As with reading the WM-NLC Series water meter in U.S. Gallons, it’s almost the same (except the decimal point has moved), so the same trick applies in reading this water meter in Cubic Feet: Think of it in two main parts — The Register and The Dials
The Register: The Big Picture Number
1. The Register in this example water meter displays — 21578 —
Translation: 2 hundred 15 thousand, and 780 Cubic Feet, or: 215,780.000
Now, you could stop reading your meter here, because you know, at a very general level, that the water meter reading is 215,780 cubic feet. And, to simplify, many landlords will only read the Register (to the nearest 100 cubic feet) because typically, consumption under 100 cubic feet isn’t that expensive.
2. However, since you’re probably NOT consuming
water by the hundreds of thousands of cubic feet (or haven’t got there
yet), you’ll most likely focus on just the last few numbers on the
Register, depending on your rate of consumption. In this example, those
last few numbers are — 578 —
Translation: 5,780 Cubic Feet
The Dials: The Nitty-Gritty, Bottom Line Numbers
3. Moving clockwise from the Register, read each Dial
number, and tack that number on, after the last few numbers (578) on the
Register (notice the rule-of-thumb of rounding down. For example, if
the red dial is on 3-1/2, round down to 3). In this example, the first
dial number is — 3 —
Translation: 3 Cubic Feet, so your water meter reading is now at: 5,783 Cubic Feet
4. If you’re reading this far, you’re into a super
accurate water meter reading, down to the sub-cubic feet! Note the
Decimal Point, which helps you to keep track of where those numbers need
to go. Keep moving clockwise and tacking on the next number. In this
example, the next dial number to tack on is — 4 —
Translation: (Decimal Point) .4 Cubic Feet, so your water meter reading is now at: 5,783.4 Cubic Feet.
5. Continuing to move clockwise, the last two dial numbers are — 6 and 7 —
Translation: (Decimal Point) .067 Cubic Feet, so your water
meter reading is now at: 5,783.467 Cubic Feet, which gives you your
TOTAL of: 215,783.467 Cubic Feet.
So What’s My Rate of Consumption? The Final Tip: Simple Subtraction
To get your rate of water consumption between water meter readings: Take
your previous water meter reading, and subtract it from your most
current water meter reading.