Regarding flow meters and water meters

It is best not to use a water meter for measurement. 1. The accuracy level of the water meter is very low, so its measurement value has little significance (it can still be used if one only needs an approximate figure). 2. The circulating water is relatively dirty; over time, scale buildup becomes severe, which can easily lead to failures in the water meter itself (the gears get clogged and stop rotating) ； 3. If the water quality is poor, frequent maintenance will be required, which is labor-intensive.

It cannot be generalized; it depends on the specific use case – whether it is used for external settlements, calculation by the original unit, or merely for monitoring, comparison, and reference. Our unit uses water meters for all its water pipelines. For the circulating water in cooling towers, a combination of a differential pressure flow meter and a water meter is used. Differential pressure flow meters are generally used for water in the process area

If your requirements aren’t high, then for general testing, a water meter can be used! If more accurate data is needed to improve management and control costs, it is recommended to use: electromagnetic flowmeters! ! ! The most suitable instrument for measuring circulating water, and it’s also inexpensive!

Most water meters are volumetric instruments; they can generally only provide an accurate reading of the cumulative flow rate, with little requirement for measuring instantaneous flow changes. It depends on your process and application. It’s fine if you use it merely for measurement and settlement.

Since no resistance loss of the water meter was found, and there is concern that the resistance might be too high, plus no issues were observed during actual operation, this question was raised. Thank you!

This post was last edited by Sikong Zhaixing on 2012-3-23 at 15:13. Water meter measurement is also a good option, as the accuracy requirements for measuring circulating water in production areas are of the second or third level and not very high. Moreover, water meters are actually quite accurate instruments. Although electromagnetic, vortex, ultrasonic, and similar types of meters are said to offer high precision, they often encounter problems in practice; it’s not so much the issue of accuracy errors, but rather failures where the measurements are inaccurate or distorted. For example, if the process indicates 3 cubic meters of water, but the electromagnetic meter shows 5 or 6 cubic meters, it becomes difficult to carry out repairs in such cases. The drawback of using water meters is that most of them cannot transmit data remotely; readings have to be taken on-site. It is for this reason that metering statisticians in factories are willing to use inaccurate electromagnetic or ultrasonic water meters, as they are white-collar workers and no one wants to go to dirty and noisy sites to take readings.

Small-diameter water meters, either electromagnetic or otherwise, will work. Circulating water pipes are generally quite large, and if their diameter is big, metering devices are not suitable for use. For large diameters, use plug-in electromagnetic or ultrasonic methods; ultrasonic is better.