Which water meters are best to install? Installer review!

Hello all readers! When replacing or installing water meters, the question naturally arises - which water meters are better to install, namely price-quality? In this article I will try to describe in more detail the most popular water meters that I have had to install. I give an honest assessment of all devices, because... I installed a large number of them and had to deal with warranty claims. If you want to install water meters yourself, you can read the article on the basics of installing water meters.

My own rating of water meters

Since the beginning of 2005, as soon as I started installing meters, I had to try more than 8-9 brands of metering devices in order to finally settle on one brand in the price-quality category. Read the list describing the pros and cons below.

1. Guerrida
2. Itelma
3. Betar
4. Eco Nom
5. Meter

These meters are popular in Siberia, so I will describe them specifically. In other regions they are also available for sale and you can use this information when choosing. All information was not taken out of thin air, but from installation experience in customer apartments. All meters have a 6-year calibration interval.

Connection type

How will the meter be attached to the pipes?

You also need to choose the right type of connection. There are two types: flanged and threaded. It is determined by the characteristics of the water supply and, as a rule, it is difficult to make a mistake here.

Flange connection

used in pipes with high throughput. The connection is made using flanges, which are disks with holes at the ends of the pipe. They are attached to each other with bolts. It is important to choose the right size to connect the parts.

Threaded connection

designed for pipes with small capacity and is most often used in apartments and private houses. The thread diameter must correspond to the fastening parameters on the connected pipeline elements. If the sizes do not match, the issue will be resolved by using an adapter.

Counter Gerrida

This counter deserves special attention. We install it everywhere and recommend it. The case is neat and you can really save money on this counter. There is a video about which meter winds less and as a result this device wound 6% less than the most accurate - Itelma, the rest saved a maximum of 3%.

The numbers on this device are clearly visible. During all the installations in apartments, the dial has never fogged up, which means that the gasket inside the case is made of high-quality material. The body is made of two colors: blue and red. There is almost no blue one on sale, because... The red housing is universal and can be used for cold and hot water. The rubber bands that come with the kit should be discarded immediately and you should buy fiber ones.

We have been installing these devices everywhere since 2015, and over these years there have been approximately 3-5 replacements under warranty. This is a very good indicator for us, because... other devices did not reach such figures and there were more warranty cases with other devices. Therefore, I recommend these meters for installation.

Pros:

• In the kit you can take nuts with check valves
• 6 year warranty

Minuses:

• check valves are not always of good quality

Water meter device

A cold water meter is a device that measures the amount of liquid passing through a water pipe in a certain unit of time. The unit of measurement is considered to be m3/hour. When installing this device, the cost of funds is calculated only for the volume of water that was used.

When calculating water charges by meter, the savings are at least 40%.

The operating principle is based on passing water through a pipeline through a measuring device, in particular an impeller. When it comes into contact with it, the part begins to rotate. The main pressure on the impeller is observed from the water flow. The number of its movements is recorded on the counting device using magnetic couplings.

Cold water meter elements:

1. frame;
2. impeller;
3. driving magnet;
4. ring sealing;
5. tuning disk;
6. shielding coupling;
7. clamping nut;
8. distribution plate;
9. reading device cover;
10. reading mechanism;
11. sealing clamp;
12. ring sealing;
13. half-assemblies with gaskets for connection to the pipeline.

The semi-gons are equipped with paronite gaskets that ensure the tightness of the connection. On top of the parts there are ears for sealing the measuring device.

Itelma counter

I personally started staging them in 2012. They have proven themselves very well. Really small percentage of defects. There are areas where hot water from the tap runs at 110 degrees. When installed in such houses, many devices from other manufacturers failed, namely, the dial case sweated from the inside and later the case itself began to leak due to depressurization of the gasket inside the case. But this device proved to be a great success.

By the way, on the manufacturer’s website it is written that it operates at a maximum temperature of up to 110 degrees, but the number 90 is on the counter.

So, if your meters constantly fail or your body sweats, then it’s time to change them to Itelma. I recommend installing meters with a red dial for both water, cold and hot. There have been cases of failure of meters with a blue dial. But this is not a minus of the meter, but of the management company. The dial of this device was filled with water because... The casing was laid out at 50 degrees, but there was a malfunction in the risers in the house and instead of cold water there was hot water in the riser.

Therefore, you should not trust the housing department, homeowners association or other management companies and install only with a red dial.

Pros:

• different lengths of meters - 110 and 80 mm for short pipe sections
• Includes good fiber gaskets that do not leak after installation
• there is a wire for sealing
• 6 year warranty

Minuses:

• no nuts included (need to be purchased separately, which increases the cost of the meter)

Decast VSKM-20

One of the expensive models of modern devices for measuring wasted water. Cost from 2600 rubles.

The price of this model from the TOP 2021 is justified by the following advantages:

• connection to interfaces of different brands and categories for remote transmission of indicators;
• installation length 130 mm;
• versatility - suitable for different buildings and rooms with low water consumption.

Based on the listed characteristics, we can conclude that this is the best meter for recording spent water in the TOP 2021, which can be installed in an apartment if a person is not limited in his choice to the budget segment.

The case has sapphire bearings. They remove friction, automatically increasing service life. The mechanism rotates 360 degrees. Thanks to this, you can view the readings regardless of how the screen is rotated.

The accuracy class of this meter corresponds to category A. The nominal flow rate is 2.5 m³/hour. The only drawback with all its advantages is the high cost. However, this is the best solution in the TOP 2021, which can be installed in a standard city apartment.

Betar counter

For some reason this device is called the most popular, although as for me, this device is not entirely attractive in appearance and is inconvenient to use. There is almost no marriage.

The biggest inconvenience is reading the readings. If you look at the numbers at an angle, they are not visible, or they are visible, but not the ones you need to see. The picture above shows this “convenience” of reading readings. And since not everywhere the meters can be placed in a convenient and visible place, you have to get creative with a mirror and a flashlight in order to read the readings correctly.

The minimum set: counter, nuts and black thin rubber gaskets, which must be immediately thrown away and bought others, otherwise you will have to tear off the seal, replace it with fiber or paranitic gaskets and order the seal again.

Pros:

• almost no marriage
• 6 year warranty

Minuses:

• no check valves
• bad gaskets
• difficult to read
• price

Technical specifications

What characteristics are important to consider when choosing the right water meter?

In addition to compliance with certification, installation and use features, it is important to evaluate the basic technical characteristics of the device. In this case, it is worth focusing on the flow parameters of the water supply system. This will allow you to determine the diameter of the passage, the installation length (depending on the size of the pipe section for installation). The last parameter is important when replacing the meter so that you do not have to rebuild the unit.

We also advise you to pay attention to the following points. Nominal flow

– the value at which the meter can operate for a long time.
Minimum flow
– at this point the water meter has an error of up to 5%.
Maximum consumption
- the meter can operate no more than 1 hour per day. Usually the parameters are indicated in the data sheet or on the front panel.

Please note the pressure limit. For apartments and private houses, 10-16 atmospheres

. The accuracy class determines the permissible error. It is better to give preference to categories “A” and “B”.

PULSE 15UI-80

Universal counter

PULSE 15UI-80 is suitable for installation on pipes and hot and cold water supply. In addition, the model is not demanding in terms of position: the water meter can be installed both horizontally and vertically. Rating participant:
10 best mechanical water meters

Eco Nom counter

Also a very good counter. I'm pleased with the price for this set. In the box you will find a counter, nuts with a check valve, 4 green fiber gaskets, sealing wire, and a passport.

At first, the craftsmen were glad that there was no need to buy gaskets separately, because... There are already 4 pieces in the kit, but they turned out to be bad. I had to go back and forth to replace these gaskets.

The check valve in the nut is of very good quality. They do not come out of the nut when the water flows in the opposite direction. As the manufacturer's dealers said, they sold a bunch of meters and not a single defect! In practice, not many such devices have been installed; at the time of writing, just over 200 have been installed and there are no complaints about them.

Pros:

• nuts with check valves, wire included
• price
• high quality>
• different lengths of meters - 110 and 80 mm for short sections of pipes (you will have to look for 80 mm in stores)
• 6 year warranty

Minuses:

• gaskets are leaking

Comparison of models

To make it more convenient to choose a brand of water meters, we have combined their main characteristics into a summary table.

Meter Counter

These devices were installed en masse until 2014. The very first device, which was designed in a small case. They fit well into hard-to-reach places due to the small circumference of the dial.

The length is the same as other counters. There is a check valve built into the nut fitting. Red paranitic gaskets available. To prevent them from leaking immediately after installing the meters, it is advisable to throw them into water before installation so that they soften and absorb water.

They stopped installing them due to frequent complaints. A lot of devices stopped and did not spin. This, of course, can be cured by hitting the dial with your palm, but this cannot be said to a client who has paid money and must constantly tap on it.

In general, we assessed the costs of warranty visits and completely abandoned them. Perhaps they have become better now, but I don’t want to check them for defects. Although they sell a lot and perhaps the quality has improved.

Pros:

• nuts with check valves, gaskets included
• different lengths of meters - 110 and 80 mm for short sections of pipes (you will have to look for 80 mm in stores)

Minuses:

• I had a bad experience with the dial stopping
• the price is high compared to other devices
• short warranty period - 36 months from the date of initial inspection or 30 months from the date of commissioning

What do you pay attention to when choosing a water meter?

There are quite a lot of devices on the market today designed to measure water consumption, and they can operate according to different principles. The simplest in terms of operation are the so-called tachometer counters. They operate as follows: the flow of water passing through the pipe and, accordingly, going through the meter, rotates the turbine or impeller. It is transmitted to the counting device itself, thanks to which the total volume of water spent, expressed in cubic meters, is displayed.

Water meters designed for domestic use use a standard impeller, which has some special features. In particular, it has a certain inertia, and experts also note a dependence on the turbulence of the flow, however, with insignificant volumes of water passing through such a meter (as a rule, they do not exceed 10-15 cubic meters per month), such data can be neglected. The fact is that they will not seriously affect the overall picture - the difference between the volume actually consumed and the volume displayed on the meter is unlikely to be more than 5-7 liters.

Meters, also of the tachometer type, will be somewhat more expensive, but their design will use a turbine instead of an impeller, which reduces inertia to almost zero. Such products are installed on pipes with a diameter of 25 mm or more. The error of these designs is minimal.

In addition, combination models are available for sale. They have in their design a system of valves, which, if necessary, will switch the flow of water passing through them from turbine to vane metering and back. It is also worth noting that the counter mechanism can be dry or wet type. The latter design places the water volume meter in wet conditions, which affects durability. Tap water often contains large contaminants that can clog the meter, which will also affect the service life.

Dry meters have a mechanism that will not come into contact with water - it is separated from it using a special partition, and the torque that transmits information to the digital display is provided by two magnets. Such counters are more accurate and durable, but they are very sensitive to the magnetic field.

When compiling our ranking of the best water meters, we took all these points into account. For this reason, as you will see later, the review is divided into three parts. We also took into account reviews from users and professionals, the price-quality ratio of devices. We hope that after reading this article you will be able to choose the most suitable products for yourself. Now let's move on to analyzing the performance characteristics of specific models.

Which water meters are best to choose and install?

I recommend 3 devices. First of all, I recommend the Itelma meter - the most accurate and reliable, but not everyone is ready to overpay for quality and reliability. People love it cheaper and without unnecessary problems. Therefore, I suggest installing Gerrida counters, which move less and are of very good quality. Eco Nom, cheap and fully equipped, takes third place in my independent rating of water metering devices. What you choose is up to you and know that there are no counters without defects

There is also a Sayany-T RMD hot water meter with a temperature sensor, but about it in this article, which describes all the pros and cons of installing this device. If you have any comments or additions to the article, write them at the bottom of the page. After all, everything changes in the market and information may become outdated. And if you need a good plumber, you can find him in the online search service for contractors.

Meter installation

When purchasing a meter, you should clarify the following data specified in the passport:

• date of release of the device;
• when to take the test;
• life time;
• manufacturer's warranty.

Before installing a water meter, you need to contact the company that services the water main in the area with a package of documents. Their list is established at the legislative level (Federal Law No. 261):

• home owner’s passport + copy of all pages;
• application for installation of a water meter;
• document confirming the ownership of housing;
• Specifications or site plan.

Installation work can be carried out by an organization licensed to carry out this type of work, or independently, but subject to compliance with regulatory requirements.

After sealing the meter, the following documents are drawn up:

• Act;
• verification certificate;
• standard maintenance contract.

Every month, the homeowner must provide water meter readings to the service company (this can be done online by creating a subscriber’s personal account).

How to install a water meter? Installing a water meter yourself!

Additional options

Which will improve operating comfort

In addition to the basic characteristics that must be taken into account to select the correct meter, there are also additional options. They are not so important, but they will add comfort in operation.

Rotating panel

. This is especially true for devices that support both vertical and horizontal installation types. Allows you to position the display in a more convenient viewing position.

Protective cover

Not present on all devices. However, it allows you to protect the panel from contamination and possible mechanical damage.

Protection from external magnetic influence

. This is especially relevant in cases where the water meter is located in rooms with a large number of household appliances. It eliminates the influence of external magnetic fields, prevents incorrect operation and breakdown.

For those who often have hot water turned off, multi-tariff hot water meters

with temperature sensor and electronic display. The sensor detects the temperature of the flow and sets it to the appropriate rate. This approach allows you not to overpay if the management company does not fulfill its obligations in good faith.