How to hide a gas meter box on outside of house?

[NowIsTheWinterOfOurDiscontent]

Hello,

I have this rather ugly white gas meter box under my window.

As you can see, I've shoved 2 plants in front of it but they will take a while to grow.

Does anyone have any better ideas please?

Thanks!

Should also say it's south facing there so gets a LOT of sun.

We had a mini wooden shed built around it. Ours is on the side of the house behind the gate and not under a window so it’s about 6ft tall and only slightly deeper than the gas box, which is great for the garden hose/ gloves/ broom etc. Even a small one could serve as a decent bit of storage and covering up the box at the same time!

Smart meter?

Getting rid of the gas supply to your house is the obvious answer, though possibly a bit extreme. Clean it off and paint it, a similar colour to the stone, you'll need a coat of decent primer like Zinser first.

Can you give it a scrub and paint it the same colour as the house?

That won’t help, they are similar sizes so it would just be put in the existing box.

Mine is much much smaller

Your meter? That’s not right, they are meant to be around the same size as dumb meters for ease of fitting into existing locations and connecting the gas.

Yes

Did they relocate it? I’m struggling to see how a new meter would help OP as it would be fitted into the existing box anyway.

I used stone effect paint (B&Q) - barely noticeable now.

They did

Aren't smart meters for electricity? This is a gas meter not electric.

Edit: it appears you can! I never knew. Do many people have them?

You don't think the in home display unit is the actual meter, do you...?

That’s unusual, and usually a chargeable service. It would be really weird for OP to change her meter and have it moved and the box removed. They are normally fitted into the existing space and a similar size so pipes don’t have to be relocated. It’s a huge job and not at all the norm for having a smart meter fitted.

Oh that’s possible actually. That poster isn’t saying much, the one/two word replies are tiresome.

I suspect they think the IHD is the meter. It’s pretty common. Some people don’t actually realise the meter is still in the cupboard where the old one was. And you can read it just the same as an old meter. I volunteered for an energy charity for a while and I would say 70%+ of the people I spoke to thought the little display was their smart meter.

This picture explains it quite well for anyone who is unsure! Gas meters are quite bulky by nature.

When you get an electric smart meter, they generally do your gas at the same time. The exception might be if your gas meter is sited a very long way from your electricity meter (although there are mesh-type systems to assist with that now) as it relies on a reasonable level of physical proximity to communicate with the electricity meter, which is where the bulk of the ‘smartness’ occurs (the sending of the data to the wider network).

You can buy them in smaller sizes and other colours.

OP clean it and paint it like PPs have said or get a bigger wooden cabinet to hide it (and the pipework under it) but make it larger so you can have plant pots on it and make it look a bit softer.

Thanks! Never thought of just painting it! It will definitely have to be properly durable paint - that south facing sun is HARSH!

Buy bigger plants.

We have a recessed one like this that the builder put in when we extended. Looks much neater. No idea if they can be retro fitted though.

Funnily enough I wanted to replace mine as it's filthy and very old. I saw one on Amazon advertised as a gas box but far too small for UK ones. However it did have a little plastic window. It has made me really want one with a window now, and I am unsure why they don't have them as standard?