Our flow meters are designed to be left in place over winter, and also during winterization blowouts, assuming the air pressure doesn’t get above 100psi or so. (Above that we may have issues with the sensor being damaged if the air flow is very turbulent at the meter).
That said, sometimes it’s convenient to be able to remove the meter and still have a functioning irrigation system. You can easily make a “dummy meter” insert that will mate with our unions. Here’s what you’ll need:
1). A piece of 1” Schedule 40 PVC pipe, cut to 12.25”. Try to make the cut accurate to about 1/16”, especially if you don’t have a lot of “play” in your pipe system. It’s important to make a square, clean cut, preferably using a good ratcheting pipe cutter.
2). Quantity (2) of these unions from Home Depot: Home Depot SKU 452-208
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Apollo-1-in-x-1-in-PVC-Slip-Joint-x-Slip-Joint-Union-PVCU1/317901075
Using standard PVC primer and glue, attach the threaded part of the unions to each end of the pipe. You’ll have the collar and slip-joint part of the union left over, but you already have those attached to your system when you installed the meter.
