3/4 Inch Pulse Output Gas Meter - PGM-075

What is the conversion factor for propane gas to gallons of LP? Or is there an on-line table to use to calculate gallons of LP used? Thanks.

Here is some information that I found online:
COMPRESSED PROPANE (GASEOUS FORM) EQUIVALENCY INFORMATION: At 14.73 lbs. of pressure per square inch (psi) and 60 degrees Fahrenheit:
* 1 cubic foot gaseous propane = 0.0278 gallons liquid propane
* 100 cubic feet gaseous propane = 2.78 gallons liquid propane 
* 1 gallon liquid propane = 35.97 cubic feet gaseous propane
* 100 gallons liquid propane = 3597 cubic feet gaseous propane

Can the 3/4 gas meter -gym-075 be installed in attic? I have apartment over garage and want to meter apartment. I am tapping into exiting natural gas line in attics other side of wall. Is this acceptable to put in attic? Would get to hot in attic or needs to be outside? Thxs

We do not recommend installing our gas meter indoors or in enclosed spaces (including in attics).  There is a slight risk of a gas leak which could build up harmful and dangerous levels of gas in enclosed areas that are not well ventilated.  Please install our gas meters outdoors.

I need a meter for high pressure nitrogen and low pressure oxigen, can i use this model?

This meter is suitable for any non corrosive gas and will operate up to 7.25 PSI. The temperature range it will operate in is -20 – +50 °C.

I installed a meter in my mobile home park which is sub metered. Wondering how to read the meter. It appears to reflect usage that is too high.

The black dials on this gas meter model represent cubic feet. The red dial represents tenths of a cubic foot. If you're reading the meter remotely via the pulse output, each pulse represents 1.0 cubic foot of gas.

I would like to use this in a warehouse environment with a Modine 300k btu heater. Will this product, along with the reader, allow me to just track this heaters gas usage so I can incorporate the cost into the tenants lease?

The meter model has a max throughput of 217,330 BTU/hr of natural gas, 524,968 BTU/hr of propane at 60ºF (temperature dependent). If this meets or exceeds the specs of the heater then this meter can be used for monitoring and billing your tenants gas usage. If you need a larger meter you can take a look at our 1.5" Gas Meter.

What is the dimensions of the gas meter? I want to use it to separate between my house and the separate apartment use for billing.

This meter is 224mm (height) x 195mm (width) x 164mm (depth). The inlet and outlet of the meter are 130mm apart and 67mm from the back edge of the meter.

What are the btu capacities of your gas meters?

This meter can handle up to 211,000 BTU/hour. Our 1.5" Gas Meter can handle up to 565,000 BTU/ hour.

How far can I run the wiring from the metering device to the gas and water sensors? Can I read data from other plc with modbus rtu or modbus tcp/ip?

The wiring running from the gas or water meters, to our Omnimeter Pulse v.4, can be up to 200 feet in length.

Our Omnimeter Pulse v.4 communicates via a RS-485 communication protocol that is a modified version of an IEC 62056-21 communication standard. It is not Modbus. We have documented these protocols in our Developer Portal.

If you have any other questions please contact us at support@ekmmetering.com

Will meter function without the remote wiring connected? Would like to use device to measure gas usage to separate gas units from main gas line.

Yes, these gas meters can also act as stand alone meters, read of of the dials. The pulse output remote read is just an additional option. In cases where it's not used the pulse output can be ignored.

Where this is installed there is NO WIFI. How do these connect to the remote display?

You do not need a WiFi connection in order to read these gas meters remotely. This Article from our Knowledge Base explains your options for remote gas reading.

If I purchase six gas meters and want to remotely read the usage of each, how many v.4 Omnimeters do I need to purchase? All six? I read in the spec sheet, each one can read up to three gas meters?

Each Omnimeter Pulse v.4 can count pulse from up to 3 gas meters. So if you can connect 3 gas meters to each then you will only need two v.4 Omnimeters. If you're planning on reading the data remotely you can then connect both Omnimeters to a single EKM Push gateway in a daisy chain. The Push gateway then connects to your internet router to push the data to our cloud database. Once it's there you can make use of the data with any of these Software Options.

This might be a stupid question but can you install this meter sideways?

No that's a good question. The meter needs to be installed vertically with the inlet and outlet facing upwards (towards the sky). Any other orientation will result in erroneous readings or the meter won't function at all.

Does this unit come with a mounting bracket, either wall or stand?

No, this unit does not come with a mounting bracket. The "mounting" is typically done with the inlet and outlet NPT threaded adapters to the inlet an outlet pipes.

is this product UL listed and GRS listed?

No, this meter is not UL Listed or GRS Listed.

With respect to installation, is there a specific amount of pipe distance required before and after the meter?

I have never heard of gas meters requiring a specific length of straight pipe before the inlet or after the outlet. As far as I know the straight pipe consideration is only for water and other flow meters.

I have a gas meter but the pulse output wire is too short. Is there a way to extend it?

Yes. The pulse output wires can be extended at least 200 feet without a problem. We recommend using one twisted pair of wires that you find inside of CAT5 Cable. The wire connections can be made using Lever Nuts if indoors, or Waterproof Wire Nuts if outdoors.

I would like to get pricing on a 3/4" gas meter that I can remote read and information on how to do this.

Pricing is available on this page and this meter is available to purchase from our online store. We've also put together a customizable metering package for remote water and/or gas metering that will let you select all of the products you need in order to remotely meter a 3/4" gas meter. You can find that package here.

As you will see in the package, the critical components of a remote readable gas metering system are the Gas Meter, an Omnimeter Pulse v.4, and an EKM Push gateway.

How long do the pulses last? Longer than 1 sec?

Depending on when the dials stop turning the pulse duration could be infinite. The pulses are generated by a mechanical reed switch that is activated by a magnet on one of the meter dials. When the magnet passes the reed switch it opens and closes the switch, generating the pulse. But if the dials stop turning  at the right time the switch will stay open.

Can these be installed indoors next to the furnace? Do they require any extra ventilation?

We do not recommend that the gas meter be installed indoors. This from Inspectapedia.

"Gas meter location: gas meters are located outdoors except when special permission is given by the gas company. Indoor gas meters increase the risk of an indoor gas leak, require special venting, and can make it more dangerous to shut off gas in an emergency.”

This support article explains a bit more.

The risk, as stated above, is indoor gas leaks. To minimize the risk, the compartment in which the gas meter is located should have free venting to outside air and be sealed from other indoor areas. Bottom line, there is an increased risk of problems with any indoor gas meter installation, and that risk is assumed by whoever makes the decision to place the meter indoors. Our recommendation, as always, is to place the meter outdoors.

I have a 2-1/2" gas line that I want to pulse meter. Do you have any products available for this?

No, we currently do not have a gas meter for that diameter line. We do have 1.5" Gas Meters with pulse output but not 2.5". If your goal it to remotely monitor the gas using our Omnimeter Pulse v.4 and EKM Push system, it is possible to use 3rd party gas meters (with dry contact pulse outputs) instead of EKM Gas meters.

Can you tell me the conversion for metering liquid propane? Is it simply converting cubic feet to gallons?

This meter is not suitable for use with liquid propane. It is designed to work with gases in their non-liquid state, such as natural gas, gaseous propane, air, or any other non-corrosive gas. Further, accurately metering liquid propane also depends on the temperature, as the mass to volume ratio does vary. More info on that HERE.

I have a duplex with two water heaters and one furnace. I would like to meter the gas use for each apartment separately. How would I accomplish this?

If your water heaters are gas powered, and not electric, then it sounds like you should be able to plumb a gas meter inline before each water heater to meter the gas consumption for each. However, if the furnace is shared for both halves of the duplex then it won't be possible to determine which half is using what. You would need a furnace for each side if the duplex, in order to accurately meter your tenants' gas consumption for heating.

I have a detached garage that I turned into a studio. I would like to meter the natural gas and electric that is going out there. What products would be best to do this?

Which products would depend on your particular electrical system and a number of other factors. Do you want to read the electric and gas usage on a computer or on the faces of the meters themselves?

If you would like to read the usage remotely on a computer then I would take a look at this Metering Package. It is designed to be customizable for your particular needs. 

If you simply want to read the meters locally on the meter faces then this gas meter is a good one for most residential and light commercial purposes.

For a basic electric meter I would need to know a bit more about your electrical system to give you an informed recommendation but I generally recommend that you take a look at our 25XDSE, as this is a great solution for most locally read single phase metering applications.

I have a 3 unit residential property with 1 natural gas meter. I can't split the property because I only have 1 hot water heater, but I have 3 furnaces. Would this unit work to measure the gas used by each furnace? I'd like to set the rents to include gas up to a certain point, and then charge for overages by apartment.

Yes, these meters would potentially work to meter the inlets to each of your furnaces. They are designed to submeter gas usage for residential scale applications. They would be plumbed inline before the inlet of each furnace.

Before deciding, it may be prudent to review the specs of your furnaces in relation to the specs and capacity of the gas meters.

What type of connector is on the meter? I'm looking to buy or make extra adapters. I want to make a bypass tube so that I can remove the meter and use it in multiple locations. Thanks!

The gas meter comes with 3/4" NPT fittings.  These are attached to the gas meter with a brass swivel piece and a rubber washer.  I would not try to make any of the parts that come with the gas meter into universal connectors that you would have at each location.  I would use something that is more standard such as a plumbing union that you could find at any local hardware store.  That way if something were to ever change about our gas meter, then at least you would not have to start over with your universal adaptors.

We are using these in a commercial application and was wondering if a PGM-75 will be sufficient for each branch line metering. We have a 1 1/4" coming from the main meter and then branching off to a 1" feeding a 200,000 Btu/hr water heater and then another 1" branch line feeding a 160,000 Btu/hr gas heat in an ERV. The application is propane. Also do you have a BACnet MSTP option for the Omnimeter?

I think you should be fine in both cases.  The max flow of the 3/4" gas meter is 211 ft³/ hour which for propane is 524,968 BTU/ hour at 60ºF

So it is OK, to use the smaller diameter gas meter on larger pipes as long as your gas appliances use less than the max flow rate of the gas meter.  It is common to have 3/4" gas meters installed on 1.0" gas lines.

We do not have meters that will speak Bacnet directly. But we have recently worked with Chipkin Automation, they have made a protocol converter that could work well for you. Their converter, will convert our meter protocols to Bacnet. Here is their website.
Here is the EKM Metering to Bacnet converter.

Please reach out to Chipkin if you have questions about the protocol converter, if you have any metering related questions, we would be happy to help.

Other protocol converters:

SNMP

Modbus RTU

BacNet

Ethernet/IP

LonWorks

I am supplied with a 1" gas line by my Natural Gas utility. Will this meter perform accurately, if we add a reducer from 1" to 3/4" on the inlet side and also put the reverse on the outlet side from 3/4" to 1" ? one question asked about converting to 1/2" but I was not sure that meant going from 1" would also work. we are working with about one half psi of NG.

Thanks for your inquiry. It is hard to apply a generalization to this situation, though most likely it would be fine. When reducing your gas line we recommend consulting a plumber or similarly qualified individual, who can ensure on site that there will be no issues with reduction of flow or pressure, etc. Thanks - Seth, EKM Metering.

Does this come with alternative parts for a 1/2” line rather than 3/4”?

Our 3/4" gas meters come with 3/4" male NPT fittings. If you need to reduce to 1/2" then you would just need to get those reducer couplings at your local homin imporvement store or plumbing supply.

Do you have any indoor installation options? Maybe not for this specific meter but another model?

We never recommend that you install our gas meters indoors.   While we can’t assure you that the indoor installation of our gas meter is safe and we would never recommend that you install a gas meter indoors, it is kind of a grey area industry-wide. This from Inspectapedia: "Gas meter location: gas meters are located outdoors except when special permission is given by the gas company. Indoor gas meters increase the risk of an indoor gas leak, require special venting, and can make it more dangerous to shut off gas in an emergency.”   The risk, as stated above, is indoor gas leaks. If you are somehow forced to install your gas meter indoors, to minimize the risk, the compartment in which the gas meter is located should have free venting to outside air and be sealed from other indoor areas. But, bottom line, there is an increased risk of problems with any indoor gas meter installation, and that risk is assumed by whoever makes the decision to place the meter indoors. Our recommendation, as always, is to place the meter outdoors.   There may be third party gas meters with a pulse output that would work with our pulse counting and data systems.

How do these meters calculate to therms which is what the gas company generally bills us by, NOT cu ft.? Water is generally billed by cubic foot, at least it is in the SE.

To convert from cubic feet to therms you would use a multiplier. You simply need to multiply the number of cubic feet that the meter shows by 0.01. So for example, 100 cubic feet x 0.01 = 1 therm. You can convert to any unit you want my using various multipliers.

Conditions to use it as indoor instead?

Our gas meters should never be used indoors.  Particularly in unventilated spaces.  If there were to be a leak, there could be a dangerous buildup of gas or an explosion.  You may be able to find gas meters with a pulse output which are rated for indoor use, if they have a dry contact pulse output they would work with our EKM Omnimeter Pulse v.4 and our Push system.

I am an owner of a gas contracting business and have a customer that is managing a condo. I am looking for a meter that can tell me the therm usage of a 500K BTU rated pool heater for a period of one month. Will any of these meters meet my needs?

It will depend on if you are measuring natural gas or propane:

Here is the Maximum flow-rate (Qmax) nof our 3/4" gas meter: 211 ft³/hr or about 211,000 BTU per hour Natural Gas (211 MBH). 542,270 BTU per hour of Propane. (3.5 CFM) - 6 Cubic Metres per hour

If you are using natural gas, you may want to go with our 1.5" gas meter, which can measure 565,000 BTU of natural gas.