Advice on reading a water meter...

[JoyfulNoise]

Given the picture below, how many digits after the decimal point (this is a residential water meter) -



When the red dial goes all the way around, the very last digit on the left advances one unit. So, if I’m reading the digits and the dial correctly, it’s -

X X X X . Y Y (+ dial value)

So,

0 9 9 5 . 0 2 0 6 cu-ft

 

[proavia]

I believe one revolution of the red dial is 1 cubic foot. That's 7.48 gallons per revolution.

I'm reading it as: 99502.063
Water company would read as: 99502

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Ah. That makes more sense then. I was trying to figure out the decimal point.

Any thought on volumes per revolution of the tiny blue dial? When I have watched it, it doesn’t seem to be an integer number of revolutions per red dial mark. Seemed like 2 revolutions of the blue dial corresponded to one tick mark on the red dial but it was hard to tell.

 

[Poolzzz]

I read it the same as gene except I believe watercompany would record as 99500 since i understand the significance of the white versus black numbers is that the black numbers are not read (just entered/assumed to be zero). IOW the white numbers are the significant figures. This indicates you are billed in 100 cu ft increments.

The tiny blue dial is a flow indicator only (leak detector etc).

 

[mas985]

The meter reader will read the white digits as CCF (centum cubic ft). That is what should be on your bill if you want to check your meter reader.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

That’s right. I only get charged per integer CCF (no decimal point).

My reason for asking is that I was going to use the water meter to investigate some high water use patterns and I first wanted to understand the correct readout. The other morning I went outside early when no one was awake, opened the box and saw the little blue dial moving ever so slowly. But, I went to the pool and noted that the auto fill was dribbling a little water (water temp was greater than air temp by at least 20F). But then I got distracted (dang kids and their schooling....) and couldn’t throw the shutoff to recheck it.