The newly built Water Flow Meter Calibration facility in Alberton, Gauteng, completed last month, has been built solely for the purpose of providing South African National Accreditation System (SANAS) accredited water flow meter calibrations to the South African market, says calibration services provider Unique Metrology MD A J Mathieson.

The facility, owned by Unique Metrology, will cater for flowmeters ranging from 5 mm to 200 mm in the laboratory (lab), and from 50 mm to 1 500 mm on site.

The building project, which began in 2019, took about two years to complete, with the facility now officially having a ‘running’ flow rig. The facility was also constructed in- between the daily running of Unique Metrology’s three other SANAS-accredited pressure, temperature and mass labs.

The facility is just waiting for some upgraded instrumentation technology used to measure temperatures, pressures and atmospheric conditions. The facility is now complete and Unique Metrology has applied to SANAS for ISO:17025 accreditation as a calibration laboratory.

“Many of our potential customers are waiting for the facility to be SANAS-accredited, as their own accreditations require SANAS-accredited calibrations. We are scheduled for our initial SANAS audit in April.”

There are currently only two SANAS-accredited water flow labs in the country, which leaves a lot of room for expansion and some healthy competition, says Mathieson.

Further, using the gravimetric method of calibrating standard flowmeters, although not modern technology, will set Unique Metrology apart from other calibration facilities in the country, he claims.

The gravimetric method is based on the principle of collecting a sample of water, running it through the flowmeter for a measured time and weighing it.

“By using the gravimetric method, we can achieve small uncertainties and offer an extremely accurate calibration.”