After you have successfully installed water meters in your home, passed the registration stage and received all Required documents, you should learn about another procedure associated with the operation of these devices. Over the next few years, you will enjoy their smooth operation (and your savings), but after certain time they need to be trusted or will be needed replacement of water meters. As for the meter cold water, then its verification should take place after 6 years, and in the case of a hot one, after 4 years.

Why check the meter?

During verification, your water meter will be dismantled and sent for a metrological examination, which will show how well it works and what level of wear. As a result, such a meter will either be returned for further operation, or an act will be drawn up stating that it has become unusable and replacement is necessary. The whole procedure is enshrined in law, as are the terms in which the verification is carried out.

The indicators of the meter, which was found to be faulty, will not be taken into account, and until, for example, it is produced, the owner will be obliged to pay in accordance with the regulations.

Replacement instead of verification

Instead of dismantling the device and paying for its verification, you can immediately take care that it is carried out counter replacement. Price both procedures are approximately the same, however, if after verification you are ordered to repair the device, this will cause unnecessary expenses. Water meter replacement- a more frequent situation and because almost 80% of meters do not pass verification. And after you have waited a month for which the examination was carried out, paid for it, in any case you will carry out a replacement.

For example, replacement of counters hot water happens within almost one hour, and as a result you get a new device with a manufacturer's warranty.

Replacing a water meter in Moscow is also necessary if the time for verification has not yet come, but you notice that the device is out of order. In case it is carried out meter replacement, price actually offset by savings.

What is the most common reason for replacing a meter?

Meter replacement time may vary from 2 to 6 years. There are two main problems that are known to replacement of water meters:

1. Water quality. The water that passes daily through our water supply is, unfortunately, of low quality, which as a result can disable the meter in almost two years.

2. Unstable pressure. Most homes are not equipped with a water pressure control system. This is noticeable by the pressure of the water, which differs in the daytime and in the evening. A constant change in this pressure negatively affects the operation of water meters and becomes relevant water meter replacement.

As a result of this, far from all meters survive to the guaranteed 4-6 years through which the verification is carried out, and meter replacement time is shrinking. In turn, the operation of a faulty device is unprofitable, in which case replacement of a water meter in Moscow become the right decision.

If you need to replace the hot water meter, then with minimal technological skills, you will be able to carry out this operation yourself. In addition, you need to know some legal subtleties, otherwise you may waste money on buying and replacing a hot water meter in vain.

When should you change your hot water meter?

Meters for the consumption of hot and cold water are now in almost every apartment. The legislative bodies of large Russian megacities have already adopted acts on the mandatory installation of not only common house, but also individual devices water accounting. These devices need to be replaced from time to time. But how often and on what grounds?

The walls of the entrances of city houses are literally full of announcements about the replacement and installation of water meters. Installer advertisements are seen on every corner, placed in newspapers, heard from radio and TV. All of them persistently offer their services for checking or replacing water meters.

Sometimes advertisements resemble the official letterheads of water supply organizations and management companies. It can be quite difficult for an ordinary city dweller to distinguish the legitimate demands of the authorities from an annoying advertising campaign. One of the arguments given in the flyers is charging for water consumed at the average rate of an apartment building if you have a “wrong model” meter.

However, before you pay money to service providers, carefully study local laws. Perhaps your hot water meter can serve you for a long time without replacement.

Calibration interval

Just a couple of years ago, the mandatory calibration interval for water meters was canceled in the capital of our country.

If before this decision, cold water meters had to be rechecked every 4 years, and hot water meters - once every five years, now this restriction has been removed. By the way, the procedure for checking meters in a third-party company can cost from 900 to 1.6 thousand rubles, which in some cases coincides with the price of installing a new control device. Service companies went to various tricks, convincing the townspeople to use their services without fail.

But a government regulation governing the use of control devices(dated February 10, 2004 No. 821), has been changed. Now meters can work in apartments without verification until they break.

Thus, the requirements of representatives of management companies (at least in Moscow) for mandatory verification of water meters have no legal basis. In any case, this is exactly what the Moscow prosecutor's office thinks.

Terms of work according to the technical passport

However, if you look in technical certificate your counter, you will find in it one or another calibration interval. Some service companies justify the need to purchase services from them for the replacement and verification of meters precisely by the terms indicated in the data sheet.

In some technical data sheets of water meters, check intervals are not indicated at all. This clearly indicates that both the hot water meter and the cold water meter can safely work in your house until they break or openly lie.

If the counter is lying

In order to fix the fact of "lies" of the counter, it is also necessary to follow a certain procedure. Representatives of a water supply organization (for example, Mosvodokanal) may find a discrepancy between their data on water consumption and information provided by the owner of an apartment or house. In this case, they can initiate the start of a validation of the transmitted data, or a check of the water meter itself.

First, the water supply organization must draw up an act and notify the owner of the house or apartment about its content. And only by mutual agreement of the "plumbers" and "owners" can the verification of the reliability of the water meter readings be carried out.

In the event that the measurement error of the device does not exceed that specified in the data sheet, representatives of the water supply organization leave home, and you continue to use the meters. No one can force you to replace a properly functioning device.

Thus, it is necessary to replace the hot water meter only if it breaks down or if the data shown is clearly inconsistent, and only after the representatives of the water supply organization, together with you, fix the “lie” of the meter.

Why do water meters break?

Hot and cold water meters become unusable for two main reasons.

1. From poor water quality in pipelines. Despite the fact that coarse filters are usually placed in front of the water meters, over time they become clogged, the accumulated precipitation begins to break off from them and enter the internal mechanism of the meter. Inside the counter there is an impeller (wheel with blades) rotating on an axis. If foreign objects get into the rotating assembly, it may fail.
2. From unauthorized interference. Many owners of apartments or houses, hoping to deceive the management company and "save money", resort to various illegal "tricks". To do this, magnets are attached to water meters, a fishing line with beads is launched into their mechanism, and needles are inserted. Some types of such interventions may not survive the water meter.

How to change a hot water meter. Algorithm

Step 1. Call a representative of the water utility (local water supply organization) and, in his presence, draw up an act for the production of work to replace the meter. The act should include fixing the safety of the previous seals and dismantling the device.

Step 2 Close the shut-off valve, check that no water enters the plumbing system.

Step 3 Using an adjustable wrench or a wrench of a suitable size, unscrew the nuts in turn that fix the hot water meter in its position.

During operation, the nuts may “stick”, to unscrew them, you will have to apply great effort. In the most advanced cases, the tightly “sticky” nuts that fix the water meter have to be cut off by welding. In this case, you can not do without the help of specialists. Remove the counter.

Step 4 Clean the inside surface of the water pipes adjacent to the installation site of the meter. Check the condition of the gaskets.

Step 5 If you take the meter for verification, then insert a straight replacement pipe with an external thread in place of the old device, corresponding to the thread of the meter nozzles. If you are installing a new meter to replace a failed one, install the device at the pipe joint.

Remember that you can install only those meter models that have passed state registration as reliable measuring instruments and those that are approved by your water supply organization.

Do not forget to place rubber (preferably silicone, not sticking to metal pipes) gaskets, and seal the threaded connection with sealing tape.

Step 6 Tighten the fixing nuts (in turn, 0.5-1 turn, while holding the water meter body with your hand).

Step 7 Turn on the water and check the new connections for leaks. If necessary, tighten the fixing nuts a little, or add another layer of sealing tape.

When replacing water meters, it is wise to clean and rinse the filter under running water at the same time. During operation, its perforated cylinder becomes clogged with sediment.

If you replaced the hot water meter yourself (which, in principle, is allowed by existing regulatory documents), then you will have to register this device yourself.

Registering a new hot water meter

Your goal is to receive from the management company or water supply organization an act of work performed and an act of acceptance of the meter into operation. To do this, you must collect the following package of documents:

• technical passport of the water meter (this document is obtained when purchasing the device);
• act of testing the operation of the device (to obtain this document you will have to call a representative of the water utility).

The representative of the water utility will seal your new meter, after which the device will be considered serviceable.

We change the hot water meter through the management company

If you do not want or cannot replace the hot water meter yourself, it makes sense to contact the organization that is obliged to do this (management company).

Step 1. We apply with an application to the management company, or to a service organization. When contacting a third-party organization, be sure to ask the representative of the company for a license to carry out such repairs. Otherwise, you may have to pay money again for calling the wizard "with help". A qualified craftsman from a licensed organization will provide you with a contract with an estimate of work, which will indicate the necessary work and equipment.

Step 2 Usually, wizards can offer meter models that are allowed for installation. But no one bothers you to independently monitor prices and purchase a similar model directly from the manufacturer. The price of the meter from the dealer or from the manufacturer can be significantly less.

Step 3 Agree on the time of work to replace the meter. Depending on the condition of your system piping, it may take from half an hour to several days to replace the meter (in the event that you have to carry out welding work).

Step 4 In the presence of a representative of the water supply organization, check the correct installation of the meter. The specialist will carry out sealing and draw up an act of acceptance of the work performed. After that, take the act and the technical passport of the device to the representative office of the organization to which you pay for water supply. It can be like a management company, a water utility or a single settlement center.

You can learn more about the process of replacing meters from the training video.

Payment for housing and communal services for many citizens of our country is a significant expense item. In order to exercise strict control over payment for the consumed amount of resources, one of which is water, residents of the Russian Federation began to install meters everywhere (if possible).

The terms for checking hot and cold water meters are clearly regulated by the current legislative acts in the field of application of instrumentation. The owner of the dwelling is responsible for the implementation of such procedures, so citizens should have information about the mechanism and timing of their implementation.

Grounds for verification of measuring instruments in the housing and communal services sector

The legislative framework, which is the basis that regulates the need to perform verification of cold water and hot water meters, as well as determining their operating time, is formed by the following regulations:

• Government Decree No. 354 "On the provision of utilities owners and users of premises in multi-apartment and residential buildings”, which defines the basis for ensuring the unity of measurement systems in the Russian Federation;
• Federal Law No. 261 “On Energy Saving and Energy Efficiency Improvement”;
• Federal Law No. 102 “On Ensuring the Uniformity of Measurements”.

Such a procedure is mandatory due to the fact that changes may occur during the operation of the devices and the impact of third-party factors on it. Such changes can cause incorrect measurement of the water passing through them and, as a result, incorrect or inaccurate readings. External factors or the reasons that can provoke inaccuracy are the following:

• use of poor quality water. In this case, low quality is understood as the presence of microscopic solid particles in its composition, which, when passing through individual elements of the water meter, wear it out, and the meter starts to work incorrectly;
• the use of communication systems (perhaps even on a citywide scale) of inadequate quality. As an example, there may be a clogged filter in a cold or hot water supply system;
• meter wear. Such a process may well occur before the end of the life of the water meter, regardless of the quality of the water. This may be an error during assembly of the device, damage during storage or transportation, or a malfunction of any individual elements;
• damage to the counter as a result of performing any actions with it by users. It may be an attempt to influence magnetic field, or other action aimed at slowing down its work and indicating a lower consumption than it actually was;
• drying of the mechanism due to the shutdown of water for a long time.

Verification terms

The performance of verification work is established by law as follows:

• for cold water meters - 6 years;
• for hot, the calibration interval is somewhat shorter, since exposure to high temperatures wears out parts faster - it is 4 years.

Which organizations can calibrate water meters

To carry out such procedures, you can contact the following organizations:

• Vodokanal, however, for verification, the meter is dismantled and you may have to wait for some time, in addition, fill out and submit certain documents, which will take some time;
• A special organization that is certified (which is documented) to perform calibration work of water meters. The cost for such services is relatively low - for Moscow it is about 500 rubles. In addition, such verification is convenient because the company's specialists go to the address where the meter is installed and perform all the necessary measurements at the owner's home (office, enterprise).

It is also worth noting one important fact that the owners of houses and apartments forget (or do not know about) - the calibration period for meters is set not from the moment it is installed and the start of work, but from the day it is released and packaged at the factory.

Thus, having bought a water meter that has been in the warehouse for about three years, and putting it to measure the consumption of hot water, verification will have to be done in one year. Therefore, when purchasing such measuring instruments, always pay attention to the date of their production - this will help you avoid premature costs and paperwork.

It is possible that the result of the verification will be a conclusion about the malfunction of the device and, of course, the impossibility of its further use. In this case, you will need to install a new one.

Terms of operation of water meters and their replacement

In addition to the mandatory verification of water meters, it is necessary to know that each type of meter has its own specific service life, after which it must be replaced. On average, the duration of their operation is from 8 to 15 years (as a rule, domestic devices are less important than imported ones).

This information must be included in the passport. measuring device and when the end of the service life is approaching, the owner of the apartment or premises must take care of the replacement procedure in advance.

The procedure for performing actions when replacing the counter is as follows:

1. submitting an application to the management company. Replacing the meter, of course, can be done independently or with the help of a third-party organization, but this is time-consuming and additional applications are issued;
2. after submitting the application, discuss when the master will pay a visit to make a replacement - so that someone is at home;
3. the specialist will make an external inspection of the old meter, fix the integrity of its seal and the value of the readings. Then a new water meter is installed and sealed. After installation, the owner of the apartment has documents on the removal of the old one, as well as on the procedures for installing the new one.

In the event that for some reason you miss the deadlines for checking water meters or the need to replace it, then the calculation of payment for water consumption can be charged taking into account the norms per person living in an apartment or house.

Video: Terms of operation and verification of water meters.