A current curiosity with metered water at home.

[TheTravellingRooster]

Hi to you all out there. Recently I have been experiencing pressure in the cold water supply at our bungalow and as it feeds a combination boiler I am concerned that a recent boiler malfunction and the need to do a Re-set was because of the ingress of air into the boiler system of valves.
The pressure would also appear to cause the cold taps to intermittently spurt during the early hours of the morning,this is especially noticeable with the kitchen sink and a sudden noise that is clearly the water hitting the stainless steel sink and resulting in splashes everywhere within two feet of the sink. This is despite the taps being turned off and water ceased to run.
The hot water has also taken on a considerably more aerated appearance than has been the case in previous times.
My point is that with the introduction recently of the shower heads for both home and caravans that run more efficiently and with less water usage by the introduction of drawn-in air;could the air that is present in the water be a ploy by the water supplier to deliver less water but because it is metered the meter reads the total volume of introduced air and water that passes through the meter.
You might well think that this is a daft theory but multiply that up through each and every metered water account country wide and it would add-up to a nice little earner.
More efficient washing machines,more efficient dish-washing machines,more efficient personal hygiene equipment and toilet systems that use a great deal less water along with more efficient central heating systems. Their incoming money is theoretically taking a hit from all sides,the householder 'Cash Cow' is an easy and somewhat unsuspecting target - me thinks.

 

[ProfJohnL]

Another conspiracy theory?

It is quite likely that any compressed air included in the water passing through the meter will be registered as water and thus up the meter reading, So if this is a concern, should contact your water supplier and ask to have your supply checked.

I do not accede to your conspiracy theory of injecting air to artificially increase meter readings. If you have ever seen the costly cavitation damage to high speed propellers, caused by the supersonic implosions of air bubbles against high grade stainless steel blades, you would appreciate the cost of such damage if it were to occur in pumping stations. Thus its very unlikely to be a deliberate action by your water supplier.

 

[Parksy]

If you have concerns about your water supply or the accuracy and calibration of your water meter you should take the matter up with your supplier.
A rough and ready check on the accuracy of your water meter is described Here

 

[TheTravellingRooster]

Another conspiracy theory?

It is quite likely that any compressed air included in the water passing through the meter will be registered as water and thus up the meter reading, So if this is a concern, should contact your water supplier and ask to have your supply checked.

I do not accede to your conspiracy theory of injecting air to artificially increase meter readings. If you have ever seen the costly cavitation damage to high speed propellers, caused by the supersonic implosions of air bubbles against high grade stainless steel blades, you would appreciate the cost of such damage if it were to occur in pumping stations. Thus its very unlikely to be a deliberate action by your water supplier.

Hi ProfJohnL. Another conspiracy theory!!!! I really do not recall having had any previous ones and if I have/had it/they was/were certainly not aired on this forum or any other.
Thank you for your input but. Where in my opening post did I say let-alone suggest that air was being "injected" into the water supply?
Based upon what I understand is the technology behind the Ecocamel shower head the air is drawn in by the action of the running water and not injected in.
As for contact with the water supplier,that has already been conducted and the resolve was to fully open the cold tap and turn the supply on and off several times in rapid succession,it allegedly would purge the system of air. That has been carried out several times and guess what!!!!!
That is why I posted my apparently daft theory. My boiler was playing up again today and I firmly believe that it is not firing up because of pockets of air being detected by the "Fail Safe" system. There is a Boiler Fail/Fault reset button that seemingly internally sorts out the boiler. I will be calling the engineer in as it is becoming rather a pain in the rear end. That coupled with the rather large volume of wasted water because of either a delayed firing up or a total refusal is not correct.

 

[TheTravellingRooster]

If you have concerns about your water supply or the accuracy and calibration of your water meter you should take the matter up with your supplier.
A rough and ready check on the accuracy of your water meter is described Here

Hi Parksy & Good Morning. I have already been down the road that you refer to and they installed a new 'Blue Tooth meter. This was despite the fact that they were amendment that I would not get one and they would certainly not be fitting one. Guess what!!!!
The problem has become greater since the installation of that meter. Coincidental or what!!!!!!
Not all meters are easily read and mine like many new installations and a great many replacement meter programmes it is installed into the footpath in the very front of the property.
Now this is absolutely wonderful when you are getting on in life and have one replacement knee and the other pending replacement.
As for the testing of the meter, it is not that easy and on-top of the fact that it is buried 30inches into the floor and they are difficult to read even with a flash-light because of the reflection off of the glass cover.
As for 'Gallons' the meter is calibrated for litres of water consumed and the calculations create a bill for cubic meters of water.
The meter is apparently reading correctly and there are no leakages based upon recorded volume and the fact that the fine scale clock does not move at all when the water is turned off and the volume that is drawn matches the volume recorded.
That still does not confirm that the water that is going through the meter is wholly water and only water.
The basic principle of the of the technology behind the Ecocamel shower head reduces the used volume of water by approximately 30% without any notable reduction in efficiency of delivery.

 

[Parksy]

.......The hot water has also taken on a considerably more aerated appearance than has been the case in previous times.
My point is that with the introduction recently of the shower heads for both home and caravans that run more efficiently and with less water usage by the introduction of drawn-in air;could the air that is present in the water be a ploy by the water supplier to deliver less water but because it is metered the meter reads the total volume of introduced air and water that passes through the meter.
You might well think that this is a daft theory but multiply that up through each and every metered water account country wide and it would add-up to a nice little earner.
More efficient washing machines,more efficient dish-washing machines,more efficient personal hygiene equipment and toilet systems that use a great deal less water along with more efficient central heating systems. Their incoming money is theoretically taking a hit from all sides,the householder 'Cash Cow' is an easy and somewhat unsuspecting target - me thinks.

Hi Travelling Rooster
Conjecture as to whether your water supplier has somehow introduced a volume of air to your supply as a ploy do deliver less water with the meter reading the air and water mixture as water throughout the country as 'a nice little earner' has presumably led Prof John L into thinking that you have some kind of conspiracy theory.
I'm not a water or central heating engineer but I think that the aerated appearance of your water plus the spluttering of water from the tap may be due to a problem with your combi boiler.
We also have a combi, and our water from the taps often has an aerated appearance, the heating engineer who services the boiler explained that this is due to how the boiler works.
I take your point about the water meter being difficult to read, but the water industry is regulated and is unlikely to get away with overcharging customers by delivering air as part of their metered supply.
For a start such a ploy would be expensive to implement but really most of the country would be up in arms if this were true or even possible.
I'd suggest that the best course is to have a qualified plumbing and heating engineer have a look at your combi boiler.

 

[HenryB1]

We had very similar problems to those you describe with water running slowly, taps knocking in the night. we even had the ceramic washers in the taps on the mains side changed. A few months later one morning the water was down to a trickle. A main had burst a quarter of a mile from us. After the main was repaired we had no further problems. I assume that air must have been getting into the the main supply system before the break was big enough to break through the road surface and show itself.

 

[TonyH1]

Just a thought, have you asked your neighbours if they seem to have aerated water? Also, you mention water spurting from taps which are turned off; are they hot or cold taps. That could be an indicator as to whether any aeration was happening pre your meter.