Water meters and insulated protection boxes

Do a search, tons of posts on here about that

You say older section metal pipes. Before all the bother with meters are you certain you have NO LEAKS in your main lines?? Than check out each home as to toilets controls and leaking faucets and perhaps dripping water to prevent freeze up. Try to than figure your usage per homes to see if that number is off the wall. We have never metered our parks nor was a problem to buyers since our cost per home for water is less than $2 per home( we switched from city water to wells since their cost per home was at $48 per month based on just a connection plus usage). Ever system needs to be evaluated on an individual basis to see the best return for now and the next owner and there is no standard answer to come to the correct solution. We would use meters IF it was adventitious to our bottom line. With a cost of less than $2 per home for water we find our residents have more money to pay us higher rents!!!

Hi Birdwoman, I have a park in Montana as well, whereabouts at? I think that’s a bit overkill myself. I just started installing meters myself and we are simply building boxes and using heat tape and meter jackets. Cheapest option I found by far after much searching and about 7-8 quotes was Neptune meters through Gunners with a remote read out.

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Hi Carl, Thank you for your reply. Yes I believe there are leaks in the park. I am suspect that the galvanized main line is leaking, but I don’t know how to find the leaks in the main line. Any suggestions? Right now the cost is about $75-$85 per month per space. So there is a problem. I do believe it is a multi level problem. Leaks in the ground and leaks at the tenant spaces. (i.e., leaking toilets, swamp coolers, etc) and that can be controlled by the meter we put in at each space.

Hi George, Thanks for the reply and thank you very much for your input and referral. We are down in the Bitterroot, south of Missoula. But being I have not closed on the park yet it is probably best to keep that close to my chest…lol. Where are you located in Montana? If your park is near us, I would really like to come and see the boxes you built. I think you are right about the overkill part. But he was the only plumber that even called me back. Perhaps you can PM me, if that is something that is available here?

This was a really good thread on water leaks just recently - have a look and maybe it will help you with some of the ways others have identified leaks in pipes below the frost line. Best of luck finding it quickly.

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We only own and operate our parks since we believe with two or three great parks we make a fantastic living plus we love what we do and the people. Presently we have no leaks or even homes showing leaks since we can and do home inspections. Number 1 we check our main meters around 3 AM and turn off all sections of the parks, then we turn on one section at a time and once we locate the general area that is suspicious we will than have 10 homes or less to find the problem… We had some metal pipes that we replaced for lots of reasons. We have used the professionals using sonar when we had some lines under homes that we knew we had a leak within a 200 foot zone but did not want to dig up since some areas where under homes. Since we use wells we check usage every 5 days but normally only twice a year at the most we have a homeowner unaware of a household problem that we help them with. All lines are bedded with 1 foot of chat to prevent future problems plus easily locate lines when digging. I believe one big challenge is putting in meters and later fine most problems are your own main lines. We fine our residents try to be very careful with their use of water and as owners they know we care about them and they are receiving good value for the rent they pay. We found our biggest problems were when we had mangers and they were great people but never the same as owner-operators–our +30 years of experience.

Hello,
Several options are available for sub-metering in cold weather: Placing a pulse output meter inside the unit with a remote reader on the outside of the home; Installing the meter in
an insulated box under the skirting near the heated area and utilizing a remote reader; Or the most expensive option is installing the meter in a meter pit below freeze depth. If you already take freeze precautions during extreme cold spells, for example running the water to keep pipes from freezing, installing the meter inside or near the floor outside should suffice. Feel free to contact me regarding your specific installation.

Based on our 20 years of sub metering experience, water and sewer usage drops 25% to 35% with sub-metering.

We’re here to answer your sub-metering questions.
Sincerely,
Dan Helton
President
Dan@SouthernWaterManagement.com
727-421-9695

we just purchased badger meters and use the beacon system. all meters send a text message to the badger cloud and we can see usage on an hourly basis if we want to. Nobody has to crawl under any homes or go out and physically read anything once they are installed. We used 18in plastic culvert pipe for meter pits with septic tank lids on them. just cut pipe to whatever length you need and with the pits freezing is never a problem.

Shoen, what did that system run per meter?

Shoen4u1
Thank you for the detailed reply. I had looked at the badger meters yesterday, but the rep did not mention anything about the beacon system. I too am curious as to the cost? Thanks Much!

I would have to look to be positive but i think around $160 per meter with a $4500 activation fee

Hello,

This information may be useful to you.

ABT Water has been installing water meters for manufactured housing and in the water industry since 1992. We started primarily as a water treatment company and eventually developed into a complete water management services company. Our services include but are not limited to:
Utility submetering
Water meter installation
Utility management services
Automated meter reading
Utility billing services

We are the only national installer of most major water meters, including Neptune, Badger, Metron-Farnier and Sensus, and are a leader among sub-metering companies. We have installed over 25,000 meters to date and undertake hundreds more water meter installations every month. We are the clear choice when it comes to National Meter Installers.

Whether you have a 15-house park or a 700-site manufactured housing community, let us use our industry knowledge and extensive experience to give you the best meter installation possible.

If you find this information useful and have any questions, please contact Gabriel at 1800-697-9096 Ext 14

or visit us at http://abtwater.com

@GeorgeNiko do you have any problem with Neptune meters?

I just received a quote and the plumber specified Neptune T-10 Hydro Water Meters. I just don’t want to buy something that I need to replace in a year.

t-10s come with a 25 year warranty on the brass bodys, 10 year warranties with the register and a 5 year warranty on the chamber.

The warranty is kinda all over the place but the neptune is a good meter.

I Prefer the metron smart meter.
20 year warranty no moving parts in the register and single jet technology. should last you 15-20 years easy.

Gabriel@abtwater.com
800.697.9096 Ext 14
http://abtwater.com/

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Thank you very much for the information and recommendation.

I use Neptune meters and they seem to work well. The meters are inside of a styrofoam box under the home, heat cable is used liberally, and foam pipe insulation covers all. My park is south of Youngstown, OH, and it gets quite cold here. I have had problems with residents not plugging in their cable early enough and they pay dearly for a plumber to go out and fix the mess, plus some of the castings on either side of the meter have developed holes. Very weird and probably made in China whereas the meters are made in the US. The internet based meter reading system sounds like fun, but that cost is tough to stomach. My managers use an infrared gun that reads a hockey puck sized disc on the outside of the home. Very fast and way cheaper.

Rolf

Hello,

We provide service through out the US, and look forward to working with you.

We provide seamless tenant utility billing through our web-portal or a
customized portal for a start-up, stand-alone, or mini-sub metering service.

Our customers are typically multi-tenant property owners (like owners of
apartment complexes, mobile home parks, condo associations, and shopping
centers): Where the property only has one main water meter; We provide the
metering technology and services to bill or monitor each individual tenant
or owner for their own water use. We are compensated through a monthly
billing fee (typically from $4 to $10), that is billed to the tenant or
condo owner.

Basically, we supply the smart metering equipment and technology at
wholesale cost, ($45 for direct read to $150 for radio frequency meters, plus installation).
Then provide complete meter reading, billing, and collection service at no cost to the owner.

The primary reason why someone would use Southern Water Management is: Based
on our 20 + years of sub metering experience through out the US, …The
tenants’ water/sewer usage will drop by 25 to 35% when the tenants are
responsible for their own water use; We are different from other
sub-metering services because our goal is promoting Water Conservation:

Call me at anytime, We’re here to answer your sub-metering questions.

Sincerely
Dan Helton
President
Southern Water Management cell 727-421-9695
727-827-4509 Dan@SouthernWaterManagement.com
http://SouthernWaterManagement.com

Shoen4u1, How do you like the Badger meters now that you’ve had them for a bit. Any issues with the setup or the remote readings? Meters held up good last winter? Would you mind sending me a picture of the meter pits you built? christa@west-prairie dot com. TIA

we like them alright. The only issue i have with the system is that the end points have been a little cumbersome to reprogram whenever you take them off a removed unit and put them on a new one. Our water and sewer bills are less than half of what they were before the installation. The ability to be able to track every unit at every time is great, just that has saved us a ton of money and time.