Water Meter Solution

[MyAZPool]

Several months ago, while I was in the middle of a Swimming Pool Equipment Pad renovation and rebuild, I became aware of just how much water my pool was losing on a daily basis (yes it was summer in the desert and I have a fairly large pool surface area).

At first I thought I might have a leak somewhere. In typical fashion, as I do now whenever I have a question or concern regarding my swimming pool, I did my research on TFP and reached out to the members here for their advice and thoughts.

This quest led to some insightful and informative discussions regarding water loss, evaporation rates, “bucket tests”, measuring the water loss and then on to the use of water meters to measure that loss. I really appreciate all of the input that I received from the members here.

For a little background, the two threads that really got me started down this path are listed below (I’m going to provide a link to this thread over on these two threads to give further relevance to them, as this is somewhat of a continuation to both).

Water Loss (9/25/18)

Flow Meter – Anyone use them (4/28/18)
So, in my research with several water meter companies, I discovered that most water meters out there (except ones that cost thousands of dollars) do not measure water flow rates below about .25 gallons (4 cups) per minute. That was a problem for me, as my SP Auto-fill Leveler runs constantly and mostly just drips water. I wanted to be able to accurately measure just how much water I used each and every month throughout the year. Especially since I am now using soft water for evaporation and backwash compensation.

Over about two months and lots of research, I believe that I have found the solution that works best for me. I did some re-plumbing, purchased the equipment, installed and calibrated. Photos are provided below.

I used a Clark Solutions PFA Turbine Flow Sensor and a Precision Digital ProVu Pulse Input Flow Rate/Totalizer. The way it works it that a static worm in the sensor forces the passing water to spin. The spinning fluid drives a rotor with reflectors into a friction-less rotation. A high resolution infrared sensor determines the rate of flow by counting the passing reflections. This information (pulses) is transmitted to the digital display where it is interpreted and displayed in a highly accurate digital format.

Note that I plumbed this in such a way, that I can now choose to use either city water or soft water by the manipulation of two ball valves.

I think I am done with this project for now (hmmm, what to do now?) It’s working great and giving me some very accurate readings. The only thing, is that the flow rate/totalizer is calibrated in liters for more accuracy, but that’s not hard to convert to gallons.

The meter itself is plumbed in by my wife’s rose garden (she sure is happy now that I have put everything back to the way it was and gotten away from her roses ). There is a direct burial cable that runs about 25 feet over to the pool equipment pad. I used IMC conduit to get the cable into the low voltage raceway of the load center, then through my low voltage junction box and then to the flow rate/totalizer enclosure. Power for the totalizer (220 Vac) is provided through the load center system transformer circuit breaker. Since my Lutron smart switch for the pool light was in the way of where I wanted to mount the totalizer enclosure, I chose to just go ahead and install it in the flow rate/totalizer enclosure. That worked out pretty good.

So anyway, I believe that I have resolved this issue for my application. I'm looking forward to measuring monthly water usage throughout the upcoming year and graphing it out. I'll update this thread with the results as the year progresses. Anyone living in the desert, with about the same surface area as my pool, can use my results to get a good idea of their own monthly water usage.

r..

 

[ajw22]

I am impressed with your labeling. Well done!

 

[MyAZPool]

Thanks Allen.
Being an old man now, I find myself suffering more and more from CRS (I'll let you figure out the acronym ). So I have to label things more now, so I can remember later, just what is what.
r..

 

[ajw22]

CRS = Can’t Remember S...

I can relate to it.

 

[Dirk]

Your labels are great. Bad news for them, and maybe the wife too, though... you’ve got the BFP in the wrong place, sorry to say...

It should be the last thing before the pool...

And the hose bibs are missing their BFPs, too.

 

[MyAZPool]

Your labels are great. Bad news for them, and maybe the wife too, though... you’ve got the BFP in the wrong place, sorry to say...

It should be the last thing before the pool...

And the hose bibs are missing their BFPs, too.

Hey Dirk,
Merry Christmas...
Take a closer look (hence, the need for the labels ).

The BFP that you see in the photo is for the SOFT water line only (which comes out of the wall, just around the corner).
The BFP actually is the last thing before the pool refill line and the soft water hose bib.

The BFP for the city water is out in front of the house.

One hose bib is for city water and the other hose bib is for SOFT water.

If you take another look, you'll see that it is actually correct.
Thanks Dirk...
r.

 

[Dirk]

Hey Dirk,
Merry Christmas...
Take a closer look (hence, the need for the labels ).

The BFP that you see in the photo is for the SOFT water line only (which comes out of the wall, just around the corner).
The BFP actually is the last thing before the pool refill line and the soft water hose bib.

The BFP for the city water is out in front of the house.

One hose bib is for city water and the other hose bib is for SOFT water.

If you take another look, you'll see that it is actually correct.
Thanks Dirk...
r.

Oh, perfect. I could see that the BFP was keeping pool water from getting into the softener, but the street's supply was not protected. But if you've got another BFP doing that, you're good to go! (Sorry if I missed/forgot that if you mentioned it previously.)

I used three in my setup. My primary BFP is just before the pool's autofill. That prevents water from leaving the pool and getting anywhere. But, like your system, I can switch or combine the fill sources for the pool, and the valve that balances the sources, if positioned to blend the two, could expose each to the other. So I added one BFP on each leg of the source, so neither can cross over to the other. I used the much cheaper PVC check valves for that purpose, because if either fail, there's no real danger to a human. Street water into the soft water system is harmless, and a little soft water into the garden wouldn't be catastrophic either. But for $20, for a long as they work, I'll have a little extra added protection (they backup the main BFP as well)...

 

[MyAZPool]

Oh, perfect. I could see that the BFP was keeping pool water from getting into the softener, but the street's supply was not protected. But if you've got another BFP doing that, you're good to go! (Sorry if I missed/forgot that if you mentioned it previously.)

I used three in my setup. My primary BFP is just before the pool's autofill. That prevents water from leaving the pool and getting anywhere. But, like your system, I can switch or combine the fill sources for the pool, and the valve that balances the sources, if positioned to blend the two, could expose each to the other. So I added one BFP on each leg of the source, so neither can cross over to the other. I used the much cheaper PVC check valves for that purpose, because if either fail, there's no real danger to a human. Street water into the soft water system is harmless, and a little soft water into the garden wouldn't be catastrophic either. But for $20, for a long as they work, I'll have a little extra added protection (they backup the main BFP as well)...

Hi Dirk,
Yea, the BFP in the front of the house, protects from "back flow", from any of the outside city water (street) hose bibs, the front and back irrigation valves and lastly that one line (which would normally always be closed) going up to the pool refill manifold. I just plumbed it in there as a "contingency feature" ONLY, as I am currently using soft water ONLY for evaporation and backwash compensation.

Doing so over the last few months, has already had a positive impact on my Calcium Hardness (CH) level. I have noticed just a small increase in the softener consumption of salt. I assume that salt consumption will increase as evaporation increases into the summer months.

I like how you described your setup. Sounds as if you gave it a lot of detailed thought. How about some photos?

Hey, thanks for the comments and I hope you and your family have a very Happy New Year. And thanks very much for all of your help this year regarding my pool equipment pad renovation (especially when it comes to all of the IntellipH info). I took your advice on several key points and plan on posting something soon regarding my installation of the IntellipH.

Thanks again!!
r.

 

[Dirk]

r, Thanks for the well-wishes!

I went on quite an adventure with the whole "water softener to reduce calcium creep" and wrote about it extensively (exhaustively!! some would say ). The end result is here:

#76

PS. Before you bust me, I know the BFP is too low, but I had several great reasons at the time to do it that way, all of which escape me now!

 

[Dirk]

Not to nit-pic, OK, some... Is the insulation material you used OK in the sun/ Typically you see that stuff wrapped in tape, which keeps the foam from being nicked or knocked, and keeps the sun off it (which will lengthen its life substantially). I mention this because last week I had to tape up a crazy manifold that serves four apartments and four hose bibs, took me most of an afternoon, so it's fresh on the brain... This stuff:

Christys Tape at Lowes.com

 

[MyAZPool]

r, Thanks for the well-wishes!

I went on quite an adventure with the whole "water softener to reduce calcium creep" and wrote about it extensively (exhaustively!! some would say ). The end result is here:

#76

PS. Before you bust me, I know the BFP is too low, but I had several great reasons at the time to do it that way, all of which escape me now!

Dirk, Cool thread. Lot's of good info there, sorry I didn't see it sooner. I agree with your assessment regarding the amount of water per day that the softener will handle. I have a 2-tank softener (Kinetico type), so even when one tank is being "regenerated" the other tank is in use, and then they just switch back and forth, so no problem for me there.

No busting here. The way I see it, I have no room or right to be critical, unless it might be something that I see, that is way outside the norm of pool or electrical "best practices" (i.e. serious safety issues).

Thanks again for the thread link and the photos. Always nice to see how others come up with creative and well-done solutions to the various pool maintenance challenges that we face from time-to-time.

r.

 

[MyAZPool]

Not to nit-pic, OK, some... Is the insulation material you used OK in the sun/ Typically you see that stuff wrapped in tape, which keeps the foam from being nicked or knocked, and keeps the sun off it (which will lengthen its life substantially). I mention this because last week I had to tape up a crazy manifold that serves four apartments and four hose bibs, took me most of an afternoon, so it's fresh on the brain... This stuff:

Christys Tape at Lowes.com

Dirk,
It's a good point, and I did think about that. Normally I just use the pipe tape when I install any metal below ground (i.e. IMC or copper pipe, (two wraps). But in the case of the foam, I had some foam on a couple of other copper pipes extending above ground (hose bibs around the yard) that got quite a bit of sun and just recently, I had to replace them. They lasted about 8 years, so I just opted to forgo wrapping the foam with tape in this case, especially there around my wife's rose garden because that area gets very little sun. I used the foam mainly to just protect the copper pipe from some sort of nick or hit, that would puncture the very thin wall of the copper pipe and maybe if we get a seriously unusual winter freeze.

Thanks again!!
r.

 

[MyAZPool]

Back when I started this thread, I said I would update the monthly results from the water meter but I have failed that mission miserably.
So, I'll try again if anyone cares what the approximate monthly water loss due to evaporation is, for a pool in the Phoenix area of approximately 675 square feet of surface area.

Jul 1 2019 - June 30 2020

July 2019 - 2,950 gallons or approximately 95 gallons per day. (.87 inches of rain this month)
August 2019 - 2,611 gallons or approximately 84 gallons per day. (.22 inches of rain this month)
September 2019 - 2,039 gallons or approximately 68 gallons per day. (1.11 inches of rain this month)
October 2019 - 1,322 gallons or approximately 42 gallons per day.
November 2019 - 15 gallons or approximately 1/2 gallon per day. (2.49 inches of rain this month)
December 2019 - 0 gallons. (1.69 inches of rain this month) - Approximately 250 gallons were drained (Backwash), due to high water level in pool.
January 2020 - 0 gallons. (.13 inches of rain this month)
February 2020 - 420 gallons or approximately 14 gallons per day. (1.20 inches of rain this month)
March 2020 - 695 gallons or approximately 22 gallons per day. (1.80 inches of rain this month). Backwashed - 150 Gallons.
April 2020 - 1,176 gallons or approximately 39 gallons per day. (0.0 inches of rain this month).
May 2020 - 2,205 gallons or approximately 71 gallons per day. (.13 inches of rain this month).
June 2020 - 3,529 gallons or approximately 114 gallons per day. (0.0 inches of rain this month). Backwashed - 150 Gallons.

Summary: In one year from 1 July 2019 to 31 June 2020, I added nearly 17,000 (16,962) gallons (1,400 gallons monthly average), to my pool in order to compensate for evaporation and filter backwash (500 gallons).

Jul 1 2020 - June 30 2021

July 2020 - 2,870 gallons or approximately 93 gallons per day. (0.0 inches of rain this month)
August 2020 - 3,085 gallons or approximately 100 gallons per day. (0.22 inches of rain this month). Backwashed - 150 Gallons.
September 2020 - 1,911 gallons or approximately 64 gallons per day. (0.13 inches of rain this month). Backwashed - 150 Gallons.
r.