Water meter installation and sealing

A seal is a small piece of plastic, but without one your water meter is not recognised by the utility and nothing you use is billed through it. ProKanal EOOD installs, replaces and seals water meters in homes, offices and commercial premises across Sofia and the rest of Bulgaria, together with the paperwork the utility requires.

We work on a single flat and on an entire building alike – where every meter has to be changed within a day or two, we agree a schedule flat by flat beforehand.

What sealing a water meter actually means

Sealing means fitting a plastic seal to the joint between the meter and the internal plumbing, usually on the union nut. The seal measures nothing and has no effect on how the meter works. It proves one thing only: that the meter has not been removed, moved or tampered with since the utility accepted it.

That is why an unsealed meter is not recognised as a billing instrument even when it is brand new and working perfectly. Until it is sealed, the meter does not exist as far as the utility’s system is concerned.

Once the seal is fitted, a certificate is issued recording the seal number, the meter’s serial number and the reading on the day of sealing. Those three figures go into the utility’s system, and from then on your bill follows the consumption this meter records.

When you need a meter sealed

• A new installation: Bringing a new property into service, or fitting an individual meter where until now there was only a communal one.
• Replacing an old meter: Every new meter is sealed afresh – the old seal is destroyed as soon as the meter comes off.
• An expired verification period: Once it lapses, the meter is either replaced or verified at an authorised laboratory, then sealed again.
• A broken, cut or missing seal: Including one that has fallen off by itself or been damaged during bathroom work.
• After any work on the plumbing: Anything that involves taking the meter off – changing a stopcock, moving the assembly, repairs after a burst.
• When buying a property: Before the account is transferred, check that the seals are present and in date so you do not inherit someone else’s estimated billing.

What the meter has to satisfy

The utility will only seal a meter that meets the regulatory, technical and metrological requirements. In practice that comes down to three conditions:

• Working and in date: Sofiyska Voda seals individual meters that are in working order and whose verification period has not expired.
• A ten-year verification period: Under Regulation No. 4, the subsequent metrological verification period for individual meters downstream of the communal meter is ten years from the last verification. After that the meter is replaced or sent to an authorised laboratory.
• Correctly fitted and accessible: The meter must sit in the position it was designed for, following the direction of flow, and stay freely accessible both for reading and for the seal to be fitted.

The request goes to the utility with your customer number, the exact address of the property and a contact telephone number, and fitting the seals is at the customer’s expense. We prepare the assembly so that there is no reason for the visit to end in a refusal.

What happens if the meter is not sealed

An unsealed, damaged or out-of-date meter is not read. Estimated billing takes its place, and estimated billing is almost never in the customer’s favour.

Where the integrity of the meter has been compromised, consumption is calculated from the throughput of the pipe – at six hours of daily use and a flow rate of 1 m/s – for the period back to the last actual reading, up to a maximum of six months. That is a bill based on what your pipe could carry, not on the water you actually used.

If the damage is the customer’s fault – a frozen meter, broken glass, mechanical damage – the repair and replacement are at their expense too. Sealing costs a great deal less than going without it.

What the service includes

• Inspecting the assembly: We check the stopcock, the joints and the access before you order anything at all.
• Supplying a suitable meter: The right diameter and class, with valid verification, and one the utility will accept.
• Removal and installation: The old meter off, the new one on with fresh seals, in the correct position and following the direction of flow.
• A new stopcock where needed: An old valve that no longer shuts off cleanly is the commonest reason an installation fails or the assembly weeps.
• Checking afterwards: We turn the water back on and check the assembly for seepage before we leave.
• Paperwork and coordination: We prepare the details for the request to the utility and attend the sealing where that helps.

Check for a hidden leak before you seal

The meter assembly is also the simplest diagnostic tool in the property. Two checks are worth making before sealing:

• Close every tap in the property and look at the meter. If the test dial keeps turning, water is escaping somewhere in the internal plumbing – inside a wall, under a screed, or into the cistern. That is exactly what thermographic leak detection is for, with nothing broken open.
• Compare the communal meter against the sum of the individual ones. A steady discrepancy month after month means a leak upstream of the meters, usually under the yard or the street. For those we use acoustic leak detection on the external run.

Sealing a system that is already leaking only legitimises a bill that will keep growing. Better to find the leak first.

Blocks of flats and commercial premises

In a residential building, changing every individual meter is easiest done in one go – one schedule across the flats and one request to the utility. The gap between the communal meter and the individual ones closes at the same time, and how the shared losses are divided stops being an argument between neighbours.

For offices, shops, warehouses and production sites we work to a time that suits the operation, including outside normal hours where shutting the water off would get in the way.

How it works

• Enquiry: You tell us what you have – how many meters, what kind of property, and whether the assembly is accessible.
• Site visit: We assess the condition of the assembly and what actually needs changing.
• Installation: We carry out the replacement or the new installation, and check for leaks once the water is back on.
• Sealing request: We prepare the details and coordinate the utility’s visit.
• Certificate: You receive the sealing certificate with the seal numbers and readings that update your account.

Need a new meter, an old one replaced, or a seal after building work? Get in touch and we will tell you exactly what your case requires before you commit to any spend.