Comments on: DIY: Water Flow Meter For Monitoring Water Usage

By: David Artz

David Artz — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 03:03:50 +0000

Did you look at the Neptune (www.neptunetg.com) water usage meters and their tracking hardware/software? I’m looking around also, just started…

By: Troy

Troy — Fri, 29 May 2009 16:28:40 +0000

I used one several years ago but not for automatic data acquisition. We used it to fill out a sheet by hand. I was searching for a totalizer that would be compatible with acetone. Most are not. I bought one (don’t remeber which) that listed the wetted parts. The parts listed generally are compatible, but eventually (after a year or so) the unit failed. But the specs did NOT list the unit as compatible with acetone (my bad, I was taking a chance).

By: Danny Mavromatis

Danny Mavromatis — Thu, 28 May 2009 19:17:40 +0000

Yeah! I don’t want to go cheap on something that is tied into my water lines… sometimes DIYer’s want the most economical and cheap out, but, this isn’t where you cut corners.

By: RIck Big

RIck Big — Thu, 28 May 2009 19:08:51 +0000

CoolPoint has a unit that totalizes.

http://www.flowmeters.com/products/index.cfm?task=serve_prod_pdf

The nice thing about this product is that it is industrial quality and has no moving parts. Products used in homes typically are cheap and inaccurate and need maintneance. This is not true of the CoolPoint totalizing meters. You get what you pay for.

By: Danny Mavromatis

Danny Mavromatis — Wed, 27 May 2009 16:55:35 +0000

Troy,

Good stuff! Thanks for the info. Have you used any of them?

Danny

By: Troy

Troy — Wed, 27 May 2009 16:40:22 +0000

Take a look at these flow totalizers:
http://www.mcmaster.com/#catalog/115/540/=222taa

Middle of the page. They have different options available to connecting to the output.

By: Danny Mavromatis

Danny Mavromatis — Tue, 26 May 2009 21:08:16 +0000

well, the one I’m looking at has outputs where you can “collect” the information. You need other hardware to actually make it useful… like software to take that output and do something with it. This is the just first piece to the puzzle — the “sensor”.

By: neil

neil — Tue, 26 May 2009 21:00:08 +0000

I like this but this isn’t a usage meter but a flow meter. I have been using mechanical meter from watermeters.com but they are analog and do not have any facility for monitoring except good old pen and paper for logging!

By: Jon Stevens

Jon Stevens — Tue, 26 May 2009 18:13:58 +0000

Mavro,

I am trying to buy these at the moment from Europe –

http://www.alaxa.nl/english/index.htm

They work with RFXCOM and send 1 pulse per 1/2 litre I believe. I too have TED and now want to add water and gas too.

I am arranging a shipment over for myself and 1 other – if you interested let me know

Jon