Water meter verification: how often it is carried out and why

Sealing, more correctly verification of measuring instruments, is a metrological check of water meter accuracy. Residential buildings encounter this regularly, regardless of whether they already have remote reading or not.

What is calibration and why is it performed

A water meter is a measuring instrument subject to metrological control. Verification confirms that the instrument measures consumption with sufficient accuracy. Once the verification expires, the instrument must be re-verified or replaced with a new one.

The term "calibration" is commonly used as a synonym for verifying measuring instruments, although it is formally a metrological concept. For flat owners and the building's owners' association (SVJ) board, what matters most is the purpose of verification. It ensures that settlements between individual flats are based on actually measured values, not estimates or data from an invalid meter.

How long the verification remains valid

For residential water meters: both for hot and cold water: a verification period applies. 5 years. After its expiry, the building's owners' association must arrange for a new verification or replace the meter with a new one; otherwise, the measured value ceases to be legally valid as a basis for cost allocation.

This is the only deadline that needs to be monitored alongside the remote reading date of 1. 1. 2027. Both obligations can be addressed together: if the building's owners' association replaces meters for the transition to remote reading, it will simultaneously receive new meters with a freshly running five-year verification period.

Who ensures verification in a residential building

Apartment water meters, i.e. ratio measuring devices inside individual flats, are usually the property of the building's owners' association or the residential building as a whole, even though they are physically located in the owner's private space. Ensuring valid verification is therefore typically the responsibility of the SVJ board or the building manager, not the individual flat owner, similarly to the replacement itself when switching to remote reading.

What to do when the verification deadline is approaching

The first step is to find the installation date or last verification date for each meter in the building. This is usually stated on the meter's label or in the documentation from the supplier. If the deadline falls around the same time the building is switching to remote reading, it makes sense to combine both tasks and save one technician visit per flat.

If the SVJ committee is unsure when individual meters were last verified or installed, it is practical to have the status of all meters in the building mapped out at once: the supplier will also identify how many meters still lack remote reading, allowing both obligations to be addressed in a single step.

Monitoring deadlines thanks to remote meter readings

The remote meter reading system records installed meters and their operational data, so the building manager does not need to manually monitor the verification deadline for each apartment individually. This facilitates planning for the next replacement or verification before the deadline actually expires and reduces the risk of any meter in the building being overlooked.

Thanks to system records, the SVJ board retains an overview after installation of when meters need re-verification or replacement, enabling them to schedule this replacement in advance rather than dealing with it under pressure as the deadline approaches.

Why it is advisable to monitor deadlines continuously rather than waiting until the last moment

If the building's owners' association allows the verification deadline to lapse without notice, the cost allocation for that period may be based on a meter that no longer formally meets metrological requirements. The solution, subsequent verification or replacement of the meter, must then be arranged urgently, often for just one specific flat, which is usually administratively and organisationally more demanding than a planned replacement for the entire building at once. Continuous monitoring of deadlines prevents this scenario.

The simplest way to avoid this is to maintain a record from the outset of the installation date or last verification for each meter in the building and review this record periodically, ideally when the SVJ is addressing other meter-related issues, such as switching to remote reading.