold water.

Also, water meters are divided into industrial (for accounting water in apartment buildings, large production facilities, conditional diameter 25-400 mm) and household (for private homes, apartments, conditional diameter of the meter - 15-25 mm).

How to choose a water meter with a tachometer?

A tachometer is a mechanism in which the flow of water by means of mechanical pressure leads to the activity of the blade of the impeller or turbine, thereby effecting their rotation. Then the rotation is transferred to the counting element, which registers the volume of the consumed liquid.

Tachometric water meters are divided among themselves depending on the design features. There are turbine, multi-jet and single-jet. There are also combined metering devices, which simultaneously combine turbine and vane hydrometers, located in parallel. With a small head, the volume of water is taken into account by the vane device, as the pressure increases, a pipeline with an impeller is closed with a special valve, and water is counted by means of a turbine meter.

Water meters: how to choose? Customer Reviews

When choosing a meter, the fundamental factor is its cost. Low cost can not give a guarantee of high quality, however, buying an overly expensive meter is also not always justified.

Companies and specialists praise electronic equipment, in other words, intellectual devices of foreign production. They have many advantages, but they have one and only disadvantage - this is the price. Such hydrometers, even with a small head of water, show reliable indications, as well as they are coping with great pressure in the water supply system. This is a universal device used for both cold and hot water streams, and their installation does not depend on the horizontal or vertical location of the pipelines. And most importantly - to take a metrological verification of an electronic water meter will not be particularly difficult, for this removed the upper part, and all the connecting parts will remain in place. It is this feature of these devices that is often noted in customer reviews.

Cost

So, today intellectual water meters are more preferable. How to choose? Price - how much does it affect the pocket? The brands of such metering devices are such companies as "Zenner" and "Siemens", their cost ranges from 1000 to 4000 rubles.

In Russia, mechanical devices are often collected using foreign components. Their price ranges from 300 to 800 rubles. As you noticed, the cost of such meters is much smaller, in addition, they are presented in stores in large quantities.

Features of choice

Before choosing a water meter for an apartment and purchasing it, it is necessary to pay special attention to the date of the period between verification, indicated in the passport, it indicates its durability. The meter can be stored on the counter for a long time, and the date remains the same. It was found that the verification period for mechanical meters is 5 years, for electronic meters - 10 years.

In addition, before choosing a water meter, it is important to take into account such an indicator as the capacity of the device, in other words, its productivity, which is measured in m ³ / hour.

When installing a meter in a residential building, it is necessary to coordinate this action with the management company without fail. Here not every equipment is suitable, check the recommended counters. Since during the verification, the device selected by itself can not be accepted, and the indications from it when paying utility bills will not be taken into account.

Operation and maintenance

Once you have decided on the choice of the model, you need to call specialists who will make the installation of the device. Further it needs to be registered and sealed, for this it is necessary to call representatives of the city water utility.

On average, the operating life of water meters is 12 years. In this case, after 4-6 years, the meter must be verified. This procedure is very important, as during the years of continuous operation, the accuracy of the readings is significantly reduced.

There are many reasons for incorrect readings. Among them the most common is hard water and slagging of pipelines. When slags accumulate in the pipelines, the pressure in them becomes higher, the opening of the device becomes difficult to pass, and its turntable starts to rotate much faster. The readings are much higher than the actual water consumption. To prevent this problem, it is enough to purchase a coarse filter.

Mounting rules

Now you know how to choose the right water meter. But in order for his testimony to correspond to reality and he could function smoothly for many years, the following rules should be adhered to during installation:

• Only the field of completion of welding and other work on the preparation of the installation socket can be engaged in mounting the meter.
• The direction of the arrow, which is located on the side of the water meter, must coincide with the direction of flow of the liquid.
• The water meter is mounted by the counting device upwards.