How to Install Water Submeters in Your Mobile Home Park (Without Digging or Plumbing Changes)

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How to Install Water Submeters in Your Mobile Home Park

Water costs for mobile home parks are rising faster than ever, often eating directly into owners’ net operating income (NOI). Many communities built decades ago still rely on a single master meter, meaning every gallon that leaks underground or runs from an unreported toilet drips straight off the bottom line.

Submetering, which installs individual water meters for each home, has long been the solution. Traditional installations, however, required trenching, cutting pipes, and shutting off water across large sections of a park. For many owners, the disruption and cost made submetering feel impossible.

Today, that has changed. With modern cellular connected clamp-on submeters from SimpleSUB Water, you can install meters across your entire park without any digging or plumbing changes. You get accurate, daily water-use data in a cloud dashboard, with no plumbers, Wi-Fi networks, or downtime required.‍

Exploring submetering for your mobile home park, but not quite ready to install yet? Check out our full submetering guide for mobile home parks.

Why Traditional Submetering Is So Difficult

Conventional submetering projects often require plumbing cut-ins, underground trenching, and installing meter pits to access individual service lines. Every meter introduces risk and complexity, especially in older parks without individual shut-off valves.

Even a small retrofit can take weeks to complete. Residents experience multiple water shut-offs, and owners pay for excavation, site restoration, and licensed plumbers. Once installed, inline meters can freeze, corrode, or leak at their fittings over time.

Older submetering technology solved one problem but created several new ones.

SimpleSUB’s clamp-on system eliminates all of that. Each meter mounts externally to the pipe, measures flow ultrasonically through the pipe wall, and sends encrypted data automatically to the cloud. No pipes are cut, no water is shut off, and residents are never disrupted.

How Clamp-On Submeters Work

Clamp-on submeters use ultrasonic sensors that send sound waves through the pipe to measure how fast water moves inside. Because they read through the wall of the pipe, they never come in contact with the water itself. This means there is no contamination risk, no leaks from fittings, and no need for plumbing modifications.

Installation is simple. The installer positions the meter on the pipe, tightens the strap, scans a QR code, and watches data appear on the dashboard within minutes.

Compatible Materials

SimpleSUB’s meters work on copper, PVC, PEX, and CPVC (plus many others).  

The Confusion Around “Wireless” Systems

• Does it rely on my park’s Wi-Fi?
• How many bridges or repeaters will I need?
• Do those devices require power or maintenance?
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SimpleSUB is different. Each meter is cellular connected, sending encrypted usage data directly to the cloud without any local network, gateways, or bridges. You do not need Wi-Fi coverage or extra equipment, only the meter itself.

Here’s how SimpleSUB stacks up against other types of systems:

Every device reports automatically to a secure web dashboard where you can view daily consumption, compare lots, and spot leaks quickly.

See it firsthand by scheduling a SimpleSUB demo.

Step-by-Step: Installing Submeters Without Digging or Plumbing Work

Here’s what a 5-minute installation looks like for a park owner using SimpleSUB’s clamp-on, cellular-connected meters.
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1. Get ready. Map your park’s water lines and note the pipe size and material for each lot. SimpleSUB pre-programs every meter for its exact lot and pipe type, so once you receive them, they’re ready to install right away.
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2. Clean and clamp. Wipe the pipe clean where you’ll attach the meter, removing any paint or dirt. Line up the arrows on the meter with the direction of water flow, then use the included zip ties and tensioning tool to snug it to the pipe. No cutting or shut-offs are required. Just tighten until it’s secure.
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3. Press play. Hold the Play button for a few seconds. When you see two green lights, the meter has connected and detected water. That means it is working correctly.
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4. Check your dashboard.
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Log in to your SimpleSUB dashboard to confirm everything shows as “OK.” It can take up to 24 hours for the first readings to appear, but once they do, you will start seeing daily water data for each lot.

This process shows why SimpleSUB’s system has become a preferred retrofit choice for mobile home parks. It offers fast setup, minimal training, and no disruption to residents.

Real-World Results from Parks Like Yours

A Colorado mobile home park faced skyrocketing water costs and quotes exceeding 125,000 for a traditional submeter retrofit. By using SimpleSUB’s clamp-on meters, the park avoided excavation entirely and completed the installation for about one-quarter of that cost. Within a year, usage dropped by one-third, saving 35,000 in water and sewer charges.

Weber Properties used SimpleSUB to detect seven continuous-flow leaks, including frozen service lines and running toilets, within days of installation. Because the meters are external, they also eliminated the need for winterization.

An Oklahoma mobile home community achieved 99% reading accuracy, uncovered a 400-gallon-per-day underground leak, and removed its need for seasonal maintenance.

Across these examples, the pattern is clear. Each park avoided plumbing work, avoided service interruptions, and achieved a fast return on investment.

How Submetering Pays for Itself

Consider a 50-lot park paying $3,000 per month for water and sewer. After installing submeters, residents begin paying based on their actual usage. Accountability leads to conservation, usually a 25 to 40 percent reduction in total water use.

If the master bill drops to 2,200 per month, that is 9,600 saved annually. Because those costs shift to residents, the owner’s water expense disappears and NOI increases.

With SimpleSUB’s low installation cost, often under $300 per lot, the entire investment can be recovered in 12 to 18 months. Every year after that, the savings continue to grow.

The Colorado park highlighted earlier cut its water costs by one-third and boosted property value by more than $100,000 through improved NOI.

Transparency, Compliance, and Resident Fairness

Submetering is legal in almost every U.S. state, provided it is implemented fairly. That means no markups on water, transparent billing, and accurate meters.

SimpleSUB’s system automatically generates clear, itemized reports showing each meter’s start and end readings, usage totals, and the same rates charged by the city utility. Residents see exactly what they used and how it was calculated, reducing confusion and building trust.

Because the meters log data daily, questions about accuracy can be answered with a quick dashboard comparison. The result is transparency that satisfies both residents and regulators.

Implementation Tips for a Smooth Rollout

If you are new to submetering, begin with a pilot phase. Choose one street or section of your park to install first. Measure total usage from your master meter before and after the pilot to quantify savings.

During the pilot, use SimpleSUB’s dashboard to compare summed readings from the individual meters with your main utility bill. Any difference indicates a potential underground leak, which you can now detect early instead of discovering months later on a high water bill.

Once the pilot proves effective, expand the program section by section. Because installations require no shut-offs or specialized tools, scaling is straightforward. You can install new meters during occupancy, one home at a time.

After rollout, SimpleSUB integrates easily with property management platforms such as Rent Manager or Yardi, or you can use SimpleSUB’s billing exports to generate resident statements automatically.

Why “No Digging” Also Means No Downtime

A clamp-on system avoids plumbing work and also keeps your park fully operational during installation.

Traditional inline meters required coordinating water shut-offs and notifying residents days in advance. SimpleSUB installers can move home to home quietly. Each meter takes less than ten minutes to mount, and residents do not experience service interruptions.

This process allows you to upgrade your park’s infrastructure while remaining fully operational, even during peak occupancy.

The Bigger Picture: Turning a Liability into an Asset

Every gallon of unbilled water represents lost profit. Every hidden leak creates the potential for property damage and inflated utility bills. Submetering transforms that liability into measurable value.

With SimpleSUB’s data dashboard, you can track usage trends over time, identify anomalies, and confirm that all water entering the park is accounted for. Leak-detection alerts identify continuous flow before it becomes a financial problem.

The efficiency gains also increase your property’s resale value. Saving 9,000 per year in utilities adds roughly 112,000 in asset value at an 8 percent cap rate, and you achieve that result without modifying your plumbing.

Key Takeaways

Installing water submeters in your mobile home park no longer requires digging trenches or cutting pipes. With SimpleSUB’s cellular connected clamp-on meters, you can install quickly, avoid disruption, and begin saving immediately.

This modern approach helps park owners cut total water use by up to 40 percent, detect leaks as they happen, bill residents accurately, eliminate plumbing work and downtime, and recover costs within about one year.

Learn more in these success stories:

• Mobile Home Park Saves $35K with SimpleSUB Water
• How Weber Properties Stopped Water Waste and Boosted Efficiency
• SimpleSUB Water Improves Water Management for Oklahoma Mobile Home Community

Ready to See How Simple It Can Be?

SimpleSUB’s cellular clamp-on technology lets you submeter your entire park without digging, plumbing changes, or Wi-Fi networks. You will gain instant visibility into every home’s water use, stop paying for leaks, and increase your NOI while your residents enjoy fair, transparent billing.

Schedule a Demo today and see firsthand why SimpleSUB makes submetering simple.

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