Can an IP68 electromagnetic flow meter stay submerged long-term? What matters for installation in flooded valve chambers?

IP68 does not mean “splash-proof” — it means “no water ingress under continuous immersion.” Both the sensor and transmitter of the LGF-PA66 are designed to IP68 and can operate submerged for long periods in valve and metering chambers, which is exactly the typical duty for municipal network metering points.

Three things decide success in submerged service:

• Whole-unit sealing: the LGF-PA66 body is one-piece injection molded with no welds, and the terminal chamber is sealed. Standard duty covers immersion up to 1 m; for deeper or permanent deep-water installation, state it at order time and the meter ships with deep-water sealing.
• Cable joints are the weak link: sensor-to-transmitter signal cables and transmitter-to-RTU communication cables must be jointed in waterproof boxes or resin-potted. Field experience shows ~90% of immersion failures happen at joints, not in the meter itself.
• Chamber drainage and ventilation: provide a gravel drainage layer at the chamber bottom so silt does not bury the meter; where possible add a level switch to alarm on excessive flooding.

The EC32 RTU is also IP68-rated and can be installed in the same chamber, sending data over 4G/NB-IoT with no mains cabling — solar plus battery is sufficient. Inspecting joint seals before the rainy season is the cheapest insurance you can buy.

For more details, please visit our product pages or contact our technical team.