Hey guys. I’m nearing the point where I might be looking to fill my new pool for the first time. I’ll be doing all of the pool care myself and it seems very important to know accurately how many gallons my pool holds. I’ve been thinking of purchasing a water meter to hook to the hose for the first fill so I can get an accurate reading for the volume. The meters aren’t exactly cheap for a 1 time use though. Think I should just monitor my house meter during the fill? Or is it worth the $50-$60 for a meter I’ll use once? My pool is an odd shape and trying to figure out the volume by math and measurements may prove difficult and inaccurate.
Water meter for first pool fill?
- Thread starter Papabigface
- Start date
I installed a water meter on my refill pipe, that way I can measure how much water is added to the pool to replenish loss due to backwash, splash out, evaporation etc.
To me the value is not just in finding the total volume in your pool, it is also to be able to track if there are changes to the water consumption of the pool, this could indicate you have a leak.
To me the value is not just in finding the total volume in your pool, it is also to be able to track if there are changes to the water consumption of the pool, this could indicate you have a leak.
Try rental places as well, if you need something only once, then rent, if you need it a few times a year, buy...
- Jun 7, 2017
- 9,062
- Pool Size
- 29000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Jandy Aquapure 1400
I took pictures of my water meter every few hours throughout my fill (see my sig pics). It worked out well and I use what I got from that as my volume. The chemical additions align with that volume as well. I think your house meter would be more accurate than a cheap inline meter like you want to add. Also I used 2 hoses one to each of my outdoor faucets. If you did that you'd need 2 inline meters. It took me @ 36 hours to fill my pool.
sktn77a
Gold Supporter
The house water meter should be more than accurate enough to determine the volume of your pool. Domestic water use during the 24-or-so hours it takes should be irrelevant to the total your pool takes.
Thanks. That’s kinda what I was worried about, was our normal water use during this period. I guess I’ll turn off the sprinklers and just try to be as water conscious as I can be for that 24 hour period. Should get me close enough.
I used my house meter as well and the actual total was 3K gallons more than the calculated number within my quote.
That’s a lot of flushing the toilet lol, just kidding. My pool builder didn’t actually give me an estimate. I was able to do some rough math to figure out a ballpark volume.. but for chemistry purposes I’d like to know the actual volume that’s phsically there, as opposed to what’s “supposed to be”. I’m convinced to just use the house meter now though.
What I would do, take a reading a week before, then just before starting the fill, subtract the first number from the second, and divide by the number of days, this gives you the average use per day. Fill the pool, then subtract the average use per day times the number of days to fill, you should be close enough that your chemistry isn't going to surprise you.
Or, just take the volume used over the past couple of billing cycles and average that.
Either way it will be close enough.