Calibration of the water meter is designed to determine the error that is allowed during operation of the device while taking into account the flow rate of the amount of water in different consumption modes. After the necessary verification, a conclusion is made about the operation of the device for the possibility of further operation.
How often should this procedure be carried out, why is it carried out, who is involved in it and is it true that the verification of water meters has been canceled? We will deal with these issues in more detail.
Is it advisable to set the counter?
For economical consumption of water and to avoid cost overruns, many citizens install devices in their apartments for metering cold and hot water. Many felt significant savings, paying for the actual water consumption according to the meter readings, and not according to the standards established above. The imputed verification of meters regulates sales on the Russian market of sanitary services quite well, but many consumers believe that the verification of water meters is illegal and try to challenge it legally.
What are the calibrations of the water meter?
The ongoing metrological process, after which the owner of the device receives the necessary documents for further operation, is called meter verification. A normal water meter under normal conditions can last up to twelve years, but a periodic check is required during operation. Calibration of hot water meters should be done every four years, and cold - once every six years. Sometimes an extraordinary procedure of a similar plan is required. To conduct it, you need to contact the service company. Employees will carry out verification within 18 days.
Methods of verification
Checking the counters can be done in different ways. Full calibration is carried out in several stages:
• A service company specialist arrives at the apartment, dismantles the existing water meter and installs a temporary spacer in its place, which it prepares in advance.
• The meter is delivered to the metrology laboratory, where it is cleaned of contaminants, deposits, repaired and the verification procedure is carried out.
• After verification is completed, the installer returns the counter to its original place, removes the spacer.
• All necessary documents are issued to the owner for signature.
Of course, this method is not cheap. You have to pay for everything. In addition, the owner must be present during the dismantling and installation of the meter. This method is often used for extraordinary verification.
There is another way when replacing the old meter with an already attorney. Replacement will cost much less. The downside is that the installed attorney has already been operated, and this reduces the guarantee of further work.
And if you do not carry out verification on time?
Many consumers now have heard in Moscow that the calibration of water meters has been canceled, and therefore do not carry it out. Are they right? The question is still open.
Periodic verification of the meter, according to the statement of DEZov and HOA, is a mandatory procedure. If it is not carried out, the meter readings will be considered invalid, and the payment for the consumed water will be charged according to the standards for one person actually living. Often, which is completely unpleasant for the consumer, accruals can be made retroactively. Since the limitation period is now three years, the DEZ can wait this period, and then present a recalculation. So the debt with an untrusted meter can be three years.
Dates of verification. Where did these four and six years come from?
From the very beginning, the calibration of water meters in Moscow with such intervals was fixed from the moment when the Moscow Government issued a decree No. 77-PP in February 2004, which raised the question of improving measures to account for the water consumption system. In Appendix No. 1, in paragraph 7.9, it was said that the verification of a cold water meter according to the State Standard of the Russian Federation should be done at least every 4 years, and for hot water, respectively, the interval should be at least 5 years. That is, if the consumer has any doubts about the accuracy of the operation of the water meter, then he can contact the metrology laboratory. There, experts will identify any errors in the operation of the device, and then it will need to be replaced, or deviations will not be detected, and then the meter can be safely put back. Such verification, based on the instructions in the resolution, could be carried out after six, and after eight years. And at the same time it would be considered legal. However…
Over time, these intervals somehow lost the prefix "no less." Calibration of water meters in Moscow began exactly four years later for cold water and six years for hot water. These terms are fixed in practice. Now, if the tenant did not check according to the “new” standards, the settlement center, on the instructions of the management companies, charged water charges according to existing standards.
So what state standards did the 2004 model officials refer to when they approved the verification of hot water meters for a period of 4 years, and cold water - for 6 years? Not at all! Now the metrological service of Rosstandart recognizes that there is no documented information on the notorious deadlines for verification of domestic and imported devices. It turns out that for many years the ordinary consumer was misled, forcing verification, referring to non-existent Gosstandarts.
Water meter calibration canceled
Since January 2013, the Moscow Government has abolished the mandatory verification of water meters. What was the reason for this?
In recent years, before the abolition, all Moscow DEZs claimed that the validity of the counters was 4 and 6 years, referring to the 77th Decree of 02/10/2004. The Moscow prosecutor's office received many complaints about this sensational occasion. According to the results of a thorough prosecutor’s audit, it was established that the deadlines for verifications were illegal. The prosecutor's office demanded that these violations be eliminated.
Documents confirming the cancellation of fixed deadlines for verification of meters
Sobyanin canceled the verification of water meters from January-month of 2013. At the end of 2012, namely December 26, the Moscow government issued a new Resolution under the number 831-PP. This document canceled Appendix 1 of Resolution No. 77-PP, which stipulated the timing of verification of meters. Thus, the verification of individual water consumption devices has become not the responsibility of Muscovites, but law.
If for your DEZ the cancellation of the verification of water meters is an empty phrase, the workers do not accept the testimony of an untrusted meter, then write a statement to the prosecutor’s office, referring to the new issued Resolution No. 831-PP of December 26, 2012, in which fixed deadlines for verification are canceled.
And how are such issues resolved abroad?
Russian companies, one way or another involved in the verification of meters, their replacement, installation, continue to enter in the passports numbers that are acceptable to themselves. 4 and 6-year calibration of water meters can be entered on imported meters, including German manufacturers. Feedback on this fact from consumers can be heard the most negative. Many are interested, but what about this issue, for example, in Berlin? The answer can discourage everyone. The fact is that there water meters can work until then, until they simply put it, they start to “weird”. If this happens not in favor of the owner of the device, he, of course, should hurry to replace it. In the opposite situation, the employees of the management company will immediately notice a catch on the transmitted indications and will come with a check. Defective equipment will help replace, the owner will pay. The same is true in America.
In many countries where meters are used to account for water consumption, verification intervals are established by law, but they are not indicated in technical data sheets.
Replacement or ... verification?
If the deadline for checking the meter has nevertheless approached, which is easier: to replace it completely or to perform verification on all the points above? For some consumers, the verification procedure itself may seem very burdensome, because it involves the dismantling of an old device, installing a temporary one, a trip to the metrological service, where, quite possibly, the water meter can be rejected.
What are the advantages of installing a new counter?
Firstly, the specialists you called will replace immediately, in one visit. Further - you do not have to pay in vain, because in the event of another verification there is no guarantee that the meter will be suitable, the services of the metrological service will be in vain paid. And finally, since the illegal terms were considered invalid, and the mandatory verification of water meters was canceled, it is possible to put in a new, more advanced model of the device, which has longer calibration intervals. It will also bring savings to the family budget.
Summing up the sensational topic of canceling the notorious inter-calibration intervals of operation of water metering devices, we will draw conclusions and consider the most interesting questions that consumers ask.
Have water meters been canceled?
According to an objective judgment, not verification itself was canceled, but fixed periods that the prosecutor's office considered illegal. Decree of the Moscow Government No. 831-PP, issued in December 2012, canceled the document (Appendix No. 1 to the 77th resolution of 02.10.2004), which was referred to by all management companies and set a deadline of 4 and 6 years.
So is water meter calibration needed now? Calibration of devices for metering water consumption remains a necessary factor in the operation of the meter, this is also stated in the resolution issued by the Government of the Russian Federation, No. 354 of 05/06/2011. This document informs that “the consumer is obliged to calibrate the device within the time limits that are recorded in the technical passport”. For most domestic devices, these terms are the same notorious 4 and 6 years, but some imported devices in their data sheet have a period of 10 to 15 years. The choice of meter is provided to the consumer. And when the test period comes, everyone has the right to simply replace the old device with a new one.
How can management companies control the timing of verification of water meters in apartments?
After the homeowner has installed a new meter in his apartment, he must bring to the management company documents confirming the meter’s readiness for work - this should be the act of putting the device into operation, and, of course, the technical passport, which shows the verification periods for this model of the device. Employees of the management company must fix all this. Thus, they will have the necessary information about at what interval the next verification should be performed. Many consumers are interested in the question, what could be the consequences if the verification terms indicated in the technical passport were ignored? As mentioned above, an unverified meter will be deemed unfit for work, and payment for the water consumed will be calculated in accordance with general standards.
Checking the registration of citizens living in housing without meters
Recently, inspections of apartments in Moscow, where there are no devices for metering water consumption, for registration of citizens actually living there, have become more frequent. How and with what is it connected? In January 2013, the Department of Housing and Communal Services and Improvement of the city of Moscow approved the “Methodological Recommendations”, which gave the right of the housing and communal services to identify individuals who actually live in the checked residential premises. So, thanks to this document, management companies can now identify unregistered citizens in apartments where the necessary water meters are not installed. And if earlier charges for water were made only for registered persons according to common house records, now now the landlord will have to pay for water consumption based on facts - that is, the number of citizens living in this area. Every two weeks, a commission will be visited in such apartments and transfer data about residents to the management company.
From the foregoing, it can be concluded that if one person is registered on the living space, but in fact more people live, and at the same time the water meter is not installed in the apartment, the landlord will no longer pay the receipt as before - at a minimum. The management company will make accruals according to the standards for each soul, and this is extremely disadvantageous, the tariffs there are simply astronomical. It will be much more profitable to install a water consumption meter, with it you will experience significant savings in the family budget.