When sonic heat meters are ten years old, by Ofgem rules they either have to be recalibrated or changed. It is usually more costly to get them recalibrated than it is to change them, so most are changed. We can supply and change all types of heat meters. The photograph above is the calculator screen of an Allmess GmbH Itron CF Echo II meter, but we can work with any type, from Kamstrup, Honeywell, Danfoss and many others.
We can also deal with getting the new meter accredited with Ofgem. Once the meter is changed you have 28 days in which you notify Ofgem of the change, under your ongoing obligations. They will ask you to edit the accreditation document with an entry stating the details of the amendment and at another place in the accreditation document you have to register the new meter, its starting reading, and the closing reading of the old meter. Sometimes you will have to amend the schematic if the old meter details are on it, too. We can do this for you. You can either let us have the login details of the Ofgem account or, if you prefer, you can make us an account with fewer permissions. We can then do the amendments and you will finalise the changes by submitting them.
In the unlikely event that you want the meter recalibrated, we can send it off for you, but the likelihood is that unless you have a blank for where the meter goes on your system, or we make one for you, your system will be out of action until the meter is replaced.
Full details can be found on the Ofgem Easy Guide to Amendments
We have found several meters incorrectly installed by inexperienced installers, or installers that didn't care about the job. Common faults found are sensors mounted too far away from the pipe they are supposed to be measuring, incorrect meter distances; each type of meter has rules about how far away it can be installed from the nearest restriction in the pipe on the approach to the meter and on the exit from the meter. This affects accuracy. We have even found meters on the wrong pipe. They are programmed either to be on the flow pipe or the return pipe. Each meter tells you how much flow it can cope with. We have found a few that were not made to measure the size of pipe or flow of water through them. Accuracy is especially important now that Ofgem have limited the amount of time they will go backwards and refund payments.
It's worth getting the installation done properly and these things checked.