Water Flow Sensors

[Motorhead Extraordinaire]

My town water bill shows my water usage to be a lot higher than I actually think it is. I am either wasting water or the metering system is way off so I want to install a water flow sensor, or maybe several, so that I can monitor all of my water usage. I would like to log all of the data on a PC or smart phone so I can figure out what my real water usage is

Does anyone have any recommendations on what I can/should be using?

Thanks,
Joe

 

[jkwilson]

I'd check for a leak by looking at the meter while everything is shut off before you get too involved in monitoring. Extremely common to have a leak between the meter and the house or a bad toilet flapper wasting water.

 

[LifeLongWNYer]

I had the same problem once, I called the water authority and asked for a new/different meter to be installed. I also asked for a calibration report of the new meter.

They installed the meter, but charged me $ 100 for the report. When my bills dropped significantly, I asked for my $ 100 back. They cried and screamed, but eventually "gave" it back, not in cash, but as credit on future bills. No big deal, I still got it back.





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[Rookie2]

Can you get to your water meter ? mine has a small red triangle on the face that spins when any water is flowing. check for that or the counter or meter pointer moving when all your valves are off . You can take a reading and wait for ten minutes or so and read it again. If there is any leak it will increment like a gasoline pump.

We average around 3000 gal/ month per person.

 

[bry@n]

I had the same problem once, I called the water authority and asked for a new/different meter to be installed. I also asked for a calibration report of the new meter.

They installed the meter, but charged me $ 100 for the report. When my bills dropped significantly, I asked for my $ 100 back. They cried and screamed, but eventually "gave" it back, not in cash, but as credit on future bills. No big deal, I still got it back.





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This very same thing happened to my cousin. They were in the house for 10 years and found the meter issue. They sold a few years later and I think they buyer gave them $$ for the credit with the city water company. It was my understanding that it would be 5-7 years before anybody would need to pay a bill.

 

[gravelydude]

I'd check for a leak by looking at the meter while everything is shut off before you get too involved in monitoring. Extremely common to have a leak between the meter and the house or a bad toilet flapper wasting water.

This. Check meter for any movement with red arrow. If any movement while everything is shutoff, you can look for high water levels in toilet, leaking flappers, etc. Any puddles in your yard lately??

Jack

 

[Motorhead Extraordinaire]

I'd check for a leak by looking at the meter while everything is shut off before you get too involved in monitoring. Extremely common to have a leak between the meter and the house or a bad toilet flapper wasting water.

I've checked for leaks and it does not appear to be the problem. We're very high usage when it should not be, like 50+ gallons for a fast shower with a water saver nozzle or days when we use 400+ gallons. There are only two adults living in the house.

The town can only download on demand so I have no real way of monitoring the actual activity. I would like to collect the data, analyze the data, and make some informed determinations as to what is going on. Only then will I be able to make a corrective actions.

Thanks,
Joe

 

[csp]

Seems like the thing to do would actually check the meter as people have suggested with everything off instead of assuming that you have no leaks.

You could check the meter reading daily for a month as well. Yeah it's going to take some effort on your part.

 

[buddyboy]

do this, won't cost a cent

you know that there are no leaks, go to the meter and record the value.
go take a normal shower, use a stop watch to time yourself
go back to the meter and record the value.

the difference is what your meter says you use per shower.

let's say it says 50 gallons

take a 5 gallon bucket to your shower, start stopwatch, fill bucket, stop stopwatch, dump bucket, do this until your time matches your shower time.

if you dumped it 10 times then chances are nothing is wrong with your meter. if you dumped it 5 times then 'Lucy has some splaning to do'

 

[buddyboy]

i over thunk it..

just take meter reading

then fill up 10, 5 gallon buckets from your shower

take another meter reading

 

[icenfire01]

i over thunk it..

just take meter reading

then fill up 10, 5 gallon buckets from your shower

take another meter reading

That will tell if his meter is reading correctly but he still wont know if he has a leak somewhere. If the toilet valve is leaking it will do it slowly all day. For that you would have to take a reading Sat morning and then take a min vaca and check it again when you come back home Sun night.

 

[buddyboy]

That will tell if his meter is reading correctly but he still wont know if he has a leak somewhere. If the toilet valve is leaking it will do it slowly all day. For that you would have to take a reading Sat morning and then take a min vaca and check it again when you come back home Sun night.

he said he checked for leaks... if he lied or just went around looking for water or toilets running then he should go back and check for leaks the way you suggested

if there are no leaks and the meter is reading incorrectly then a phone call to the water company is in order.

not sure you need NASA quality information and harvard lawyer to get a new water meter and credit on a water bill, usually a down to earth approach to help a brother out, works 99% of the time.

 

[Kaizen]

google buy smart water meter. They have some basic ones out there you would put in your basement for 100 bucks or so but no computer stuff. smart meters are pricey

he does not have a leak in the yard as up here meters are in the basement after the supply and shutoff from the street.
I have a toilet that for every one out of 100 times has to be jiggled to close. that running for a night will get my bill up there. definitely ask if your dpw can change yours out. keep in mind washing the car, filling a kiddie pool, old washing machines are stuff that jack it up fast.

 

[Motorhead Extraordinaire]

he said he checked for leaks... if he lied or just went around looking for water or toilets running then he should go back and check for leaks the way you suggested

if there are no leaks and the meter is reading incorrectly then a phone call to the water company is in order.

not sure you need NASA quality information and harvard lawyer to get a new water meter and credit on a water bill, usually a down to earth approach to help a brother out, works 99% of the time.

I've checked the meter and logged everything manually, before and after showers, laundry, etc. The town just did another data dump and I am waiting for those results which will have 10 days of nobody home using water.

I can also do the "controlled water dump" into a 10-20 gallon buckets to confirm the flow the meter is saying. Our town will also remove and run a controlled test on the meter for $50 if it reads good, $0 if it reads bad. I'll tgry the bucket trick as one of you suggested.

Part of what I am trying to also do is to understand my water consumption. It just seemed to me that 6000 gallons per month for two people in the dead of the winter with no outside water activity seems like a lot. Maybe it is, maybe not.

With all of the "smart home" technologies one would think that the ability to measure and monitor utilities would be part of the technology suite. I've found water leak detectors and other devices to turn on/off water but I just want to automatically log the data.

Thanks for all of the suggestions ....

Joe

 

[buddyboy]

i think what you find is that most water meters are mechanical, and any sensors hooked up to them only 'grab' a reading once every few minutes or hours, then transmit that reading via RF for the meter reader driving by.

you could hack into the RF transmission then decode it and you'll have the data.
or
you could hack into the sensor and grab the data directly
or
if you trust your current meter then buy a sensor to read that meter and interface with your computer
or
set up a web cam or security cam to take time lapse photos of the meter, (once an hour on the hour) then go back an manually graph it.

i don't think such a product exists, you should create something a novice could stick on their existing water meter that uploads data via bluetooth to a persons smart phone, then get a Californian lawmaker to make it mandatory that everyone buys one.

 

[Motorhead Extraordinaire]

Buddyboy and others.....

Thanks for all of the info and suggestions. We have done a lot of manual logging, watching the meter when things are running, etc. Unfortunately it's a pain to get to the meter and to be diligent about doing lots of logging.

I'm waiting for the latest data dump from the water department. There should be 10 days of nothing while we were away on vacation. If it is all quiet, ie., no leaks as expected, then the next step will be to have the town test the meter, maybe even replace it.

I would still like to find a flow sensor to be able to monitor what is going on. I'll need to find something off the shelf rather than attempting to hack into the RF, which is a great idea by the way.

I'll post the later water flow report when they get around to sending it to me.

Joe

 

[Fishplate]

Omega is a good source of all things meter...

http://www.omega.com/flow-level/

The interface can get expensive...sure, you can count pulses, but with what?

 

[kbs2244]

After I have replaced all the toilet flappers I would take the $50.00 gamble with the water department.

 

[alberto]

After I have replaced all the toilet flappers I would take the $50.00 gamble with the water department.

No need to spend $50. Put some food die in the tank. If the bowl water shows color (without a flush), your flapper's bad.

 

[gravelydude]

Flappers are not the only cause of leaks in a toilet. Make sure that the water level in the tank is not above the overflow tube. If it is above the overflow, you are loosing water, and the fill valve needs to be adjusted or replaced.

Jack

 

[mygarageone]

I've checked the meter and logged everything manually, before and after showers, laundry, etc. The town just did another data dump and I am waiting for those results which will have 10 days of nobody home using water.

I can also do the "controlled water dump" into a 10-20 gallon buckets to confirm the flow the meter is saying. Our town will also remove and run a controlled test on the meter for $50 if it reads good, $0 if it reads bad. I'll tgry the bucket trick as one of you suggested.

Part of what I am trying to also do is to understand my water consumption. It just seemed to me that 6000 gallons per month for two people in the dead of the winter with no outside water activity seems like a lot. Maybe it is, maybe not.

With all of the "smart home" technologies one would think that the ability to measure and monitor utilities would be part of the technology suite. I've found water leak detectors and other devices to turn on/off water but I just want to automatically log the data.

Thanks for all of the suggestions ....

Joe

6000 gal a month , even for a family is a hell of a lot of water . Like 200 gals a day !
And you say you have no leaks , then the meter is the problem and if you are charged by the gal , get this thing fixed . It's a mechanical , electrical device and can be bad .
Definitely , do a water measure check to confirm meter readings and if there of go raise hell with the water dept.

 

[todd_fuller]

If you're handy programming a micro controller, something like this may be what you're after.

https://www.adafruit.com/products/828