The cost of electricity is constantly increasing, as is the amount of its consumption. Therefore, the issues of proper accounting remain invariably relevant. If the readings taken last month differ significantly from their current value, you need to check the counter. It can be done periodically on its own. You don't need to call a specialist. How to check the electric meter for correct readings will be discussed later.
When should I check?
For various reasons, the owners of a house or apartment may have doubts about whether the electric meter is working correctly. In this case, you need to know how to check it. It should be understood that such a procedure has nothing to do with verification. It has no legal force. Such a check is necessary if the ownersdoubt the correctness of electricity metering.
If some violations are identified, you need to contact a specialized organization. Its employees will confirm or deny the fact that the device is not working properly.
Checking whether the electric meter counts correctly is quite simple. This is a simple process that almost everyone can handle. But in some situations, verification is necessary. These include the following.
- For unknown reasons, the amount of energy consumed has increased. At the same time, the owners did not use electrical household appliances anymore, they did not purchase new appliances. Electricity consumption may increase if you buy a washing machine, air conditioner, heater, multicooker, etc. Also, the number of kilowatts consumed per month may increase if more people live in an apartment or own house. In some cases, the change in this indicator may be due to seasonal changes. If there were no such facts, but the indicator of electricity consumption increased markedly, you need to check.
- The meter reading did not decrease compared to last month, although the owners were not at home for a long time (at least a week). It should also alert if the indicator has decreased disproportionately.
- Electricity consumption, according to the meter, clearly exceeds the available capacity of household appliances.
Preparing for testing
Before checking the correct operation of the electricity meter, you need to perform some preparatory steps. It is necessary to exclude the possibility of the occurrence of "self-propelled". This term is used to describe the situation when all electrical appliances in the house are turned off, but the meter still works, the disk winds kilowatts.
You need to leave the meter energized, but you will need to turn off the single-pole machine. If there are plugs in the system, they must be unscrewed. Then for 15 minutes you need to observe the operation of the device. If there is a disk in the system, during this time it can make only one revolution, but no more.
When wondering how to check the correct readings of the Mercury electric meter or other popular modern models, you need to focus on the operation of the light indicator. It emits light pulses. When the consumption in the dwelling is completely turned off, it can emit only one signal.
It is also worth considering that it is not normal if the meter showed fewer kilowatts per month than usual. If the owners did not limit themselves in the consumption of electricity, but a similar situation is observed, you need to check the integrity of the device case. This action must be performed in accordance with all electrical safety requirements. If there are defects, the counter must be replaced. To do this, call the experts of the electricity supplier company. They will conduct the appropriate examination. If it turns out that the user performed some actions to save money,violating the operation of the device, he will pay a fine. Therefore, you need to perform all the steps to check the equipment very carefully.
How to detect electricity theft?
In the course of checking the electric meter for correct readings, it is necessary to exclude the possibility of energy theft. If all household appliances in the apartment are turned off, but the device still counts kilowatts, this may indicate a breakdown.
But sometimes, especially in an apartment building, this situation may indicate unauthorized use of electricity by neighbors. In this case, additional wires will go in the shield from your meter. Sometimes it is difficult to determine if the person is not an electrician. Tangled twists can confuse even a professional.
Misconduct by hosts
Sometimes the owners of the apartment themselves use different methods in order to illegally reduce the speed of counting electricity consumption. External intervention in the system can disable the device. At the same time, the inspectors will definitely find additional devices. Unlawful interference with the meter system is evidenced by:
- A hole drilled in the body. It is used to slow down the countdown of consumed kilowatts with a needle.
- The absence of glass on the electricity meter. Instead, they can insert photographic film. But such material leaves behind a trace. During the examination, it is necessarywill be revealed.
- Connection of additional wiring, due to which part of the electricity is not fixed. Such a wire is easy to find with a detector. It usually hides behind plaster or baseboards.
- Loose tension screw. This can be done if there is no seal on the meter.
To avoid problems with the checking company, you need to periodically inspect the device for damage. Checking the electric meter for proper operation necessarily begins with a visual inspection.
Checking the correct connection
How to check if the electricity meter counts correctly? It is necessary to determine whether the device is connected correctly. If there are violations, the equipment will not work properly. Therefore, you need to take appropriate action. Most often, single-tariff (single-phase) meters are installed in apartments. This equipment is characterized by direct connection. You need to look at how the wires are connected. If everything is in order, you need to use special equipment (clamp meters). You can buy them at a speci alty store or rent them from an electrician you know.
With the help of the presented equipment, you can determine what load is acting on the network. When using current clamps, it is not necessary to carry out complex calculations. If you plan to periodically check the operation of the electricity meter, it is best to purchase equipment in a specialized store. In this case, it will be possible, at the slightest need, to obtain an accurateresult.
How to check if the electricity meter is working properly using measuring clamps? You need to read the instructions of the manufacturer of the presented equipment. Next, you need to switch the range to the ACA 200 position. This is the best mode for checking the correct connection and operation of the meter.
The pliers need to be opened and then fixed around the phase wire. They should cover only one wire. You can measure on an insulated wire that is brought into the apartment. The result will appear on the screen of the device. It is measured in amperes. This indicator must be multiplied by the mains voltage (220 V). Cosine must equal 1.
Measurement error
There is another way to check if the meter counts correctly. After all, not everyone has special equipment in the form of current clamps at home. One of the methods for checking a counting instrument is to determine its error. To find out, you need to prepare a simple incandescent lamp that will create a load. In addition, you need to prepare a calculator and a stopwatch. Measurements will be taken with a multimeter. It must have an electronic scoreboard. An arrow multimeter is not suitable for this.
Using an ordinary lamp during the examination allows you to get an accurate result. If you use household appliances for these purposes, you can get the wrong result. The data sheet indicates the maximum power of the device. But many of them are in differentoperating modes consume different amounts of electricity. Because of this feature, it will not be possible to accurately determine the error of the counter. A conventional incandescent lamp works stably. Therefore, it is used during testing.
Considering how to check whether the electric meter is working correctly, you need to familiarize yourself with the presented methodology in detail.
First, using a multimeter, you need to measure the voltage in the network. How to perform such an action should be read in the manufacturer's instructions. The result will almost never be exactly 220 V. For example, you may get 223 V or some other value. It is written on a piece of paper.
Next, the lamp current is measured. The tester for this is transferred to the ammeter mode. It is connected to a light bulb. The resulting value, for example, can be 0.43 A. To find out how much power a light bulb will have at this mains voltage, you need to perform a simple calculation:
223 × 0, 43=96 W
This deviation is 4%, so standard values cannot be used for calculations. They may differ significantly from the actual figures.
Subsequent settlement
Considering how to check the electric meter for correct readings, you need to understand the essence of calculating the real indicators of the network. To do this, you will also need to calculate the resistance of the lamp. To do this, the mains voltage is divided by the load of the appliance:
223 ÷ 0, 4=557.5 ohm
Now you can start checking the counter. You need to connect the lamp to the network. Then with a stopwatchit is measured for how long the counter blinks the indicator 10 times or makes 10 revolutions with the disk. At this point, it is important to control the voltage in the network. So, for example, in the course of measurements it was found that the disk made ten revolutions in 2 minutes (120 seconds). The voltage during the test remained at 223 V.
Next on the front panel you need to find the constant value of the electricity meter. This could be 3,200 imp/kWh, for example. Other values may be specified. Next, you need to perform the calculation according to the following formula:
PE=NS × NS ÷ SL, where
PE - lamp electricity consumption (real), HC - mains voltage, SL - lamp resistance.
PE=223 × 223 ÷ 557, 5=89 W
You need to calculate how many watts the lamp consumed during the test:
120 sec × 89 W ÷ 3600=2.97 Wh
To determine the error of the counting device, a calculation is performed:
1000 × number of revolutions ÷ constant value indicated on the front panel of the counter. Substituting the available values, we get:
1000 × 10 ÷ 3200=3.13 Wh
Error=(2, 97 – 3, 13) ÷ 3, 13 × 100=-5%.
This is a minor error. It is within the acceptable range. A deviation of 10% is allowed. In the example shown, the counter is working correctly.
Magnetization
Considering how to check the electric meter for correct readings, you need to consider such a feature as magnetization. Some users use a magnet to slow down the counting speedkilowatt. You should not resort to such actions. Such a trick will certainly be revealed during the test. To understand why you should not resort to magnetizing the meter, you need to consider the features of the test.
So, in modern models of the presented devices, for example, "Mercury", "Neva", "Energomer", etc., a special magnetic seal is installed. This is a special sticker that will change color if the meter stops in this way. If this happens, the user will be accused of illegal consumption of electricity during verification.
In simpler meter models, you can also check the he alth. To do this, you need a thin metal needle. If it is attracted to the counter panel, then it is magnetized. But in such models, if you remove the magnet, the field is restored in just 2-3 days. In some cases, the magnetization does not pass. In this case, you need to buy a special demagnetizer.
Two- and three-tariff meters
It is easy to check for the correct operation of a three-phase or two-phase electric meter. Such devices have certain features of work. In different periods of the day, the cost of electricity calculated by such devices is different. At night, the tariff will be slightly lower than during the day. This feature of the calculation allows you to reduce the load on the network during the day.
For this reason, two- or three-phase meters are called two-tariff andthree-tariff. They help reduce your electricity bill. At the same time, uneven consumption leads to intense environmental pollution during the day and in the evening. Energy consumption at night is more environmentally friendly.
The disadvantage of using such devices is the high requirements that are put forward for the correct operation of electrical appliances. Otherwise, significant savings will not be possible.
Checking a two-tariff meter
How to check a two-tariff electric meter for correct readings? You need to follow a few simple steps. First, the correct connection of the electrical appliance is checked. The device is also checked for the presence of "self-propelled". If no problems are found in this indicator, you can proceed to further verification.
How to check the electric meter for correct readings? All electrical appliances are disconnected from the network, all machines that come out of the shield are turned on. Then the above procedure is carried out with a lamp and a multimeter.
