DAE AS-50m 1/2" Water Meter, Measuring in Cubic Meter + NPT Couplings

Your browser does not support HTML5 video.  The only issue I have with this unit is it is not rated at the flow indicated. I didn’t buy this unit thinking I was getting the top of the line water meter for under $1,500.00, which is what the one in front of your house cost.Need to knows:#1: Does not flow at advertised flow rate, flows at roughly ½” mechanical valves do reduce flow by design by a small percentage, and are called an “interference” meters. Mechanical insert meters are unlike electromagnetic and ultrasonic meters, which are basically non interference meters. Valve advertises it’s flow rate by the valve size in picture C1#2: The blue valve body is brass, and well made.#3: With the exception of the valve body as noted in #2, Everything else is plastic.#4: There are no wires as pictured hooked up to this unit.#5: I would not put this where the sunlight could reach it ever, in any way, cap and Lens are plastic.#6: Great low cost garden meter if kept out of the sunlight.#7: The one I received had no electrical wires hooked up to the meter as shown in the add. This is also shown in pictures: C2 and C3#8: photo #0 shows how it is shipped to you#9: photo #1 shows it’s not a ¾” valve using a crude tape measure in front of the valve hole, which is inaccurate but approximate.#10: Photo #2 shows a very accurate measurement using a Mitutoyo Vernier caliper which reads .538”. You would want the Vernier Caliper to read .750” to be a ¾” opening.#################################################################################Update:#11 Photo #4 shows how much the ¾” DAE water meter will restrict the water flow and accurately measured the water meter in Picture #2#12 Photo #3 shows when you submit for a return, you will have to pay postage, you cannot use a AMAZON DROP CENTER, like Kohl’s to return this item with this vendor. When I bought this meter, it was around $32.99 and to return it due to its weight will cost over $15.00 or more especially if I choose to insure it, which would exceed $20.00. So out of my original cost of $32.99 plus tax which is real close to $34.96, I will only get less than $15.00 of my money back of the original $34.96, making this a costly experience to do business.

This is pretty lengthy so here are the contents so you can jump to your area of interest.INITIAL IMPRESSIONFEATURESSETUPPERFORMANCESUMMARYINITIAL IMPRESSIONProduct arrived in good time and contents were well packaged except for the extensions. Picture1 shows everything that arrived. If you look at the meter, the threads have a plastic cover for protection. Below the meter is the digital display in-between the two extensions which were packaged in the same bag. They made the effort to protect the threads on the meter but didn’t care about the extensions banging into each other potentially causing thread damage.That aside, everything else was good.FEATURESDisplay and cover can rotate independently of each other allowing best orientation to fit placement of meter.SETUPMy first mistake was buying a meter that had an opening 3x wider than what I needed. I was going to return it but, the quality of everything was so good, I decided to make it work. Finding a reduction adapter for a 1 ½” pipe was not easy. I ended up going to a specialty plumbing store that had a galvanized steel reduction adapter. Even still, I need a bushing to go from ¾” to ½”. Picture4 shows the intake side of the meter fully assembled.I could not shake this nagging feeling about mixing metals on the pipe. I went online to verify, and sure enough, two different metals connected to each other on a pipe can promote electrolysis causing corrosion. I ended up returning the adapter and opted for PVC.Picture5 – 10 shows what I got. Using PVC cement, I made my own adapter. While assembling the adapter, I did not wait long enough for the cement to get tacky before wiping away the excess. I ended up smearing cement on the inner surface with a paper towel.I decided to try again with a q-tip after waiting a bit with new parts. It was then I noticed a difference in the bushings. If you look at Picture8, the inside is funnel shaped for the part on the left. I thought this was a better design for water flow. The part I bought to start over was from a different store and was not funnel shaped. The inside looked more like the bushing on the right in Picture7. Just imagine what you see there recessed on the inside of the bushing. I am a bit ticked at myself for not noticing I had the bushing upside down. Picture5 and 6 were to compare the different insides of the bushings. I can’t do the pictures over because the parts are cemented together and I am not buying more parts just to take another photo. Just look at the inside of the bushing before you buy if the funnel shape is a big deal to you. It was to me.Here is where the meter becomes a 2 in the rating. Look at the pressure gauge in Picture2 and the meter in Picture11. Notice anything? The pressure gauge has places for a wrench to grip as part of the structure. The meter DOES NOT. Imagine trying to tighten a 1 ½ pipe on a meter with no place to grip. If you use a pipe wrench the finish will be damaged. I tried wrapping rubber around the meter to protect it from the wrench and that did not work. What if you have to install this meter in a tight spot?You might be thinking, why not use the extensions. Put them on before hand. You still have the same problem of gripping the meter and it will make the meter longer. Second, that is more joints increasing the potential for leaks.Between the galvanized steel reduction adapter and the PVC, I had a frustrating time getting those parts on the meter. I got so upset, I was tempted to return the meter and find another one that had the diameter I needed. The other DAE meters I saw had the same issue – no place to grip the meter to tighten down an attachment. Ridiculous!After some struggling, I was able to get the PVC on as best as I could – Picture12. I then added the adapters you see in Picture13 on their respective sides so I could connect the pipe and pressure gauge – Picture17. Once everything was assembled (Picture14), guess where I had major leakage? YES!, where the PVCs connected to the meter.I ended up having to take the meter out of the line which was a huge disappointment because I used nearly 40 gallons of water setting up my APEC RO-90 and it would have been great to see how accurate the meter was.When I took the meter out of the line I noticed a strong odor of PVC cement. I don’t remember how long I waited between making the PVC adapters and then installing them, but I know it was long enough that the cement was hard to the touch. The fact that it was still giving off vapors 2 days later made me wonder about the safety of using PVC unless you let it dry for a week.PERFORMANCEI did let the meter run for a moment with a bucket to catch the leak. I noticed that it would turn at different rates or not turn at all based on the orientation parallel to the water flow. If it were facing straight up (0°), it would hesitate and be intermittent as compared to it facing straight forward at 90°. I did hear the water flowing while testing so I will have to take another look at this.Currently I made some new PVC adapters to fit the 1 ¼” extensions. I let them dry for a week and there is no smell of cement. I will test the meter with a garden hose to see if the joints hold. If they do, I will put it back in line for the water system to see how it does.SUMMARY4 – Delivery and packaging4 – Quality of product and accessories1 – Digital display does not allow battery replacement1 – Ease of installation. There is no place to grip the meter with a tool without damaging it. On this factor alone I would NOT recommend this product, or any similar product, that does not have a place for a tool to grip.? – Performance. Still have to see if I can get a good seal and then test it.

Product didn’t work properly. I did it to split my deplex to see how much water my tenant was using. The numbers never makes sence and I used another one and that worked better. I would not recommend.

After 2 weeks the meter stopped working completely. Contacted seller who responded quickly. They asked me to send them a video of the meter not working. They also asked some basic questions to make sure it was installed correctly... it was horizontal, meter facing upwards, clean water and cold water. I sent them all the information they requested including a video of water pouring out of the pipe and the meter not moving at all. I have never heard back from them after many attempts. As I understand the Amazon policy I can not file a claim with Amazon because the seller responded to me within 14 days... even though I have not heard anything back from them since their first contact. The seller knows how to play the game. Sell an inferior product, respond quickly to a complaint and then never respond again. I now have a $76 paper weight. Terrible product with even worse customer service. I highly recommend not buying this product unless you want an expensive paper weight.

Pros: Nice meter with a rain-resistant flip cover and brass fittings. Comes with adapters needed to make either end male or female to water hose (3/4) fitting. Coarse intake filterCons: at water hose pressure and flow, meter doesn't log any flow.Conclusion: elegant, useless piece of junk

Now I can keep track of well water used and know when to change my filters.

Easy to install good quality. Very accurate tested with 5 gallon pail. Would recommend

Very good meter