Please recommend a flow meter

[marvoni]

It's a long story but I desperately need a non-invasive, hand held flow meter. I need something that can be clipped onto a 15 or 22mm copper or plastic pipe and give a reading of the water flowrate through the pipe. It would be great if it was supplied internationally (I'm in Cape Town).

It's for use on potable clean water and must be able to measure flowrates between 0.5 litres/min and 50 litres/min through hot and cold pipes. Accuracy doesn't need to be phenomenal, + / - 10% is fine. Hopefully something very affordable as well.

Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.

 

[glenno1]

A flow cup may help you theres some on ebay and most plumbing retailers

 

[diamondgas]

Do they sell these in South Africa

Coupled with a stop watch they're pretty accurate and cheap :lol:

I use a flow cup but I don't know if they'll measure that much, 25ltr/min max I think

 

[dancinplumba]

They are ultrasonic, google clip on flow meters

 

[dancinplumba]

Bet they are not cheap tho lol

 

[Roger Welton]

Have used ultrasonic flow meters in the past, to get a accurate reading you need all the spectacular of the pipework (alloy composition, wall thickness) and the fluid specs.

 

[marvoni]

I think (hope) the Doppler type would be accurate regardless of pipe composition but some of them only seem to be rated for unclean water. I assume it needs the particulates to reflect the sonic signal in order for it to calc the speed and extrapolate the volume according to pipe diameter.

To be honest I'm not familiar with these things, I've been using a brass Kent meter with flexi-hoses up until now but it's driving me up the wall having to split conex fittings etc so I'm ready to throw some cash at the problem.

Thanks for the suggestions so far

The measurements I need to make on a regular basis are on a closed system so the measuring jug won't work I'm afraid

I thought some of you UK tooloholics might use or own these things or at least have encountered them.

 

[dancinplumba]

If you are going back to each system to test on a regular basis, can you not leave something permanent in pipe work ?
guess its difficult if it's new system each time

 

[marvoni]

Hi Dancinplumba and congrats on your recent 2000 post. :sorcerer:

The flow tests are on many systems in different locations, it's not viable to install anything permanent and the numbers involved mean it would be cost prohibitive. On a few of the sites we monitor on a monthly basis we persuaded the customer to foot the bill for a permanent meter but that's only a few. At present I'm taking between 20 and 40 readings each month and I'm getting worried that with the regular ones the conex fittings might not be up to the repeated dismantling and reassembly.

 

[diamondgas]

Hi Dancinplumba and congrats on your recent 2000 post. :sorcerer:

The flow tests are on many systems in different locations, it's not viable to install anything permanent and the numbers involved mean it would be cost prohibitive. On a few of the sites we monitor on a monthly basis we persuaded the customer to foot the bill for a permanent meter but that's only a few. At present I'm taking between 20 and 40 readings each month and I'm getting worried that with the regular ones the conex fittings might not be up to the repeated dismantling and reassembly.

You see a lot of flow meter's on the commercial side, permanent fix alas such as these Reliance Water Controls - 100 Series - ETK Water Cold Single Jet Meter - Advanced Water Company ​... And that's about as much knowledge as I have of them. Never had the need to get involved with monitoring marvoni! Good luck on your search

 

[EPH]

Something like this?

15mm Mechanical flow meter at Swithenbanks Alternative Energy | Grid Tie Inverters | Solar Photovoltaic

First one I found, pretty sure you could find something cheaper, I've seen them half that price nearly but can't remember where.

 

[marvoni]

Thanks for the suggestion EPH. I'm looking for a non-invasive type that can be clamped around a pipe without splitting the system.

 

[mountainman]

Sounds like you need a tricorder from star trek.
Does a piece of equipment such as you desire exist?

 

[marvoni]

Lol, this is the kinda things I was after. Portable Flow Meters

I was hoping to get some recommendations from people that already owned something similar and I thought of this forum but looks like plumbers aren't using them.

 

[mcniven]

Why no use a flow cup bigman

 

[marvoni]

Why no use a flow cup bigman

Not easy, it's a sealed system delivering water to numerous spray nozzles inside several machines. Only way I can get a consumption reading at the moment is to split the pipework and install a temp water meter. I take the reading over a few minutes then have to remove the meter and remake the fittings again.






These are the kinda panels I'm talking about, in the first photo you can see a temporary meter I've connected.