When selecting a meter it is necessary to assess: the probable consumer’s demand rates (average flow, maximum flow), diameter and materials of the existing pipe, impacts of water quality (corrosion, presence of sand or other suspended solids, scaling, dissolved air, temperature), effects of soil and environment aggression (temperatures, humidity, snow), tariff system and frequency for reading, inspection or replacement routines, risks on transport or due to installation and bad practices (wrong position, inverted flow, tampering of people).

Still, other issues affecting decisions are convenient stock for replacements (number of meters, models and their spare parts to be kept in reserve); available budget (acquisition, certification, storage, transport, installation, inspection, tests, visits, contracts, and invoices to the consumer), financing sources, and legal and contractual adjustments (bylaws and codes to be modified or completed, inspections and enforcement required, renewal of contracts to customers).

Modern technology allows having remote readings, via radio, cable or telephone, when the meter has the appropriate provisions for this, apart from the traditional direct display of its readings. The installation of a macrometer may require attaching to it some graphing or electronic recording device (data-logger) in order to monitor flow rates during different time spans. In a consumer line with a rather big diameter, it is possible to save some money, sacrificing a little of precision, by installing a “proportional meter”. This is, placing a parallel detour (by-pass) line with a smaller meter on it. Sometimes is possible to place “batteries of meters”, this is, by means of parallel pipes with different meter diameters on each one.

Always it is important to select the appropriate meter according to consumer characteristics, and their expected consumption patterns. The utility must have specific guidelines for different types of industries, commerce, service facilities, public offices housing, etc.

Meters can have a provision to restrict flows or pressures. Besides the billing effect of the meter in discouraging wastes and big consumptions, these adjustable restrictors associated with the counter may serve to attenuate peak demands during critical hours of the day. They can also serve to reduce risks of leakages inside the house or to give equal chances to receive fair and similar amounts of water to consumers in neighborhoods or streets too steep or long (with great differences in potential water pressure). There can be approaches where non-permanent installation of meters (random or temporary metering) or communal meters can be useful and economical. In old neighborhoods and in apartment buildings the supply pipe is common to various dwellings, where installing individual meters may be extremely expensive and difficult, as well as their periodic reading.​​​​​​​

Various types of flow meters have mobile parts subject to wear, alteration, clogging with debris or scaling, so it is necessary to make periodic tests or replacements to assure their accuracy and proper performance. They could also have manufacturing defects or disarrangement during transport. New and recently acquired meters usually are randomly tested at the utility’s laboratory, on a testing bench, against the accepted standard (for example ISO 4064-1).

Latter, once installed, with intervals of some years, or when a client complains about excessive charges the apparatus can be dismounted and taken to the lab to test its performance and to be repaired; although it is preferable to perform field tests (in situ, without dismounting the house meter) with a portable meter test kit. There is commercial equipment that provides everything needed to accurately test domestic water meters, contained in an easy-to-handle case.

Besides, for more elaborate field assessment as in the case of intermittent service, where the main pipe could be empty, the utility may send a vehicle with all required elements for the test.

Water meters, as most gauging devices, even when new, are not always exact and reliable. Most meters don't perform well with very low flows, and with high ones they also have errors. They have an appropriate working range where precision is high, and out of it, errors increase exponentially. Obviously, meters producing the lowest head losses are preferable. The image below presents a typical precision graph and ahead losses curve.