Thoughts on ultrasonic flow meters

[heatingman]

I bought a cheap one for about 300

Did a little test. Measured quantity of water into a bucket and got 2.46 gpm

The ultra sonic came up with 1.86 gpm

Pretty close, and it does seem to work to some degree. Im hoping at higher flow rates it does a little better.

I can program an offset I think, but not sure is that would translate into a more accurate reading across the board, or just for this particular instance.

Anyone using these? Like em, hate em?

The model I have is a TDS-100, unbranded.

I mainly bought it to get an idea of flow when no better means are available.





Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[WT70]

I’ve been looking for something to use with glycol and brine in a few instances. Let me know if you use it on a bigger flow rate and it does well



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Brent Hahn]

Ultrasonics that I've used are very accurate, but also much more expensive than $300. I don't remember the accuracy off the top of my head, but well within +/-3%. The main things to keep in mind is that a fairly long straight run of pipe is required, the pipe must be full of water, and the outside of the pipe must be clean. I always carry a bristle brush for my drill when testing to really clean the pipe, sometimes including the paint. After that, just need the gel and accurate pipe information. In my experience, with a good meter, you get an accurate reading or an error.

[WAYNE3298]

In my experience if calibrated for a particular flow in permanent installations they can be very accurate. I have never seen one that can be programmed to track flows that vary by much. An engineer tried to prove our water flows wrong with an ultrasonic. He measured 10 GPM but we knew the flow was 2 GPM. We ask him to verify his reading by taking it again. He did and said see 10 GPM. We then showed him the isolation valve was closed. The flow was zero. I don't trust them. At a demonstration a rep when setting up the meter said "now I have to put in the Reynolds factor". I never heard of a Reynolds factor only the Reynolds number. How would he know that without knowing something about the pipe?

[bradluke0]

We have a Fuji ultrasonic flow meter and can say without reservation that it is the bee's knee's . The nice thing about the Fuji is that it reads right away or it doesn't . If it doesn't read right away , move to different location . It even measures wall thickness . It's a bit more than $300 .

[heatingman]

Fuji, will have to look into that. I bought something, not sure what at this moment, but I dont trust its readings.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk