How to Read your Water Meter
Your water meter is a helpful tool to monitor water usage in your LA home. By reading your meter on a regular basis you will be able to detect plumbing leaks before they flood your home and cause expensive water related damage to structure and belongings.
Water Meter Box
Your water meter is placed in a concrete box, in the ground in front of your home and near a sidewalk or street. A screw driver will easily flip open the box’s lid and reveal the meter along with a curb-stop and a consumer valve. While the water company controls and maintains the curb-stop, you can operate the consumer valve to control water supply to your home. In fact anything beyond the water meter is considered private plumbing under your responsibility. In its “on” position the consumer valve sits parallel to the water pipe. When turned 90 degrees clockwise to sit perpendicular to the water pipe, the consumer valve will be shut off. In situations of burst pipes, leaky toilets or any other water related plumbing catastrophe – turning off the consumer valve will stop water availability to your home and damage control the problem until an emergency plumber arrives to the rescue.
Water Meter Face
On the face of the water meter you will find a central red needle, black and white digits and blue star or triangle located slightly left to the needle.
-Red needle is called a Sweep Handle.
-Black and white digits form the meter register that records water passing through.
-Blue star or triangle is the leak detector that spins as water passes through it. This leak detector device will spin fast for high water flow and slow for low water flow. A moving dial when no water is used in your home indicates a leak that requires immediate investigation and repair for the sake of water conservation and money saving.
Leak Detection
1. Read the meter register, record the black and white digits and position of the sweep hand.
2. Wait at least four hours or overnight without using water. Don’t flush toilets or turn on faucets, run washing machines and dishwashers during this time.
3. After test period, check meter again. A meter register that reads different digits from step 1 indicates a water leak in your home.