Our home is a 4/3 and our sprinkler system is on a well. The city water is only for the house. The base charge for a 1" is $71.88 while the base for a 3/4" is around $21.56. We would save $50 a month by switching to a 3/4" water meter.

Side note, anyone know what it cost to put one of these in?

That should not be a problem. A 4/3 house should easily work off of a 3/4" meter. Contact your water provider and find out what you need to do.

The meter was probably sized based on friction loss. Dropping sizes means more friction and could drop water pressure. My guess is it's not enough to really matter but I'd likely get sign off from a plumber before making the switch.

If you have 3/4" meter, be sure to run 1" line to the house to avoid friction loss.



Above is from a thread I found on Terry Love's DIY forums.

3/4'' Meter Followed By 1'' Supply Line

Col. Steve Austin said:

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If you have 3/4" meter, be sure to run 1" line to the house to avoid friction loss.



Above is from a thread I found on Terry Love's DIY forums.

3/4'' Meter Followed By 1'' Supply Line

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Thankfully we are 1" piped through to the house. I spoke to the water company and even though they have rates for 5/8" and 3/4" they do not offer a 3/4" meter so I would have to drop to 5/8"

Thoughts on this new scenario now? From the water meter to the entry point to the house we are probably around 110'

In another thread on that same site, a similar question was posed. In one of the responses, you can see that reducing from 3/4 to 5/8 meter size results in a 33% reduction in max flow rate.

Quote:

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My catalog gives the following ratings for various brands of meters. The ratings are by size of meter; max continuous flow; and maximum intermittent flow..

5/8"; 10 GPM; 20 GPM
3/4"; 15 GPM; 30 GPM
1"; 25 GPM; 50 GPM

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Water Meter Sizing - avoiding $5K expense?

Based on that info, I personally wouldn't go with 5/8 if possible. We sold our home last year where the distance from meter to the house was about 200 feet. We went with a 1" meter as recommended based on that distance even though it cost 50% more up front and the monthly water bill was higher for a 1" vs 3/4" meter. At least I saved money on the installation of the service line by running that myself. I also ran the underground conduit for the electrical service between the utility pole and meter location. So I rented a ride on trencher and made short work of the excavation portion of the project. My cost for that plus the materials was a heckuva lot less than what the builder would have charged.

5/8 Will give you plenty of water as long as you have decent pressure coming in and I would say 1 inch pipe minimum to keep volume you need. Do you know what your water pressure is?

Note that chart says meter and service pipe. A lot is going to depend on the size and length of the service pipe. If it is the same size service pipe as the.meter then it will have an effect. If it is only the meter then going from a 1" to a 3/4" won't change much.