If there is a need to meter natural gas or any energy resource, you should first answer the question of "Why". Answering this question is the first step in determining the equipment selection, accuracy requirements and meter output selection.  There are 2 primary reasons our customers look to monitoring their natural gas. 

1. Lack of live data from utility gas meters. Our customers struggle with poor data insights from their gas meters as their only understanding of gas usage is from their monthly gas bill. From our experience, this is the most common need and typically the first stage in natural gas meter data collection. Our customers lack the data collection capabilities to measure outputs from their utility gas meters and have to wait until the end of the billing cycle to receive their usage data. They are managing their usage after the fact and by the time their bill is available, it is already too late to do anything to mitigate usage or identify issues in their processes. 
2. Natural Gas Sub-Metering - There are high volume points of use like boilers, process ovens and furnaces that can be as much as 50% of a site's natural gas consumption. To successfully manage critical natural gas driven process, sub-metering provides the needed data to understand the process loads and to measure and verify investments in efficiency. Submetering is when we assist with the installation of a meter after the main utility meter. 
1. There are many reasons to submeter natural gas. One common need for is for tenant billing. At large campuses or industrial facility, there might only be a single utility gas meter. Due to high variability in tenant demand for steam, heating water and natural gas, the landlord is not able to effectively assign a pro-rata energy cost per square foot. To properly allocate natural gas usage to each tenant, our customers request for new natural gas meters to be installed onto branch natural gas circuits to each of their tenants. This will provide for an accurate allocation of gas usage by each tenant. 
2. Sustainability initiatives. Our customers who have made commitments to achieve net-zero carbon emissions have to find ways to eliminate their scope 1 emissions. Scope 1 emissions are when fossil fuels are consumed on their premises. These processes can include boilers, ovens, furnaces, HVAC, and other processes that require the use of diesel, propane or natural gas on premise. Reducing and converting these thermal loads can be capital intensive and require significant process changes. Measurement of the natural gas usage by these thermal loads will help to identify the peak demand for thermal energy and lay the foundation for energy conversion projects in the future. 
3. Process management for greater efficiency. Our customers also realize that they can't manage what they are not able to measure. Measurement of their natural gas usage will help them to identify boiler steam and heating water efficiency changes. Having continuous data collection will provide them with benchmarking data for year over year changes. From our experience, facility managers and accountants benchmark costs and usage based on the previous year's usage and cost. When mechanical systems fail, it happens over a series of several years where they become less and less efficient in their operations. Using a spreadsheet that tracks monthly usage is not an effective tool to visualize any potential issues within the mechanical system where re-tuning or service might be needed to restore the system to its original design efficiency. 

Depending on why natural gas metering is important, there are primarily 3 options for metering natural gas. 

1. Utility Gas Meter Pulsed Outputs. Any utility should be able to provide a pulsed output from the utility gas meter. This pulse is typically a scaled output by the meter manufacturer. Since work is to be performed on a utility provided meter, the pulser will need to be installed by the utility company. This is a good option for customers that seek to attain bill parity where the data is used to verify utility bills. Our platform integrates these utility pulses and dashboards this data so that our customers can have a "Time View" of when and how much gas is being used at any point in time at their facility. 
2. Inline Natural Gas Metering.  This type of meter is a good option to submeter natural gas when a power source is not available close by or if the location of the meter requires a higher or lower operating temperature range than other meters. Since there are no active electronics on these meters, they can operate at higher temperature ranges than Thermal Mass meters. This option uses gas pressure to rotate / activate the inline gas meter and with each specific rotation, a set volume of natural gas is measured. Most inline and even utility provided gas meters will not have both pressure and temperature compensation available. There are options to achieve some degree of calibrated pressure compensation since the delivered pressure to a facility or campus is regulated at the main meter. This pressure scaling factor can be applied to the measured flow to compensate for the energy delta from a higher pressure than standard. Once the meter and the pulsed outputs are made available, this meter can be integrated into our dashboard through wireless pulse counters. 
3. Insertion or Inline Thermal Mass Meter. This type of natural gas meter requires low voltage DC power source to energize the meter and its components. This meter provides the greatest accuracy and is the lease invasive depending on the meter style selected. Our typical installations includes an insertion style meter where a thread-o-let is welded onto the gas supply line and a 1/2' hole is drilled into the gas line. From there a full port ball valve and compression coupling is used to secure the insertion meter onto the line. Flow data is collected directly from the meter through either analog or pulsed output. To learn more about this meter, please visit the following link: Natural Gas Meters

Natural gas is delivered to commercial and industrial sites at a system pressure between 2 to 5 PSI. The system pressure is then further regulated at the utility natural gas meter. As it is then further distributed to branch circuits throughout the facility, the piping network continues to consolidate to deliver the desired BTUs to the point of use. 

From our experience, a 2 inch pipe size is the transition point where an inline meter becomes more cost effective than an insertion thermal mass meter. As an example, with pipe sizes that are above 2 inches, an inline meter will be larger with greater size and weight, requiring additional supports and clearances around the meter to attain the desired accuracy. At each incremental increase in pipe size, the cost of the inline meter continues to escalate. 

This is not the case with insertion thermal mass meters. The cost of the insertion thermal mass meter is the same regardless of the pipe size. The insertion probe length can be increased for larger pipe sizes but the electronics and meter components are fixed in pricing for pipe sizes that range from 2 inches to 12 inches. For this reason, our recommendation is to use insertion natural gas thermal mass meters for pipe size that are greater than 2 inches in diameter. 

The primary factors include gas flow rate (measured in cubic feet per hour or CFH), pressure rating, temperature range, gas composition, accuracy requirements, and installation environment. Choosing the right meter depends on the application (residential, commercial, or industrial) and the specific measurement needs.

Our dashboard can collect and trend any data that can be provided by the meter. If a pulse style meter is used, the dashboard will compute relative flow on a time based chart. It will also dashboard accumulated total flow over a user selected period of time. If the meter is capable of open protocol communications such as MODBUS or BACNET, this data can also be retrieved from the meter. 

Once data is collected, our dashboard will scale both the analog and accumulated values to provide the desired user graphics. 

The meter size is determined based on the expected gas flow rate, pressure, and temperature conditions. Consult a professional or use a sizing calculator to ensure the chosen meter can handle peak demand without compromising accuracy.

Regular calibration, proper maintenance, and choosing the right meter for your application are key to accuracy. Additionally, installing flow straighteners or conditioning devices can help maintain consistent readings.

Yes, smart gas meters offer real-time monitoring, automatic meter reading, and remote data transmission. They are especially beneficial for commercial and industrial applications that require constant data tracking. These are the type of meters that Emergent Metering specializes in providing and supporting. 

Many modern meters come with digital displays or can be integrated into energy management systems. You can also connect them to data loggers or monitoring software for real-time tracking and analysis. 

A metering hierarchy should always be considered on any metering project. This hierarchy concept must be applied to any process flow measurement project as it will be common to have a resource metered multiple times and without the metering hierarchy, the user will not understand how the collected data comes together. As an example, the main utility meter pulse will measure all incoming gas, and the sub-meters that sit beneath the main utility meter will only further measure what has already been measured by the main utility meter. On natural gas metering projects we typically see metering at 3 tiers, which includes metering at: 

 1) Main Utility Meter Pulse

2) Primary Trunk(s) Metering 

3) Process Specific Metering

Depending on the natural gas meter type selected you should consult with a licensed contractor to attain needed permits while the meter manufacturer will provide standard installation manuals. If you need help determining the correct natural gas meter to use for your application, please reach out to us for support. 

The typical installation process for an inline natural gas meter will include some degree of piping modifications. The new gas meter can come with either flanged or threaded female NPT connections. You licensed mechanical contractor will be able to identify the materials needed to properly install the meter. 

There is no specific requirement to add a bypass around the gas meter, but it is recommended on critical processes where a rotary style gas meter is used. Since the gas meter uses the built in pressure drop across the meter to spin the meter, any small amount of debris has the potential to cause the meter to fail. A mechanical failure of the meter will either completely stop all gas flow or in some partial amount. This blockage will reduce the thermal throughput and has the potential to negatively impact any critical processes. For this reason, we do recommend a bypass to be installed to improve mechanical meter's serviceability. 

If a thermal mass meter is used, a bypass is not needed. Insertion thermal mass meters are installed through a full port ball valve which will allow the meter to be removed and the port isolated if the meter needs to be removed and serviced. For this reason and the additional data that can be provided by insertion thermal mass meters, our recommendation is to use thermal mass meters on sub-metering installations where power is readily available. 

The calibration frequency depends on the meter type and application. Typically, residential meters require calibration every 7–10 years, while industrial meters may require annual calibration depending on the accuracy desired. Calibration typically entails removal of the gas meter and send it to the manufacturer for factory calibration. For this reason, we recommend the use of insertion thermal mass meters, which provides ease of removal and reinstallation on high accuracy installations. 

Inconsistent or unusually high gas bills, visual damage, corrosion, or inaccurate readings may indicate maintenance needs. It’s crucial to contact a professional for inspection if you notice these issues.

To get started, reach out to us at sales@emergentmetering.com or Contact Us for support. We want to equip our customers with the hardware and information needed to have a safe and successful installation as we recognize the power that high quality energy monitoring data can provide.