On Fri, 30 Apr 2021 18:07:42 +0100, charles wrote:

In article ,
PeterC wrote:
On Fri, 30 Apr 2021 13:57:36 +0100, Reentrant wrote:

On 26/04/2021 14:13, Mark Carver wrote:
I read some gumf the other day, saying Arqiva are rolling out a comms
system for Smart Water meters (it's the meters that are presumably
smart, not the water)

What is a smart meter, have I already got one ? The present one has
some sort of RFID functionality I assume, coz the van from South East
Water drives up our road, emitting a signal, that causes the meters to
'ping' back their readings ?

So, are these meters going to be the same ones used for the smart
metering, or will they come and change my meter (for the third time in
10 years now !)
And if they are the same ones, how on earth will the magic 10 megawatt
ERP signal from Arqiva reach my meter that's 600mm below the ground ?

For some reason our water meter is inside the house. It's fitted with
one of these:

https://www.itron.com/-/media/feature/products/documents/brochure/everblu_cyble_enhanced_pb_en_0911.pdf

Never had a meter reader person visit, and our water bills are always
spot on.

It makes it impossible to read the meter. I read mine every week just in
case there's a leak somewhere. Still, with meter inside you'd be aware of
leaks and wouldn't be charged for leaks outside.

err no. You'd be charged for any water passing through the meter. My water
meter is on my boundary, so outside leaks arec my problem. But I had a
plastic pipe installed before the days of water meters, so I shouldn't get
a leak there.

That I know - mine had a leak in the box where the pipe on the outlet from
the meter was askew. It was just outside my boundary in in the company's
box, plus lead pipe to the old stop cock just inside my boundary. The meter
wasn't 'square' to the MDPE that went to lead then to MDPE.
I had it repaired FOC and got the lead replaced, so now it's MDPE. with a
joint, all the way. The meter is a bit out of true as the incoming and
outgoing pipes aren't in line.

BUT, if the meter is inside the house (a neighbour's is) then any leaks
upstream aren't the user's responsibility.
I haven't looked closely eneough to be sure, but there appears to be a
bypass loop with isolating valves for the meter - very tempting!
The reader covers just over half of the meter, so it can't be read. That
would annoy me - I'd install another meter in series.
The only external stopcock serves more than on house.
--
Peter.
The gods will stay away
whilst religions hold sway