We got a new gas meter and it is readable remotely (the guy still comes
around, but he waves a device at the meter). Does this imply that there's a
battery in the new gas meters? Anyone know for sure?

--
Bobby G.

On Jun 22, 8:42*am, "Robert Green" wrote:
We got a new gas meter and it is readable remotely (the guy still comes
around, but he waves a device at the meter). *Does this imply that there's a
battery in the new gas meters? * Anyone know for sure?

--
Bobby G.

Don't know about te battery but they changed out the fronts on our gas
meters to do that. I don't see how a battery can be involved.

On Jun 22, 1:42*pm, "Robert Green" wrote:
We got a new gas meter and it is readable remotely (the guy still comes
around, but he waves a device at the meter). *Does this imply that there's a
battery in the new gas meters? * Anyone know for sure?

--
Bobby G.

There is a lithium cell in your gas meter. Lasts about ten years.

On Tue, 22 Jun 2010 08:42:22 -0400, "Robert Green"
wrote Re Gas Meters:

We got a new gas meter and it is readable remotely (the guy still comes
around, but he waves a device at the meter). Does this imply that there's a
battery in the new gas meters? Anyone know for sure?

Our gas company installed one of those types of meters about a year
ago. I asked the guy installing it, and he said that it did indeed
have a battery in it. He said the projected battery life was ten
years. We'll see.
--
Work is the curse of the drinking class.

On Jun 22, 7:42*am, "Robert Green" wrote:
We got a new gas meter and it is readable remotely (the guy still comes
around, but he waves a device at the meter). *Does this imply that there's a
battery in the new gas meters? * Anyone know for sure?

--
Bobby G.

I have one on my electric meter that they read 200 yards away from the
meter.
I wonder which side of the meter it's drawing power from?

KC

On Tue, 22 Jun 2010 06:31:39 -0700 (PDT), jamesgangnc
wrote:

On Jun 22, 8:42*am, "Robert Green" wrote:
We got a new gas meter and it is readable remotely (the guy still comes
around, but he waves a device at the meter). *Does this imply that there's a
battery in the new gas meters? * Anyone know for sure?

--
Bobby G.

Don't know about te battery but they changed out the fronts on our gas
meters to do that. I don't see how a battery can be involved.

No batteries in mine. It is a 40GB transmitter, the truck drives by
and sends a signal to the unit. Then data is sent to the receiver in
the truck.

On 6/22/2010 1:15 PM, Caesar Romano wrote:
On Tue, 22 Jun 2010 08:42:22 -0400, "Robert Green"
wrote Re Gas Meters:

We got a new gas meter and it is readable remotely (the guy still comes
around, but he waves a device at the meter). Does this imply that there's a
battery in the new gas meters? Anyone know for sure?

Our gas company installed one of those types of meters about a year
ago. I asked the guy installing it, and he said that it did indeed
have a battery in it. He said the projected battery life was ten
years. We'll see.

Very likely it will happen. One of the reasons is the very clever design
where practically no current is consumed until the transponder gets the
interrogation from the reader. It responds and essentially turns itself
off until next time.

On Tue, 22 Jun 2010 11:41:38 -0700, Oren wrote:

Don't know about te battery but they changed out the fronts on our gas
meters to do that. I don't see how a battery can be involved.

No batteries in mine. It is a 40GB transmitter, the truck drives by
and sends a signal to the unit. Then data is sent to the receiver in
the truck.

My comment should have read "No batteries in mine that I'm aware of".

The comment from Caesar Romano jogged my memory about "battery life
was ten years". Oops.

"Caesar Romano" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 22 Jun 2010 08:42:22 -0400, "Robert Green"
wrote Re Gas Meters:

We got a new gas meter and it is readable remotely (the guy still comes
around, but he waves a device at the meter). Does this imply that there's
a
battery in the new gas meters? Anyone know for sure?

Our gas company installed one of those types of meters about a year
ago. I asked the guy installing it, and he said that it did indeed
have a battery in it. He said the projected battery life was ten
years. We'll see.
--
Work is the curse of the drinking class.

Sounds similar to the transponder use by EZ Pass and the like. I think they
recall and replace them at 10 years or so.

"KC" wrote in message
...
On Jun 22, 7:42 am, "Robert Green" wrote:
We got a new gas meter and it is readable remotely (the guy still comes
around, but he waves a device at the meter). Does this imply that there's
a
battery in the new gas meters? Anyone know for sure?

--
Bobby G.

I have one on my electric meter that they read 200 yards away from the
meter. I wonder which side of the meter it's drawing power from?

You wouldn't think the power company would cheat you and make you pay for
your metering? (-:

I can see them stealing power from the incoming line for an electric meter,
but I couldn't understand how the gas company got electrical power out of
the gas line. (-: (mini gas turbine generator?)

I know that some RF systems can read passive foil tags but those are
hardcoded and don't change daily like gas readings. I suppose Google might
shed some light on exactly how remote metering works......Hmm, that turned
out to be less informative than I hoped.

I had an issue where the meter stopped reading and they tried to charge me
for "average use" even though we were away that winter and not using *any*
gas for heating. It took filing a case with the PSC to get them to remove
the charges once we proved the house was indeed unoccupied for the months
they billed us for. They wanted close to $900 for "estimated seasonal use"
compared to the actual draw of about $20 per month when we were away two
winters before that for pilot lights and low idle water heat.

I'm worried they could pull the same trick on anyone at any time just by
pulling the battery from the meter. I assume that doesn't make the gas flow
stop but it may screw up the readings. The company said that it's typical
for old meters to fail in that mode - to just stop reading. They tried to
imply that the meter had been slow and underreporting for years and that I
had been getting a break, but the lack of serious change in our monthly bill
after they put in a new "remote read" meter put the lie to that claim, at
least in this instance.

I suspect that they run all their customer's bills against a computer
program designed to pick up on serious reductions in consumption. I wonder
if they do the reverse - alert you if you're using too much gas. I doubt
it.

Thanks again to all who replied!

--
Bobby G.

In article ,
"Robert Green" wrote:

I wonder
if they do the reverse - alert you if you're using too much gas. I doubt
it.

I guess it depends on how much your usage increases. My underground gas
supply pipe broke years ago, and when the meter reading came in, they
sent a guy out immediately to shut it off. Used about $1500 worth of
gas, compared to my typical usage at that time of about $15/month. (They
actually settled for 1/2 payment.)