Hi My question is about a water meter when the flow rate is below .01 gal/min
I’m using pulse_counter
My water meter - WM-NLC-075-R/10P 10 pulses per gallon
And everything looks good excpt that my monthily and daily usage was off and at first
I thought this was a codeing error on my part.
My problem is that flow rate sensitivity:
A minimum detection threshold of 0.1 gallons per pulse GPM,
A leak with a flow rate less than this will avoid detection.
This equates to approximately 0.006 gallons per minute or 0.36 gallons per hour.
Pluse counter will timeout and return zero gal/min but the meter will log the usage.
How do I count each and every pluse.
Below is the data and code:
I’m in the US Using a meter that reads Gallons
Reed switch between GPIO and GND
0.1 Gallon = 1 Pulse
0.1 Gallon = 0.1 Gallon
0.1 Gallon = 0.37854 Liter
The code:
sensor:
- platform: pulse_counter
update_interval: 10s
name: "Water Meter Pulse Counter"
id: water_meter_pulse_counter
unit_of_measurement: 'gal/min'
icon: "mdi:water"
accuracy_decimals: 5
pin:
number: GPIO12
allow_other_uses: true
mode:
input: true
pullup: true
filters:
- multiply: 0.1 # 1.0 gal / 10 per pulse
total:
unit_of_measurement: 'gal'
name: 'Total Water Meter Pulse Counter'
device_class: water
state_class: total_increasing
icon: "mdi:water"
accuracy_decimals: 1
filters:
- multiply: 0.1 # 1.0 gal / 10 per pulse
Testing:
While the meter was counting and traking all usage the
Pulse counter was missing usage if the flow rate was to small.
Flow Rate Sensitivity:
A minimum detection threshold of 0.1 gallons per pulse GPM, a leak must flow at a rate less than this to
avoid detection. This equates to approximately 0.006 gallons per minute or 0.36 gallons per hour.
Leak Size: A very slow leak, such as a drip, typically occurs at a rate of about 1 drip per second, which is roughly 0.002
gallons per minute. This is below the detection threshold of the pulse counter.
Duration of the Leak: Even if the leak is very slow, it can still lead to significant water loss over time. For example, a leak
of 1 drip per second would result in about 1,661 gallons of water lost over a year, despite being undetectable by the pulse counter.
In summary, a water leak must generally be slower than 0.1 GPM (or around 1 drip every 2-3 seconds) to go undetected.
Note:
While doing all this testing I found my utility meter did not have a check valve on it.
So when the water heater would cause the water to push in and out the same water was being counted over and over adding up to 100’s of gallons.
Installed a thermal expansion tank for water heater and a check valve
Lead Free Check Valve - D112CVLFN
Then I found the slow leak.
Thanks once again to everyone