Tom from PA
New Member
Thanks for looking at this situation.
I am the manager of an apartment building wherein I do a lot of little plumbing, but leave the big stuff to the experts. This question is more theoretical, so I am throwing it out to as many people as I can to see if there's agreement that this can be done, before investing in the parts/work.
Background: In addition to being the maintenance guy (and trash man and parking police, etc), I am also the bill payer for the building. Our water/sewer bills are reflective of the amount of water we use - that makes sense and I am totally in agreement - but the bill start out with a flat-fee-charge for the size of the water meter. Because the building is 3 stories tall and has 17 apartments, there is a 2" main coming in from the street, and a 2" meter is hooked to it. Makes sense, but when the bill comes, I am charged about $250 for having that size meter, before we use a gallon of water. Then on the Sewer side of the bill, I am charged almost $270 for having that size meter. So before we use or flush a gallon of water, my bill is $520. After the month is over, we go through about 19,000 gallons (average) so that adds another $270 to the bill for an average of about $790 for water and sewer. To make a comparison, we use about 5x more water than a big household (say 5-6 people using an average of 3500 gallons a month), but since we have a 2" meter, we pay about 8x more on the bill. It is mostly because of the $520 flat-fee-charge that comes with that 2" meter. So I am looking to replace the meter with a 1-1/2" meter. It will save me $213 per month ($101 on water and $112 on sewer) right off the bat.
The main question here is (finally, right?!?): Can I do this replacement without negatively affecting the water pressure for the apartments? I want to put a reducer on the main, to go down to a 1-1/2" flange which a 1-1/2" meter will bolt to, and on the other end the meter will bolt to a 1-1/2" flange that is hooked to an adapter to take it back to the 2" pipe that then goes up the middle of the building. Will this 3-feet of 1-1/2" diameter significantly hurt the water pressure anywhere in the building?
That's the dilemma - can I do it and be safe?
Here's some more info that may help:
The water department guy said the flow for a 2" meter is 150gpm (max) and for the 1-1/2" it's 100gpm.
Our pressure on all 3 floors is Great(!) right now - maybe too good - even though the 3rd floor is about 45 feet up. I don't know exact numbers, but the showers and faucets on the third floor blast pretty good... no worries about lack of pressure. Most of the hot water heaters have 3/4" copper going into them; some have been downsized in recent years with no issues. The sinks have regular copper piping going to their supply hoses or copper connectors, again, no issue with pressure. I have all 1.5gpm faucet aerators in the kitchen sinks, plus 1.0gpm aerators in the bathroom sinks. Most of the showerheads are 1.75gpm, although some tenants switch them out for a little more flow, but no 'rain' heads or jacuzzi-showers. There are 2 washers in the building, both front-load/high-efficiency, one on 1st floor, one on 2nd. The only things that use water at a huge volume are the bath faucets (1980's Delta ball diverters = ??gpm), but not many people take a bath these days, and if they do, they stop when the tub is full anyway, so that's a finite usage. I guess I am saying all this to show that we can't use too much water at any given time.
Ex: 17 showers @ 2gpm = 34
17 bath sinks @ 1gpm = 17
17 kitchen sinks @1.5gpm = 26
2 washers @ 7+gpm(?) = 15
Total possible usage at once = 90gpm
I am the manager of an apartment building wherein I do a lot of little plumbing, but leave the big stuff to the experts. This question is more theoretical, so I am throwing it out to as many people as I can to see if there's agreement that this can be done, before investing in the parts/work.
Background: In addition to being the maintenance guy (and trash man and parking police, etc), I am also the bill payer for the building. Our water/sewer bills are reflective of the amount of water we use - that makes sense and I am totally in agreement - but the bill start out with a flat-fee-charge for the size of the water meter. Because the building is 3 stories tall and has 17 apartments, there is a 2" main coming in from the street, and a 2" meter is hooked to it. Makes sense, but when the bill comes, I am charged about $250 for having that size meter, before we use a gallon of water. Then on the Sewer side of the bill, I am charged almost $270 for having that size meter. So before we use or flush a gallon of water, my bill is $520. After the month is over, we go through about 19,000 gallons (average) so that adds another $270 to the bill for an average of about $790 for water and sewer. To make a comparison, we use about 5x more water than a big household (say 5-6 people using an average of 3500 gallons a month), but since we have a 2" meter, we pay about 8x more on the bill. It is mostly because of the $520 flat-fee-charge that comes with that 2" meter. So I am looking to replace the meter with a 1-1/2" meter. It will save me $213 per month ($101 on water and $112 on sewer) right off the bat.
The main question here is (finally, right?!?): Can I do this replacement without negatively affecting the water pressure for the apartments? I want to put a reducer on the main, to go down to a 1-1/2" flange which a 1-1/2" meter will bolt to, and on the other end the meter will bolt to a 1-1/2" flange that is hooked to an adapter to take it back to the 2" pipe that then goes up the middle of the building. Will this 3-feet of 1-1/2" diameter significantly hurt the water pressure anywhere in the building?
That's the dilemma - can I do it and be safe?
Here's some more info that may help:
The water department guy said the flow for a 2" meter is 150gpm (max) and for the 1-1/2" it's 100gpm.
Our pressure on all 3 floors is Great(!) right now - maybe too good - even though the 3rd floor is about 45 feet up. I don't know exact numbers, but the showers and faucets on the third floor blast pretty good... no worries about lack of pressure. Most of the hot water heaters have 3/4" copper going into them; some have been downsized in recent years with no issues. The sinks have regular copper piping going to their supply hoses or copper connectors, again, no issue with pressure. I have all 1.5gpm faucet aerators in the kitchen sinks, plus 1.0gpm aerators in the bathroom sinks. Most of the showerheads are 1.75gpm, although some tenants switch them out for a little more flow, but no 'rain' heads or jacuzzi-showers. There are 2 washers in the building, both front-load/high-efficiency, one on 1st floor, one on 2nd. The only things that use water at a huge volume are the bath faucets (1980's Delta ball diverters = ??gpm), but not many people take a bath these days, and if they do, they stop when the tub is full anyway, so that's a finite usage. I guess I am saying all this to show that we can't use too much water at any given time.
Ex: 17 showers @ 2gpm = 34
17 bath sinks @ 1gpm = 17
17 kitchen sinks @1.5gpm = 26
2 washers @ 7+gpm(?) = 15
Total possible usage at once = 90gpm
