What Is an Inclined Wall Manometer?

Wall Manometers

• You can figure out the pressure difference between the two sides on the manometer by comparing the height of the fluid in the two arms of the U-shaped tube. The difference in height is proportional to the pressure difference. Inclining the U-tube or tilting it to one side makes readings more accurate by making it possible to more precisely measure the difference. An inclined manometer is basically just a manometer tilted to one side.

Calculations

• The calculation for an inclined manometer is a little different from the calculation for a more traditional device; the manometer is tilted to one side, so you need to take this angle into account. To find the difference in pressure, multiply the density of the fluid by the acceleration due to gravity (9.81 meters per second squared) by the difference in height by the sine of the angle off the vertical.

Mounting

• You can mount or place a manometer in different ways, and one of these is to hang it on a wall. Some inclined manometers are wall-mounted; you could call these devices inclined wall manometers. A wall manometer is not necessarily the same thing as a well manometer, which is another type of manometer in and of itself. The U-tube in a well manometer is on the vertical, unlike the tube in an inclined manometer.

Considerations

• Well manometers also have a larger fluid surface area in the tube on the high-pressure side, so its height changes only minimally while the height of the fluid on the low-pressure side changes more dramatically. This distinction enhances ease of measurement. Both well and inclined manometers can not only be mounted on walls but can also be panel- or bench-mounted. Generally, for ease of use, you want the manometer mounted close to the point of measurement.