Once again, a sudden crisis suddenly struck, which is why everyone began to count their savings (for the umpteenth time). It is not surprising that water meters, the installation of which was previously not given any significance, have become almost an obligatory attribute of every house and apartment. Life itself has transparently hinted that it is better to keep all your expenses under strict control.
In addition, there are some reviews. Water meters clearly show that housing and communal services workers are seriously overstating the general house
water consumption figures
. Therefore, the relevance of water meters today does not need to be proved to anyone.
Meter basics
Since the popularity of this type of device has been extremely high recently, it is not surprising that a huge number of their models have appeared on the market. The most common and widespread are the following varieties:
- Standard mechanical water meters that record the flow rate using a simple (mechanical) display.
- Similar varieties, but in a more "advanced" version. Such counters also have mechanical filling, but they already have an electronic display that gives more accurate readings.
- Electronic water meters, which not only have a full-featured liquid crystal display, but also allow remote reading.
- Intelligent digital models. They can record readings, take their values and send them to the email address provided by the owner. The simplest scheme of a water meter of this type is available in the article.
There are also non-volatile and volatile devices. The former do not require a power supply for their work. Accordingly, volatile models need to be connected to the mains or battery. On the "batteries" work many electronic models. There is no need to worry: as a rule, used batteries have quite decent capacity, so their replacement is required no more than once a year. Some customers say their meters worked for two to three years.
Here's how diverse water meters are. How to choose the most suitable variety for you? In the next part of the article we will discuss this.
Additional classification differences
It should be noted that water meters can differ from each other by other criteria. For example, there are such water meters that have an additional indicator on the scoreboard that shows the “real-time” water consumption. There are also models that can accurately measure fluid flow over your chosen time span. This is especially important if you are trying to figure out exactly when your household is spending the most water to plan your family budget.
It should be noted that all normal manufacturers are constantly expanding and improving the product line. So, relatively recently, hot water meters have appeared on the market, which are additionally equipped with a thermostat. Equipment of this class can record not only the consumed volume of water, but also its temperature.
However, for our country, such an opportunity is not very relevant. The fact is that a water meter with a temperature sensor will be more interesting to residents of European countries. In those parts, a special contract may well be concluded between the consumer and the supplier, in which even the temperature of the liquid supplied to the house will be additionally specified. As for our country, the
temperature graph will give you absolutely nothing.
Flour of choice
But what are the reviews? Water meters are really necessary and important devices, but how can you not throw your money away and get the right model for you? It is especially difficult to make a choice for those customers who have not encountered this technique before.
However, advice from more sophisticated consumers can help them. If you carefully read the reviews, you can make an unambiguous conclusion about the superiority of "intelligent" models. Here are their main advantages:
- There are no wires, so nothing gets mixed up and comes off during installation.
- The accuracy of the calculation of the consumed liquid is the highest, literally up to a milliliter. Simply put, utilities can no longer cheat. Of course, you should immediately put seals on the water meters in order to avoid accusations of fraud on your part.
- There is a clock and a calendar: based on their data, you can build a schedule of water consumption depending on the time of day and time of year.
- The periods of lack of water are recorded, which can also be used against communal services in difficult cases.
- The highest degree of security and reliability.
- Finally, advanced users with extremely “straight” hands report that such equipment can be seamlessly integrated into complex circuits using Arduino, Raspberry Pi and similar platforms, which opens up truly limitless possibilities. For example, you can make the data of water meters automatically sent to your housing and communal services management. In addition, you can also automate the payment for water itself, which will allow you not to touch the meter at all for years.
About illegal activities
Of course, in the latter case, many may have not quite “right” thoughts about circumventing the protection of such a counter. In addition, many users post on the network quite detailed (and sometimes working) schemes for tricking water meters.
We do not recommend doing this, as you will have to pay a very long time for a rather small amount saved on water. Simply put, immediately install seals on water meters, register them immediately after installation. All this will avoid many problems in the future. Do not give housing and communal services employees any reasons for suspicion.
In addition, almost all modern mechanical counters (not to mention electronic varieties) have excellent shielding, which protects them from a magnetic field. In short, using ordinary magnets to stop them will fail. Only the earliest models had this vulnerability.
What should I look for when buying?
Plumbers recommend that you pay special attention to the following parameters:
- Manufacturer and country of production.
- Installable warranty period.
- The period of mandatory intervals between inspections.
- Cost, of course.
- Availability of service.
The first paragraph of this list is worth dwelling in much more detail. Believe me, many buyers still naively believe that the manufacturing country and the manufacturing company are one and the same. Alas, this is not so. If you are familiar with the constant replacement of water meters, then you probably already know about this feature of the modern economy.
Simply put, if you see the manufacturer’s marking, whose “country of residence” is Germany, Italy, Russia, this does not mean at all that the water meter on the seller’s counter is made there. In most cases, it was produced by the hard-working hands of the Chinese. In principle, there is nothing wrong with that. It’s just that they often use not very high-quality materials, and the control over regional manufactories by the central office is not too strict. All this leads to corresponding results.
As for the service centers ... Believe me, it is much better if there is at least one in your city. You yourself understand that when you buy a defective water meter for seven thousand, it will be somewhat offensive to wait for the end of his journey in half the country. In addition, service employees often give quite adequate and correct recommendations even for products of other manufacturers, so it will not hurt to consult before buying.
Why it happens?
In any case, this is what many customer reviews say. Water meters, which are produced in the Middle Kingdom (low and medium price categories), often do not live up to expectations. So, many dissatisfied consumers notice that even the simplest mechanical meters often begin to "cheat", often giving a significant overspending of water.
This is due to the low quality used in the manufacture of metal. The gears of the mechanism are worn out, after which the device starts to produce incorrect data. Some companies whose field of activity is the installation of water meters in St. Petersburg have just encountered this problem. Mass complaints from consumers rained down. When they began to check, they quickly found out that the "Italian" meters that came from one of the parties were actually produced in China. With all the consequences, as they say.
The most reliable manufacturers
Of course, you may have a legitimate question about which water meters are better to choose. What do the reviews say? Water meters today are produced by a considerable number of companies. Among them there are both domestic and purely foreign manufacturers.
Siemens
This company does not need to be presented to anyone. The Germans have been present on the civilian and military products market for more than a dozen years (more precisely, more than a hundred years), and therefore there is no doubt in their “professional suitability”. It is possible that they produce the best water meters.
Reviews about their water meters are rather positive. Thus, consumers note the excellent quality of the materials used, the developed network of service centers and the multifunctionality of the meters they bought. Of course, this class of equipment is much more expensive than domestic counterparts, but its long service life and reliability are worth it. Judging by the reviews, she has been working for at least five to six years; replacement of water meters in the event of such a purchase will threaten you soon.
Another positive feature is the wide network of service centers and excellent technical support. Even if you come across a defective counter, you can always easily replace it. As a rule, the “nine circles of bureaucratic hell” will not be required for this.
Roughly the same can be said of Zenner and Minomess technology. In our country, these manufacturers are not so well known, but you should definitely not worry about the quality of their products. As in the previous case, their only drawback is the rather high cost.
Domestic companies
Traditionally, it was believed that domestic products have not too outstanding quality. Unfortunately, in some cases, this opinion really has every reason. So, among domestic products there are practically no models of water meters that could take into account the consumption of both cold and hot water at the same time. However, in our area the housing and communal services especially does not welcome them, so buying such models is almost useless.
In addition, our manufacturers often use not too high-quality materials, which also does not help to improve consumer sentiment. However, all these negative aspects (which most often slip in the negative comments of users) are partly offset by the relatively low cost of such devices.
So, if domestic water meters counted by Pulsara, Multisystems, or Bereguna cost about one thousand and a half thousand rubles, then the cost of their imported counterparts may well exceed five or six thousand, and even more after known events in the economy. In addition, many are bribed by the exceptional ease of installation and the undemanding nature of many models to the quality of domestic water, which in most cases has significantly increased rigidity.
Price categories
By the way, what is the cost of water meters from various manufacturers? We give the general price list in the table.
Type of water supply | "Norm" | BMeters | ICS | CBM |
Hot water | 400-700 rubles | 1050-10500 rubles | 440-4500 rubles | 2000-2500 rubles |
Cold water | 400-700 rubles | 725-3800 rubles | 310-3500 rubles | 2150-2500 rubles |
As you can see, the cost of water meters is extremely different. The range of prices is extremely large, so even one manufacturer can find models of both budget and premium classes.
About utilities
In our country, only those devices that are manufactured in full accordance with GOST R 50601 and GOST R 50193 are allowed for installation. This is a prerequisite, no exceptions are made! Installation, some setup procedures and sealing - all these tasks are already facing your utilities. You are only required to read a cold water meter and a hot water meter.
In the ideal case, we would advise you to consult with specialists of the local DEZ or Vodokanal about the admissibility of installing this or that type of equipment. Believe me, every year the list of approved water meters is reduced. In principle, the specialists who install the water meters in St. Petersburg talk about the comparative selectivity of this rule. Most often, mechanical models are allowed to be installed without any restrictions, difficulties are only with "smart" meters.
About the basic rules for installing water meters
First, let's talk about the technical side of the issue. First of all, we will tell you about the “golden rule” of plumbers. We are talking about the mandatory inspection of all water taps and connections in a house or apartment before installation. In principle, it is advisable to repeat this procedure as regularly as possible (at least once a month).
And this is not only a matter of common rules, but also of common prudence: if a pipe constantly flows on which the meter is “hung”, then all this can literally and figuratively result in a tidy sum. Important! It is imperative to worry not only about installing the water meter itself, but also about installing a quality filter. We did not talk about this in detail, but it’s easy to guess: if a grain of sand or something like that gets into the mechanism, then nothing good will happen to the counter.
Organizational matters
First, you notify your housing management about the desire to install a meter. At the agreed time, a specialist arrives and carries out the installation. After that, you conclude an agreement, sign all documents regarding the installation of equipment and its subsequent maintenance. The data of the water meters are immediately recorded and documented so that no further complaints will arise to you.
In addition, in the case of smart meters, it is necessary to document the possibility of remote reading of information and its subsequent audit on your part. Simply put, you should be able at any time to get acquainted with all the data that your HOA has received.
So we examined the main issues that water meters pose to consumers . How to choose this equipment? If you carefully read the above material, then you probably remember about the abundance of their varieties, and about the presence of multifunctional models. Do not forget about the wide range of prices. What do we want to say by this?
Everything is simple. As a rule, people need a mid-range counter. Try to choose domestic or foreign models. Best of all - separately for cold and hot water. Pay attention to the country of origin, that is, the real place of production of the equipment.
Moral points
Are water meters really needed? It is easy to install in an apartment, only you have to pay for installation and the equipment itself from your pocket. Is it necessary or preferable to pay according to general standards?
To get started, let's deal with some points. Unfortunately, many of our fellow citizens love to brush their teeth without turning off the faucet, to wash a couple of socks in a car with a large load, etc. All this is not only stupid, but also leads to a huge waste of water. But it is a valuable resource, which on the planet every year is becoming less and less. Most often, installing hot water meters is less justified from an economic point of view, but installing water meters for cold water is a completely different matter.
Cold water is rarely cherished. Check for yourself: immediately after installing the meters, your expenses for it will significantly decrease, but for this you need to approach the matter wisely. No, you don’t have to wash your hands at all times or go to the toilet exclusively at work (and it happens, yes). Just replace the current faucets with something more normal, repair all leaking connections. Finally, it is better to divide the wash into several equal parts, having achieved loading the washing machine by about 2/3. So you not only dramatically reduce the consumption of cold water, but also reduce the wear of your own clothes.