Has anyone has installed Metron (or other meters) in Minnesota? Where did you place the meters?
My understanding is that typically meters are placed outside the home (typically underneath) and protected with meter jacket / heat tape.
I talked to the plumbing company today and they said they’d want to install the meter inside each home as code (pasted below) requires meters to be at least 12 inches above finished floor. This is problematic for a variety of reasons (accessing tenant owned homes, insurance reasons if there is a leak, etc).
What have others done in their Minnesota parks? Any guidance is appreciate. And if you have a good plumber for the install I’d be very interested to hear recommendations as well. Thanks.
609.11 Water Meters. Water meters shall be located in an approved location inside a building as close as possible to the point of entrance of the potable water supply pipe, installed at least 12 inches above the finished floor, and readily accessible. All water meter installations shall be rigidly supported with a permanent support in order to prevent the meter from vibrating when the water is passing through it.
Exceptions: Where installation inside a building is not possible, the water meter may be installed in an enclosed structure not subject to flooding, high groundwater, or surface drainage runoff, provided the meter is protected from freezing. Provisions shall be made to install the meters above grade when possible. When installed below grade, the top of the structure shall be located at least 12 inches above the finished grade, be secured, and be accessible. This structure shall not be connected to any storm or sanitary sewer system.
That doesn’t sound right to me but I think there may be some misunderstanding here on the code. You are not impeding the flow of water into the home or installing a pressure valve. I would call Metron and ask them directly… they are very helpful. As for install you would as you said they go under the home with heat tape. Also… you want them to do the install. It is only $125 per home which is cheaper than most plumbers would charge and they also do the wireless connnection to your main communication box. I know Metron has had some detractors on this site but I think they are great.
I agree, contact your state association and a Metron dealer. Codes are diff for MH’s usually as far as a meter placement. Dont rely on a local plumbers opinion, most dont know squat about our business.
@MinnesotaGuy we have had three different meters in Minnesota. We originally had Badger meters with remote readers. Then we switched to ABT Water Management out of Wisconsin and they use WIFI Metron Meters that reports to a central station via WIFI and then delivered to you in a report to use how you wish.
We switched from ABT to Metron directly for numerous personal and technical reasons, but I will stick to the technical ones. We use Rent Manager (RM) and at the time we switched to ABT, Metron was not supporting MHP’s. I am not sure if ABT has since decided to invest in the RM API to automatically import reads, but at the time we were with ABT that was not the case. However, we switched to Metron directly, because they now support MHP’s AND now offer cellular based meters (meaning WIFI not required) and the reads automatically import into RM and I think other platforms like Yardi. Metrons cellular meters also tract temperature and send out alerts before freezing which ABT’s WIFI meters did not at the time. Also, Metron was WaterScope which is a very powerful tool for both you was the property owner to diagnose problems, but to your tenants that can independently monitor their own usage and set up their own alerts.
We have had the Metron cellular water meters installed above ground under many different home types in Minnesota being both metal and vinyl wrapped in insulation and heat tape for more than five years in a very remote community without any issues. I am not aware of any community in MN that has meters installed inside the homes. We have now installed Metron meters in all our communities across the USA and our only issue has been with their third-party installers than have performed very poorly. We only used them on two communities and then switched to local installers thereafter. If you establish a good relationship with a local plumber, they can be a very reasonable option. Unfortunately, when you take over a new community where the old owner burned a lot of bridges with local contractors it takes a while to establish your reputation.
I am not sure if the whole water meter install law changed since we acquired our last property there, but if it has I am still not aware of it.
P.S. Make sure to go to the Minnesota Manufactured Housing Spring meeting where you will connect with a lot of good people:
New to the forum but wow ya’ll are awesome. Say, I am doing a 7 unit RV site in Oklahoma (outside city limits, no zoning or permit development restrictions), the local water department consists of 3 people in the office who, based on my guess of thier ages, possibly helped found Oklahoma as a state in 1907 and refuse to send emails because the internets can’t be trusted…anyway, thier “board” will decide if my new water meter request is approved or denied. They are asking for my water demand information for my proposed site inorder to approve the regular residential meter. I have data from two other parks I own but I’d much rather pay a professional company/engineer familiar with water demands to write a letter stating the industry standard for RV sites. Nothing crazy or formal, I just don’t think they’ll take my letter as something valid so I’d rather have something professional. Any referrals or help would be awesome! Keep up the good work! We’re all sailing on this same boat together. Brian