In general, I think a long-life D-cell, the one in mine is supposed to last ten years e.g.
On a point of detail, current thinking is they will change the meter rather than change the battery in the existing meter.
Some years ago a gas meter with LCD display was fitted to my house. A year or two later it was swapped for an old fashioned mechanical one, apparently because those responsible (I've long lost track of who now has the contract for this aspect) for its maintenance didn't want to have to replace batteries.
Chris
just like pacemakers, then...
There is a button you can press on my smart gas meter to illuminate the display, following installation I think I've pressed it twice and a meter-reader has pressed it once, beyond that it's only used for short distance (wireless M-Bus?) communication between the gas and electricity meters, once every 30 minutes.
O.K. - consensus is that they have a battery which should last "a long time" and then someone (but who?) has to take action.
Cheers
Dave R
on 02/11/2016, Andy Burns supposed :
Plus communication via the mobile network, to your supplier once per day with the stored meter readings.
Battery life is a moot point anyway - at the moment, if you change suppliers, likely the meter will not be compatible with your new supplier, in which case a new meter will be needed anyway.
My OVO SM's were only installed in June and as I habitually get new quotes at the end of my supply contract, I am in the process of moving to First Utility. Once moved over, I will re-apply for replacement SM's
- rinse and repeat.
You really couldn't make it up - £11Bn wasted. When will these companies ever learn - loyalty and keeping those customers counts for a big saving for them? The more customers shop around and move regularly, the sooner the (special offers for new customers) bubble will burst.
They will all be scrapped/ rebuilt, long before the battery needs replacement.
No, that is done by the electricity meter, for both gas and electricity readings, and only once per month in my case.
Or you revert to reading by the Mk1 eyeball.
Andy Burns formulated the question :
Sorry, yes you are correct.
That part I am dreading, because the reading displayed swaps so rapidly you don't get time to read it - so it can take several attempts.
What does surprise me is that the indoor display (mine at least), doesn't show the actual meter reading. Another issue I have found, is that it shows the total energy cost (£ and p) since it was installed, on the tariff I was on at that time. It is unable to show what you have paid/still owe or in credit. I'm on credit, rather than the pre-pay thingumy.
The gas meter doesn't. You can't get a gas smart meter without and electric smart meter from any UK suppliers AFAIK.
I switched recently and they can't remote read my smart meter but they won't swap it (not that I have asked). The remote display still works.
Seems odd, mine does.
It's just a guesstimate of cost, probably using outdated price/unit and with no concept of discounts, or actual payments made.
Andy Burns formulated on Wednesday :
I meant to add...
You can choose the reading frequency when you apply for the SM's. Mine store the values every 30 minutes, then sends them to the supplier once per day at around midnight. Next day I can log into OVO's site and see what was used, with a 30 minute resolution, going back to June [1].
For the current day, if the indoor unit is powered, I can see the same consumption stored data as it happens, or see instantaneous values.
[1] that proved useful recently, when I decided to swap all of my most used lamps, over to LED's - there was a large dip in the consumption graph after the switch over, despite the darker nights closing in.
My energy supplier offers both Electricity and Gas smart meters. maybe the gas meter only talks to its partner.
I might have to resort to that >:|
If it does, I have not been able to find it. It is a Secure Pipit 500.
From various sources (not guaranteed accurate) there is a smart hub associated with the smart electricity meter and this is the point of collection and transmission of data.
So yes, logically, the gas meter can't operate without the electricity smarts.
Probably why they are targeting people on dual fuel first.
Cheers
Dave R
Same here. Although it took longer than a couple of years. I was told some batteries were failing long before their projected life (no surprise there) so it was changed as a precaution.
It really would take some 'gifted' engineer to design something like that where it was easier and cheaper to swap the entire gas meter than the battery.
AIUI, it is _managing_ the situation that has proved beyond the wit of those involved, the engineering might have worked. Not helped by the faintly ludicrous situation that the organisation we pay is not the one that delivers the goods, and the responsibility for the meters seems to have been further outsourced. They can't even manage to combine reading the regular meters and the FIT meter.
Chris
AIUI it's not so much a matter of it being easier to *design* the meter that way as more prudent to *plan* for the future of gas supplies on that basis, bearing in mind:
a. you need to send somewhat out anyway to change a battery;
b. meters are (often)[1] only certified for 10 years initially;
c. much of the cost is in sending someone out who can be trusted to _touch_ a gas meter. The additional cost of someone who can change one, and the capital cost of the meter, are relatively small; and
d. the savings from not having to replace as a matter of urgency a meter which fails in its second decade.
[1]IIRC this can be extended if experience in operation shows they remain accurate and reliable for longer - hence the ancient mechanical meters still in use.Of course who knows where this will go in the future. IIRC the EU legislation which governs such meters only mandates a minimum battery life of 5 years. But that is from c.10 years ago and I suspect the next iteration will lead to a longer minimum.
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