I am thinking of ordering a gas probe to monitor my houses gas consumption.
Before i do i would like to know if anyone has had success with this model of gas meter (see attachment).
Meter located in Melbourne, Australia.
I will get out there with a compass and see if there is any magnetic activity but snapping a photo between patches of rain was the best i could do for the moment.
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With a meter having email written on it, you shouldn't need a gas probe. The email address of this specific meter doesn't seem to be mentioned though. :-)
More seriously, you should google for this specific meter type and try to find a data sheet. The latter should mention whether magnetic read-out is possible. Or try to determine it experimentally with a compass.
See http://www.ampymetering.com.au/ - Landis & Gyr seems to be everywhere...
I doubt that these old meters have a built in magnet (same with the old stuff certain Stadtwerke still provide in Germany even when replacing older meters); but you never know, so hall sensor your luck :-)
Tried putting a magnetic sensor near the meter display but couldn't detect any variation. Somebody in another post mentioned they only get a magnetic fluctuation each time the least significant digit did a complete revolution. If that is the case then i would be waiting a while. I had the central heating running and could hear the gas movement in the meter but after a few minutes the least significant digit had only moved from 0 to 1 (one tenth of a rotation).
Should i have seen some magnetic variation in that time if the meter has a magnet?
I can setup the monitor for longer but a few minutes was all the time i could get between rain showers.
I could probably take out a umbrella but i am already spending so much time at my utility meters that i wouldn't be surprised if a neighbour reports me for suspected meter tampering. :)
Ok still no magnetic variation but i did notice my error from before, i was watching the rolling digits rather than the clock like rotating hand on the dial to the left. Doh. Anyway i monitored the magnetic activity for one complete revolution of the clock like dial and could detect no variation. No magent. :(
In my searches for a manual for this meter i did find out that the gas company does a meter replacement every ten years, hopefully i will get a more modern one. I have had this one for a bit over 9 years.
Although they may just put in a refurbished one of the same type.
I might give them a call and see what they say.