I manage several MHPs, and most of them are configured with one or more master meters in the park, and submeters at each mobilehome. The water provider bills the park based on the master meter readings, and the park bills the tenants based on their usage measured by the submeter. For a long time we have been trying to understand why the sum of the submeters is LESS than the master meter, even on “circuits” with no communal water tap.
I understand that it could be due to leaks and/or mistakes when reading the meters, but this is being seen consistently across tens of master meters, across several states, with different people reading the meters. It seems odd to me that every one of these would be caused by something leaking. If anything I would expect the sum of the submeters to be greater than the master meter due to submeters being better able to read low flow.
Has anyone here had any experience with a similar situation?
How off are the readings? My readings don’t ever match and the master meter always has a higher reading than my sub meters’ combined readings. Are you reading the sub meters the same exact time that the city is reading the master? A difference in timing could be a cause. The difference between my submeter’s readings and the master isn’t so bad that I’m concerned - I just pay the difference.
This issue is near and dear to my heart (and wallet). I own an MHP that has had similar problems. In my case the water comes through five “main meters” that feed respective areas of the park. The multiple meters have helped a lot in trouble shooting where the problem may be.
Through the years I have found the issues listed below contributing to water loss.
Leaks in a line before entering the homes submeter.
Improperly installed meter – in too many situations I have found the meter was connected to A line running into a home, but NOT the only line entering a home. I had one situation in which this was done deliberately.
Submeter was connected to just the line feeding the hot water tank and missing the “cold” line (or vice versa). This one was a big expense for me because the tenant had a toilet that ran water constantly through the unmetered source. (It’s amazing how much water is lost with a leak in a home running 24/7).
Bad meter or submeter(s) – usually not the case because meters tend to fail catastrophically and not just by a few percentage points. But it can happen.
Over time, we have reduced our percentage water loss from about 20 percent in a given period to around 7 percent overall. Good luck in your battle.