42 
BULLETIN 102, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 
ACCUEACY OF METER REGISTRATION AT LOW AND VARIOUS GAS PRESSURES. 
The popular belief is that meters run faster when the pressure is 
low than when the pressure is high. 'This is -contrary to the facts. 
Variation in pressure makes no appreciable difference in the registra- 
tion of the meter, the meter merely registering, within a reasonable 
limit of tolerance, the amount of gas that passes, and this is neither 
increased nor decreased by changes in pressure. 1 
EFFECT OF GAS PRESSURE ON GAS LEAKAGE. 
A summary of gas leakage laws is given on page 58. From these 
it will be seen that the leakage at 4-ounce pressure is twice as great 
as at 1-ounce. For this reason the leakage in the city distributing 
plant ‘and on the consumer’s premises, which is paid for by the con- 
sumer because the gas must pass through the consumer’s- meter in 
order to leak away on his premises, will be substantially less if the 
distributing plant and consumer’s fixtures are adjusted for low pres- 
sures rather than high pressures. 
GAS METER FACTS. 
The following features regarding gas meters should be borne in 
mind: 
1. Gas meters have no power within themselves to register. The 
only way they can be made to register is by the passage of gas through 
the meter. The gas company has absolutely nothing to do with the 
operation, nor can it in any way control the registration of the meter. 
However, many times gas meters register when gas is not being used, 
due to leakage in house fixtures. 
2. The gas consumption will not be increased by the use of a large 
meter. 
3. The gas consumption will not be decreased by the use of a small 
meter. In fact, if the meter is too small the gas service will be un- 
satisfactory. 
4. Gas bills are not made out regardless of gas consumption. While 
it is possible for the meter reader to make an error for one month, 
this will be automatically rectified in the reading of the following 
month. 
5. High gas pressure does not increase or decrease the rate of regis- 
tration of meter. 
1 The same conclusion was reached in : Engineering Bulletin No. 2 of the University of 
Kansas, on Natural Gas*: Its Properties, Its Domestic Use, and Its Measurement by 
Meters, under date of July 1, 1912. Paper on Value of Gas Delivered at Varying Pres- 
sures, by Charles V. Critchfield, of the Ohio Public Utilities Commission, read at the 
Pittsburgh meeting of the Natural Gas Association of America, May, 1918. Ohio State 
University Bulletin, vol. 22, No. 28, May, 1918 : Effect of Gas Pressure on Natural Gas 
Cooking Operations in the Home. 
