After my gas line was hooked up to my heater, I was told to wait until it was inspected (It was ) and then call the Gas company to request them to put in a new meter. The Gas company does this free of charge. (That's what makes me suspicious.) My house is only 6 years old (I am original owner) and the gas meter seems fine. My house has gas heat (2 units), gas dryer, gas stove, gas fireplace and hot water heater. Most of these would be off in the summer. (Heater and fireplace). so why do I need a new meter? Might I benefit from a less accurate older one?
New Gas meter?
- Thread starter Hpdrifter
- Start date
Gas meters have a maximum volume of gas that they can measure per unit time. For example, the meter we had when we bought the house maxed out at 250,000 btu, which is fairly common though they do come bigger than that. Anyway, a pool heater can be huge, often 400,000 btu, which is often more gas than everything else you already have put together. If you don't have the proper size meter you won't get sufficent gas flow and the heater either will not work correctly or more commonly will not work at all.
The gas company makes their money when you use the heater. The extra money spent heating the pool will more than pay for the new meter. You are lucky, we had to pay the gas company to install the new meter. The meter was free, but we had to pay for the guys time to put it in.
The gas company makes their money when you use the heater. The extra money spent heating the pool will more than pay for the new meter. You are lucky, we had to pay the gas company to install the new meter. The meter was free, but we had to pay for the guys time to put it in.
you need a new, larger one to supply the volume of gas needed to run several of the items you listed at once. if you were only running your pool heater, you might have a large enough supply through your current meter. but when you start cooking dinner on your gas stove, doing dishes with h2o heated by the water heater, and your significant other throws a load of clothes in the dryer, your screwed! it can be dangerous. take the new meter and smile :-D . the gas company does this for free because it would be a safety issue to have too small of a meter, and they want to give you that new larger supply meter to sell you more gas!!
take the new meter and smile Very Happy . the gas company does this for free because it would be a safety issue to have too small of a meter, and they want to give you that new larger supply meter to sell you more gas!!
WOW... IS THAT HOW IT'S HANDLED NOW!!
LOL
WOW... IS THAT HOW IT'S HANDLED NOW!!
LOL
The gas company here in houston does NOT do this for free. It cost me 300 bucks to have that meter installed here.
wardsntx
0
Yep,
I was told 300 - 350 to replace. The gas company came out and said that they didn't think I needed one, but I f I had problems with the heater shutting off, then I would need to call them back out and PAY to get a new meter. Take the free one before they get wise and charge you not only for the meter, but all that gas you'll be using!!!!
I was told 300 - 350 to replace. The gas company came out and said that they didn't think I needed one, but I f I had problems with the heater shutting off, then I would need to call them back out and PAY to get a new meter. Take the free one before they get wise and charge you not only for the meter, but all that gas you'll be using!!!!
I called the gas company after my install. Did not need a meter change. When I talked to a gas company rep that came to house he said old meters would not handle the load of the heater. Also whether it was a low or high pressure area would make a difference.
We also had to pay for ours - I think it was $275. It really ticks you off because the larger meter only means that the gas company is going to make more money yet they charge you to upgrade. They did not used to do that here, but they must have figures out that if you are putting in a pool and spending 30K, you aren't going to balk at few hundred more.
old or new really makes no difference. it is just the size of the meters supply. our brand new house as of february had to have a larger meter installed to support all of the appliances and the pool heater. they do it for free here. i would be a little upset if i had to pay them for install, only to turn around and pay them for more gas.
Our house is only a few months old also and we had to get a new meter for our 400k BTU spa heater. The gas company came out within about 48 hours of calling and put it in for free... I'm sure they're very happy to be able to sell us much more gas.