The Neptune T-10 water meter has a very straightforward face, and just a quick look at the Register tells you your consumption. And then, if you want a very precise reading, the simple trick is to separate it into two distinct parts: The Register and The Dial.
The Register: The Big Picture Number
1. The Register in this example water meter displays — 102367 —
Translation: 102 thousand, 3 hundred and 67 U.S. Gallons, or: 102,367.00
Now, you could stop reading your meter here, because you know, to the single-digit gallon, that the water meter reading is 102,367 gallons.
2. However, since you’re probably NOT consuming by
the hundreds of thousands of gallons (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 — 367 —
Translation: 367 U.S. Gallons.
The Dial: The Number of Gallons in Tenths (or sub-gallons)
3. As the red sweep hand on the Dial moves from one
number to the next number (please note the decimal point), it’s
measuring one tenth of a gallon, so one complete rotation equals 1
gallon. Tack the Dial number on after the Register numbers. The red Dial
hand in this example is at — 4 (if you practice just rounding down) —
or — 49 (if you want to be precise) —
Translation: .4 U.S. Gallon (or .49), so your water meter reading is now at: 367.40 U.S. Gallons, and your precise TOTAL is: 102,367.49 U.S. Gallons.
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.