Personal gas smart meter

Forums › Gadgets, robotics, home automation, electronics (including wearables) › Personal gas smart meter

SanderW

3 posts

Wannabe Geek

#322599 3-Sep-2025 12:42

Hi all, hoping this is the right forum...

Are there any options for installing a second or downstream 'smart' gas meter? Iam looking for something akin to the Shelly smart meter I installed in my electrical feed. I am looking for some near realtime metering that I can then use to track down high usage devices etc., at least to get a better picture of what our usage looks like.

I know there are smart meters from the energy company's side and we may even have one, but I have no visibility of that data, and I would like a higher resolution than the typical 30min snapshot.

Of course I assume that I would have to pay for this, that it would have to be fitted by a qualified gas fitter and maybe some other obvious implications.

Thanks!

Sander

wellygary

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#3410723 3-Sep-2025 13:30

"I can then use to track down high usage devices etc"

How many Gas appliances do you have??

Unlike electrical appliances gas devices typically only consume gas when in operation?, if you have high gas use that you cannot track its more likely you have a leak... which is best fixed by getting a gasfitter round to check your appliances out...

kiwifidget

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#3410725 3-Sep-2025 13:35

Is your gas in bottles or piped in?

Delete cookies?! Are you insane?!

SanderW

3 posts

Wannabe Geek

#3410741 3-Sep-2025 15:01

Hi guys,

Gas is piped in in the Auckland (North Shore) region.

We have gas infinity hot water, gas cooking, 2 gas fires and a gas > hot water > ducted home wide heating system. We use some of these a lot so I am not concerned that the high gas usage is due to a leak or anything, rather I would like to do some comparisons between the various heating systems to see how much each really uses relative to each other. Basically answer stupid questions like if I want to heat the lounge, should I turn on the ducted system or just fire up the gas fire and how much is it better? If I want to just maintain a temperature over a longer period, how much is the ductred system really using? It is a 18KW system, but obviously hardly ever runs at full capacity.

And I just like numbers. I really like the Shelly's ability to turn individual things on and off and get a near instant idea of how much it is actually using that I now miss the same information on the gas system.

Sander

amanzi

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#3410743 3-Sep-2025 15:16

I wonder if something like this could help? https://www.home-assistant.io/docs/energy/electricity-grid/#reading-the-meter-via-a-pulse-counter

That's a power meter monitor, but perhaps you could DIY a similar system to monitor your gas meter? I have no idea what your meter looks like, but might be worth investigating?

amanzi

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#3410744 3-Sep-2025 15:24

Actually, I see Home Assistant has a page for gas usage integration that has something similar to what I was thinking: https://www.home-assistant.io/docs/energy/gas/

Also, a search for "gas flow meter" brings up lots of results - you might find something there to help?

SanderW

3 posts

Wannabe Geek

#3410745 3-Sep-2025 15:25

Yeah, I've seen one or two DIY approaches, I'll have to go and have a look at the meter itself. This is something that I assumed must be quite standard, but apparently not :)

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pdh

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#3410756 3-Sep-2025 15:47

It might be possible to infer the answers you want - by detecting electrically when gas valves are open (gas is flowing) in each device. It is possible that the devices are binary (on or off) - except for the gas hob, obviously.

That's if devices achieve the set temperatures by being on (for a period of time) - then off (until the thermostat clicks)...
Rather than modulating the burner flame to 'simmer' or 'roar'.

Then you could electrically monitor the on/off time and, after a (high-school science lab) calibration exercise, you would be able to infer gas consumption in real time.

That could get you to within (wild-assed guess here) 10 % of accurately measuring the gas flow. Direct gas-flow measurement would obviously be a superior method; but I suspect it's unavailable because very few people in the non-industrial sector would be curious enough to buy the necessary kit.

Many heating devices use on/off time-based (sort of PWM) to achieve desired temperatures. It allows them to optimise the 'burning' or heating instead of trying to be good at the whole range. An electric oven, a fuel-oil furnace does, even some electric room-heaters do temperature modulation this way. So it wouldn't surprise me that gas heaters for water and space (room air) would operate like this.

Attaching a 'pickup' for the internal electrical activity (gas valve solenoid) would probably demand professional help - but you wouldn't be interfering with how the device operates - just monitoring it. Shouldn't be too hard.

Do you pay for the volume used or the mass ? Any idea how variable the gas flow temperature is ? (ie: Warmer gas will be lighter per m3 than cold gas. I guess it doesn't really matter - if you're more interested in comparing two devices on the same day - rather than July vs January.

MadEngineer

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#3411048 4-Sep-2025 12:11

Add ultrasonic to your Google search.

You're not on Atlantis anymore, Duncan Idaho.