Hear water meter 'clicking' throughout the pipes when in-ground sprinkler running

[blueman]

When our in-ground sprinkler is running outside, I can hear the water meter 'clicking' through all the pipes -- including as far away as our

3rd floor bathroom. All the pipes are secured properly using clamps and we never hear any other water hammering or vibration noises. The clicking definitely comes from the water meter itself and sounds like a metronome beating at at 4-5 beats/second. The pipes themselves are not detectably physically vibrating (though the sound from the water meter is obviously transmitted through them).

The irrigation system is high volume in the sense that the supply lines are 1" copper followed by 1" plastic irrigation piping that feed

3-5 Hunter rotors per zone. I assume other high flow applications would set the water meter vibrating similarly. Our water pressure is on the high side (about 80 psi) but that is supposedly normal for our area.

- Is this "normal" for a water meter?

- Could this be affecting the metering? (either positively or negatively)

- Any ideas?

[EXT]

No, it is not normal. I had a noisy water meter for many years, once it alerted me to a broken water pipe by its fast noisy sound. It was upgraded to a remote read meter and the new meter was silent. Call you water works or whoever controls and owns the meter.

[Oren]

Call the meter company. They will send a large build woman. She can fix it.

[Ed Pawlowski]

Are you sure that is not the sound of coins being thrown away? My lawn gets watered every time it rains; and only when it rains.

[blueman]

Very true - my water bill for the 3rd quarter is typically over $1000 and I barely water (we live in the Boston area which has one of the highest water/sewer rates in the world because of the Harbor cleanup fiasco).

However, all the work I put into the lawn seems to go to waste if it doesn't rain for a week or so and I don't supplement with water (note I try to water sparingly only if it doesn't rain for). Our soil seems to dry out and we have a lot of silver maples surrounding the yard which seem to suck up lots of water. And my wife complains when the lawn gets all brown and then thinks we should get a lawn service (which means throwing away more $$$$)....

[blueman]

Is it likely to still be metering accurately? Or does noise imply that the metering function itself is broken...

[blueman]

Is the noise likely to also be a symptom that the metering function is inaccurate or broken??? I would hate to think that I have been overcharged for all these years (though wouldn't mind an undercharge ;)

[stan]

The energy, time and costs of growing grass is a wasteful occupation. Our local horticulturist recommends clover which puts nitrogen back into the soil and is much less prone to pesky bugs. I must get around to cutting back and front (about one quarter acre of grass all told, this week or next I think that will be only the second (or at most third) time this year. If when we get any bare patches sprinkling a bit of white clover seed works well. White clover flowers have a slightly sweet taste; but one has to make sure next door's dog (or cat) hasn't pee'd on the 'grass'! Some people add cover flowers to salads. Very bees around this year; why? Spotted a neighbour recently using some four litres of some sort of chemical on his minute patch of 'grass'.. Hope none of that blew over here! Odd two that both his dogs got cancer! BTW I can never recall ever watering our 'lawn' and this summer we have had so little rain and last winter less snow that normally so that municipal water conservation rules have been in effect for a month and a half! In late June the local water reservoir ponds, from which our potable water comes were at 'end of August levels'. To anybody on metered water it must be expensive? Wasteful is spraying in bright sunlight, the water evaporating almost as quickly as it hits the ground! Instead of in the evenings or at night. Lawn spraying and home car washing not presently allowed due to water shortage. Think I will find out how much it will cost to get a comprehensive water quality and chemical composition test of our old well. Thank goodness we kept the well pump.

[Caesar Romano]

On Mon, 10 Aug 2009 23:34:31 -0400, blueman wrote Re Re: Hear water meter 'clicking' throughout the pipes when in-ground sprinkler running:

Yes, there's a good chance of that.

[Tony]

[Joe]

Sometimes for older mechanical read only meters.

Why don't you check it? Read the meter, fill up a gallon jug as many times as you feel are adequate and empty it on the lawn. Read the meter again. Ten jug trips ought to show 10.0 on the meter. Continue until you are certain of the meter correlation with the number of jugs of water. Remember to fill the jugs to the exact level that they were when purchased with liquid content. Five gallon pails are too awkward to mess with.

Joe

[George]

Why not replace the lawn or most of it with something suitable for your climate such as a rock garden or whatever occurs naturally where you are?

Trying to have a putting green lawn has to be one of the biggest wastes of money and resources going.

[George]

Me too. Grass knows what to do when it doesn't rain as often.

[BQ340]

What liquids are sold by the cubic foot?

MikeB

[Ed Pawlowski]

Holy crap, I pay $450 a year.

[Ed Pawlowski]

Some meters do read gallons though. In any case, be sure you know what it is reading.

[Rudy]

Yes, depending on the type of meter. Ours "clicked" away while water was running and my sharp eared wife could hear it ..like tapping on the stud(s) where it was attached in the basement

[Tony Hwang]

Hi,

1. Is the clicking frequency slows down if water use is reduced? Regardless, meter needs a replacement(it is wearing out) Our meter is electronic type with radio signal. Reader just drives by our house to read it. I heard ultimately they will read it remotely via satellite hook up.

1. Running pressure of 80psi is I think too high. If you don't have regulator, install one and bring it down to 60 psi. If it is running at 80, static pressure could be well over 100 which is too much. Checked static pressure in the night when water use is at it's low?

[Tony Hwang]

Hi, That'll sound like Kaching, Kaching, not click, click, LOL!

[Tony Hwang]

Whoa! That amount will cover all my utility bills! Power, Water, NG. I got rid of most of my grass in my yard.