All houses and business premises in the US that use natural gas have to have a gas meter installed to keep track of their consumption. Depending on what you use it for, you might be interested in one of eight available natural gas meter types. Four of them use traditional and four use new gas technology. Each of them comes with advantages. If you want to find out what they are and how exactly all these meters work, keep reading!
What does a gas meter do?
Before we take a look at various types of meters available in the US, it is important to take a minute to understand what exactly gas meters do.
A gas meter is used to measure the volume of fuel gases. In more simple terms, a gas meter counts how much gas you have used in your home or business property. Gas meters are used in all types of buildings, be it residential, commercial, or industrial. As long as a building consumes gas supplied by an energy supplier, there has to be a gas meter. Otherwise, there would be no way of telling how much gas a user has used and how much they owe to the utility provider.
To find out how much gas you consumed, you have to check it once and then do it again after a certain period of time. The difference between the two numbers you saw on the meter is the amount of gas you have used.
It is important to take your meter readings regularly and submit them to your supplier. Otherwise, you might be billed based on estimated readings and you might find yourself overpaying for your supply.
What are the traditional gas technology meters?
As we mentioned, there are four traditional technology gas meters.
- Positive displacement meters
There are two meters that fall under this category:
| Diaphragm Meters | Rotary Gas Meter |
| The way it operates is the gas or fluid flows into the meter inlet in a meter with an oscillating diaphragm. When that happens, the compartment fills and causes the outlet to change position. Diaphragm meters are used by residential energy consumers and small commercial projects. | The rotary meters are better for industrial customers because they are designed for higher volume or higher pressure applications. The way they operate is the gas or fluid flow is divided by a rotating impeller with vanes. Each rotation of it determines the flow rate. |
- Turbine meters
Turbine meters are sometimes called velocity-type meters. In this type of meters the volumetric flow rate is calculated based on the angular velocity of the rotor. These engines have many moving parts so it is important to handle them with care and clean them regularly. Turbine meters can only measure low flow rates.
- Differential pressure meters
As the name indicates, differential pressure meters can measure different pressures. They do it by reading the pressure loss across a pipe in them. They have no moving parts so cleaning and servicing them is easy. Unfortunately, differential pressure meters are not capable of handling a wide range of flow rates and they are not very sensitive to reduced low-flow.
- Rotameter meters
These types of meters measure the volumetric flow rate of fluids in a closed tube. They are inexpensive because they operate in a simplistic way where a gas or liquid passes through a tube. Rotameter meters are known to be industrial flow meters.
What are the new technology gas meters?
As we said, in addition to traditional technology meters, US energy consumers can use meters that use new technology. Do you know what the difference between these two meter types is? If not, have a look below where we explain what new technology meters are and how they work.
- Ultrasonic flowmeters
They measure the difference in pulse transit time that moves through the meter’s type. Ultrasonic flowmeters are known to be extremely accurate but they come with an expensive price tag. These meters are traditionally used at pipeline meter stations in high-flow and high-pressure applications. In these settings, even the smallest mistakes in measurement can negatively affect the whole project.
- Coriolis meters
They provide a direct mass flow measurement based on the force of fluids moving through a vibrating tube. These meters, just like the first new technology meter we discussed in this section, are highly accurate and very expensive. The important thing to note about this type of meter is that they are not suitable for bigger pipes.
- Thermal mass flow meters
This type of meter measures gas flow based on connective heat transfer, which is a process when gas flows by the heated flow sensor. When the gas moves away, the energy is lost because the sensor cools down.
- Vortex meters
Vortex meters measure flow measurement by placing a shredder bar in the flow path. When that happens a small sensor device starts moving with a frequency proportional to the velocity of the moving fluid.
How to read natural gas meters?
Natural gas is usually measured by the cubic foot and its users are billed by the thousands of cubic feet (MCF) or hundreds of cubic feet (CCF). Some people are billed by the therm, comparable to a CCF or 100 cubic feet.
Your natural gas meter is driven by the force of gas flowing through the pipe and it turns faster, the faster the flow is. On your natural gas meters you can observe that ‘Each time the dial with the lower value makes one complete revolution, the pointer on the next higher value dial moves ahead one digit.’ Energy Saver explains.
Most natural gas meters have 4 dials but it is also possible to find some with 5 dials. To read your meter, you have to read and write down the numbers as shown on the dials from left to right. That is opposite to how you would read them if you were using an electric meter. If the pointer is between two numbers, you should note the lower number. If the pointer is between 0 and 9, you should record 9 as the lower number.
Where is my gas meter located?
So you want to take a meter reading but you are not sure where to find your gas meter? There is no one specific location where gas meters are installed. It depends on the type of house you live in or premises you operate your business at. It also depends on how old the property is.
For standalone houses in the US, they usually have gas meters on a rear exterior wall or front porch. In older homes, gas meters are often found in garages, laundry rooms, or sometimes under the kitchen sinks.
If you live in an apartment or a multi-dwelling building, you can find your gas meter in the basement or car park. It is always a good idea to ask your landlord or the agent that sold you the place about the meter’s location.
What are my responsibilities regarding my gas meter?
You should make sure that your gas meter works properly and that the engineers your supplier sends to carry out maintenance have safe and easy access to it. There might be engineers coming every once in a while to take a gas meter reading and it is your responsibility to let them in. If you fail to do so, you can expect to receive an expensive estimated gas bill.
Can I save money by reading my meter?
Reading your meter regularly is very important. Your gas supplier has to charge you somehow so if they do not receive a reading from you, they will have to charge you based on estimated consumption. These bills are usually much higher than the bills based on your actual usage.
If you have any questions regarding natural meter types or taking a meter reading, do not hesitate to get in touch with us!