(1) Each
utility shall maintain or have access to a meter shop for the purposes of
inspecting, testing, and repairing meters. The shop shall be open for
inspection by authorized representatives of the Authority at all reasonable
times, and the facilities and equipment, as well as the methods of measurements
and testing employed, shall be subject to the approval of the Authority.
(a) The area within the meter shop used for
the testing of meters shall be designed so that the meters and meter testing
equipment are protected from drafts and excessive changes of temperature. The
meters to be tested shall be stored in such manner that the temperature of the
meters is substantially the same as the temperature of the prover.
(b) Working Standards
Each utility shall own and maintain, or have access to, at
least one (1) approved bell type prover of five (5) cubic foot capacity, and
all other equipment necessary to test meters, which shall be installed in the
meter room.
1. Means shall be provided
to maintain the temperature of the liquid in the meter prover at substantially
the same level as the ambient temperature in the prover room.
2. The meter prover shall be maintained in
good condition and correct adjustment so that it shall be capable of
determining the accuracy of any service meter to within one-half of one percent
(.5%).
Each utility having meters which are too large for testing on
a five (5) cubic foot bell prover may use a properly designed flow prover for
testing the large meters.
(c) Working standards must be checked
periodically (see Rule 1220-4-5-.26,(e)) by comparison with a secondary
standard.
1. Bell provers must be checked with
a one (1) cubic foot bottle which has been calibrated by the National Bureau of
Standards.
2. Rotary displacement
test meters must be checked with a bell prover of adequate capacity which has
been calibrated by representatives of the National Bureau of
Standards.
(d) Extreme
care must be exercised in the use and handling of standards to assure that
their accuracy is not disturbed.
(e) Each standard must be accompanied at all
times by a certificate or calibration card, duly signed and dated, on which are
recorded the corrections required to compensate for errors found at the
customary test points at the time of the last previous test.
(f) Each utility must have properly
calibrated orifices, as may be necessary, to achieve the rates of flow required
to test the meters on its system.
