If you are billed by usage, the main shut off valve would be on the street side of the meter.
FWIW it, the meter valve, is the safer valve to shut off, those in homes typically will get difficult to shut off.
Although if you specify a day, annually, to close and open each and every valve, they'll be good to go for much longer.
And as you replace valves, go ball valve all the way.
And never leave a valve open to the full stop. If it gets stuck when you try to close it, you'll want a little wiggle room to loosen it up. All my valves, including the main, get opened full (to keep them fully exercised) and then closed about 1/8th turn.
There is no meter visible. It's likely in the ground somewhere (where the street key is likely). Some are using mesh RF, too.
There isn't one. That's the point.
How do you do any plumbing? Quickly? ;-)
No visible meter? Remotely read or free water?
I don't?
Remotely read. Or by someone in a van driving down the street. I've seen both in newer developments. Ours in VT was converted to the van-down-the-street method. They were tired of hiring meter readers go into every customer's basement. Haven't figured it out here. Haven't really had the need.
As long as you trust the reading/bill, that's cool.
We read our own water meters once a quarter. If you don't mail the card back or enter your reading on line, they charge you $35 and estimate your bill, always rounding it up.
If you don't pay the bill on time, that's $35 too.
Gas and electric meters are outside and get read old school: Meter readers.
Haven't gone remote yet, but we keep hearing rumors, year after year.
Meter valve IS in the house up here. So is the meter.
Same with me. It (they) would freeze otherwise.
My valve is quite easy to operate. On average, I'd say it gets used at least once a year.
Choice?
Yikes! I remember getting estimated bills. That, alone, was a good enough reason to let the meter reader into your basement each month. Then they went to alternate months. Then the new invention of a remote indicator on the outside of the house (meters were always on the inside to prevent freezing).
Reasonable. Deadbeat insurance.
Our gas is done by phone. I go out and read the gauge on top of the tank and call them to fill it (it's only used for cooking and the fireplace).
Honestly, I don't know what we have for electricity. There is a meter outside but I have no idea if there is also RF reading. I'm not home much so never would see a meter reader. My guess is that it's done by RF with the receiver in a truck. It's a co-op owned system but I don't think they're all that progressive. Our rates sure are good compared to what I'm used to.
When we lived in AL, the electric company was run by the city. They installed "smart meters" which used an RF mesh system. One meter talks to the next until it finds its way to a receiver on a pole somewhere in the neighborhood. There were some teething problems (unbelievable bills) but it's a good system overall. As a bonus, tracking downed lines is pretty much automatic. The meters report the loss of power over the mesh. It's just a matter of a little decoding and the precise location of the break is apparent with no waiting for outage calls to come in.
How do meters without power report anything to anyone?
Probably a monitoring signal. Meter "calls home" every so often. If it fails to check in it's presumed to be due to loss of power. Similar system with fire and intrusion alarms.
It could also have a small capacitor capable of signalling a power loss to the electric company.
The alarm system I have in my home has a similar backup that keeps the system up and running in a power outage and immediately sends me a text message when it drops and again when it's restored.
snipped-for-privacy@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) wrote in news:3p2hG.873415$5o5.180204 @fx41.iad:
Maybe it's the absence of a report that alerts the power company to the outage?
Puckdropper
The "Last Gasp" method is my favorite. ;-)
Some of the "NEW" water meters have life time batteries. They are intended to last as long as the meter.
Having worked on software that did this (for networks, not power, though), it's probably like this... there's a list A of "things I can talk to" and a list B of "things I can't talk to". Based on the two lists and a bit of knowledge about the network (or power grid) a computer can determine where the break most likely is.
Batteries?
Supercaps?
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