I helped my daughter move into an apartment in Manhattan and noticed that the gas meter is in the kitchen. How does the gas co read the meters in buildings like that?
I helped my daughter move into an apartment in Manhattan and noticed that the gas meter is in the kitchen. How does the gas co read the meters in buildings like that?
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Replies
the super lets them in for that, i hope she's not just getting out of the shower when they (super and meter reader) come bopping in!
"...i hope she's not just getting out of the shower when they (super and meter reader) come bopping in!"Thanks for the mental image that brings joy to a father's heart. Then again, I don't think she showers in the kitchen very often. :)
BruceT
i have girls too, i wanted to share the wonderful fatherly feelings!
My gas meter in my kitchen has a few wires sticking out of it. I asked the salesperson what it was for and he replied it was for a number of things such as attaching it to my computer to get a detailed readout or attaching it to a transponder that beams the meter usage to the gas company. So there may be one of those devices on it. As for my situation, I wanted to separate the gas usage from the garage apartment from the main house. It was cheaper to add an apartment gas meter to figure out how much the garage apt was using than to have the gas company run a new separate line and outdoor meter to it. I just tally up monthly how much gas the apt uses and subtract it from the main house bill. Everyone involved pays their fair share then.
Handyman, painter, wood floor refinisher, property maintenance in Tulsa, OK
Our meter readers are given a set of keys to get into homes that have interior gas meters. Same thing for apartments.
Route keys go out in the morning and are returned each evening to a supervisor, who checks them back into a locked key cabinet.
Reading schedules are hung on or next to the meters once a year. The customer may or may not be home at the time of the reading. If the customer does not want a stranger in their unattended home/apt. they must be there the scheduled day of the reading, other wise it is estimated.
BTW, we have more meter readers get hurt reading inside meters than you could imagine.
Amazing! How did such an idiotic system come about?
BruceT
How did such an idiotic system come about?
It "grew" that way as muni-supplied utilities moved into existing structures.
Water meters in the basement, electrical meters, too.
In days of old, someone was home to let the meter reader in. Since that was already the case, people designed the services around that in-use system. As life changed and more doors became locked, fewer structures had someone home to admit, the technique for the readers had to change, too. Not always a good deal for the readers, either--rather like the joys of going into yards with dogs. That has driven the meter technology changes that allow remote reading (which also increases the number of meteres read per manhour, which decreases the cost to the utility).Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
You are right on.
I use to deliver milk with my grandfather way back in the fifties. Retail routes in rural KY.( Remember the old glass bottles with paper stoppers and a layer of real cream separated above the milk?)
I would "shag" a couple of quarts of milk to a cold box setting on a porch or in a lot of homes just take them in the back door and put them in the "ice box", pick up the empty bottles and stick them in the "handy" and run back to the truck. Grandpa would have the next order ready when I got back, and off I would run again. Most of the time I never saw anyone except the cat or and old dog at home.
I'm sure their were locks on the doors, but no one used them. Everyone knew everyone else and trust was just taken for granted I think. I was just a wee tyke back then, but even living in the big city we didn't lock our doors until sometime in the mid sixties. There just wasn't a lot of crimes like breaking and entering in homes back them. It was more likely to occur in some business than a residence.
My how things have changed, but that is how the "idiotic system" started.