Thread: Anyone Know What This Is???

This was found on a home in the Riverside County area of Southern California by a fellow inspector. There is a low voltage (phone?) line at the top. As the item is locked, the only clue is the label "Mercury" on the front. Searching "mercury" and also adding "natural gas" or "mercury company" has proved fruitless. Anyone seen one before?

Originally Posted by Gary DeWitt

This was found on a home in the Riverside County area of Southern California by a fellow inspector. There is a low voltage (phone?) line at the top. As the item is locked, the only clue is the label "Mercury" on the front. Searching "mercury" and also adding "natural gas" or "mercury company" has proved fruitless. Anyone seen one before?

Mercury Industries has been a part of Honeywell since about 2009.

Sure you noticed the small pressure line entering this pipe mounted "device" is sourced from the pre-regulator (and pre-meter) side (utility side).

This device is used by the utility to gather and record data so as to correct for the registered flow volume at the gas meter. It gathers and records/stores information (rather than just using general/generic weather info) to correct for discrepencies due to ambient temperature and pressures (atmospheric & meter/service line) changes to correct for the "flow" reads for cubic volume readings at the meter. (Charles' Law for temperature effect and Boyle's Law for pressure effect {and the supercompressibility factor for NG}).

I'll guess the property was in a desert type area in which high temperature swings are encountered (i.e. very cold possibly near freezing at times at night vs. VERY HOT during the day), and/or dramatic pressure swings (atmospheric) are encountered; and that the area has dramatic differences from another near area and time lags. SCE has a vast service area, and the specific temperatures and pressures can vary from one place to another within Riverside County at any time of day or night - throughout Riverside County.

Questions should be directed to the Utility, or if a Master Metered enclave to the management, park, association or sub-metered supplier.

https://www.mercuryinstruments.com/



Mercury Instruments, Inc. (Ohio), now a Honeywell company.

HTH.

Thank you, Mr. Watson.