Water metersWater is pricelessa natural resource that must be treated with care. But paying for its use regardless of consumption has taught city dwellers not to think about saving. However, when installing apartment meters for water consumption and sanitation, the situation changes dramatically. We will add that, as part of the implementation of the housing and communal services reform, it is planned to transfer the entire housing stock to paying for water supply in accordance with actual consumption. New buildings are handed over with already installed apartment meters. But in existing buildings, maintenance services are limited to installing house water metering units. The total consumption recorded by the latter is distributed among all apartments. In other words, responsible owners and tenants are forced to pay for the carelessness of their neighbors. To organize an individual water metering unit, officially registered and certified meters are used. The market offers devices of various types: tacheometric (mechanical), ultrasonic, vortex acoustic, etc. The most popular are simple and reliable tacheometric counters (Tochmash, Meter, Pribor, LEMZ (Russia); Metron (Russia, Poland); Minol Messtechnik, Lorenz GmbH & Co. KG (Germany); Actaris (Italy) and others). The main design elements of such devices are a vane converter and a counting mechanism. The water flow causes the rotation of the impeller or turbine, and this rotation is transmitted to the counting device. The tacheometric meters have a pulse output, allowing remote monitoring of readings via a recording server. The cost of such equipment ranges from 400 to 3300 rubles. An ultrasonic water meter manufactured by Teplovodomer, Irvis (Russia) and other companies consists of an electronic unit and a primary transducer. The device records the propagation time of the ultrasonic signal along and against the flow. Flow measurement is performed by a microprocessor device that analyzes the time difference data and, in accordance with a given algorithm, determines the volume of water passed. Vortex flow meters (Krohne, Germany; Emis, Irvis, Russia, etc.) record the number of pressure drops when the flow passes around an obstacle. The measurements are based on the proportional dependence of the frequency of drops, the water flow rate, and the volume of water consumption. Note that ultrasonic and vortex meters are exotic for apartments.
By the way
Specialized companies have installation priceswater meters can differ significantly from the cost of municipal services. However, when contacting independent installers, be sure to find out what exactly is included in the stated amount. It may turn out that you will have to pay for the components separately. In addition, it would not be superfluous to find out which meters are offered for installation. Perhaps you will not be satisfied with the price of the devices. In some cities, municipal structures name the cost of installing meters. The owner of the apartment finds out at the last moment that he needs to pay for disconnecting risers, etc. It also happens that you need to agree on payment directly with the plumber servicing the building. Naturally, residents must take care of purchasing devices themselves.
Let's count every drop
Install apartment meterswater is very simple. You can do this by inviting a specialist from a licensed company. Once again, we note that the main thing is to purchase registered (in the State Register of the Russian Federation) and certified water meters. The installed devices must be accepted into operation by the district operating organization. The tenant or owner signs the acceptance certificate. Then you need to contact the Unified Information and Settlement Center (EIRC) to sign an agreement on the procedure for paying for water consumption and sanitation using apartment meters. Another option is to use the services of an operating organization. This path was chosen by the owner of the apartment, which will be discussed in our article. The decision to install meters was made for two reasons. First of all, there was a need for real water consumption metering. The owner is a businessman, as they say, with irregular working hours. He spends a minimum of time at home and will not pour water for no reason. It is not surprising that the owner of the apartment is thinking about paying for hot and cold water according to actual consumption. At the same time, our hero often goes on long business trips. The age of the house in which he lives is already several decades old, the plumbing in the building is quite worn out. The valves on the risers are weak. In order not to worry about the fate of his living space and neighbors' apartments while traveling, the owner decided to play it safe and install new ball valves on the supply pipes. At least, such shut-off valves will prevent flooding due to the fault of intra-apartment wiring and plumbing fixtures. To begin with, the man called the dispatch office of the district operating office (REK). His application for the installation of meters was accepted by phone. After inspecting the pipeline, the REK employees filled out the necessary documents and issued a receipt. Upon receipt of payment to the operating organization's bank account, a date for installing the devices was agreed upon (payment for services is made through Sberbank in the amount determined by the city authorities). In addition to installing meters, the package of services includes the installation of ball valves and coarse filters. The latter free water from mechanical inclusions and rust, preventing damage to plumbing and water fittings. Thus, our hero acquired even more than he initially planned.
Expert opinion
Elena Manasyan, leading specialist of REC«Pokrovskaya» Since January 2007, the service of installing individual water metering devices costs 4800 rubles (in accordance with the order of the Government of Moscow). Residents do not pay for disconnecting water risers. We offer meters SKV-3/15 GK and SKVG 90-3/15 GK manufactured by the Vladimir plant "Tochmash", which will cost about 350 rubles each. For a collective application (at least 10 apartments) a 10% discount is provided for installation work. At the same time, all costs will pay off a hundredfold. In Moscow, the daily water consumption rate per person is 384 liters. That is, the estimated water consumption is about 12 m3 per month. In reality, such a volume is used quite rarely. In other words, residents who have installed individual metering devices save on water supply payments. Almost everyone starts paying half as much. Some citizens achieve even greater savings. For example, pensioners in whose apartments adult children are registered, living separately.
