We are having a "discussion" with our local water district about our water usage for the month of December. They billed us for 60,000 gallons when we claim our usage should have been and was more of the order of our typical
10,000 gallons. Both parties agree that the meter appears to be /presently/ working properly, the meter readings and billing were done correctly, and there not any leaks or other obvious problems on our side of the meter. We were home for the entire month, so our neighbors have not been filling their swimming pool with a hose from our house.
Has anyone ever encountered a case of a water meter registering many times actual usage and then seemingly "repairing" itself?
High meter readings are frequently caused by toilets silently "running". I can't say why your toilet might have seemingly "repaired" itself, but it is a very common situation for utilities. Highly unlikely that the meter was at fault.
Yeah, but to account for that sort of difference the toilet(s) would have to have been losing ~69G/hr, 24 hours a day for the whole month and that should not be "silent" by any stretch of the imagination. That sort of water flow should make itself pretty obvious.
Could they have estimated the months prior, (grossly underestimated) and the true reading was actually correct but applies to a longer timeframe?
You say for the month of December... I'm billed for water 4 times yearly, and call in my own reading although that's onlt to get a 1.00 discount. They read the meter and bill only 4 times a year otherwise...
Amen. On several occasions I had a water bill three times normal. What happened was that the bottom two links of the toilet flapper valve chain link somehow got kinked slightly so that the valve wouldn't seal properly. I could hear water running in the plumbing pipes as a kind of low level turbulence that I did not associate with a leak let alone a toilet tank leak problem. At first glance the toilet valve looked normal. I never got around to changing the valve but if I hear that turbulence sound when the tank should have filled already I know what to do.
Another possibility may be the overflow valve in your toilet tank may be running continuously because the float is set too high.
We had this happen about 10 years ago. The water company here was very fair about it and said it could be a bad meter and changed it out. They cam in the house and checked the toilet and sinks and also the outside faucets. When they found no leaks they just reduced our bill to our average monthly use. We were originally billed for 25,000 gls when we normally use 4000 gls. This was a meter (wheels) type and not digital. We never had a problem again.
No, but my water utility was reading the wrong meter or something, and sending me sky high bills.
I got a new radio read water meter when I built a new house. The city never reset the account to zero from the old water meter in the demolished house. The city also forgot to note that my meter is radio read, so they were estimating my bill or reading someone else's meter or something.
I was being billed for over 40,000 gallons per quarter. Once they fixed the records and started radio reading the meter, I was being billed for about 6,000 gallons per quarter. I've never owned a house before and didn't realize I was being billed for over 400 gallons per day!
The city refused to change my previous bills, so I finally dropped the issue. They claimed the meter must have been replaced a second time and that is why the reading dropped. I kept telling the clerk they must have broke in to do it, and I finally decided it wasn't worth my time to argue with her.
Have just conclude discussion with ur water company on the amount of H20 we use. According to them we ...just two old people...use in excess of 200 gal per day. To check if toilets leak I poured some of wife's cooking coloring into each toilet water bowl and watch to see if colors leaked into toilet bowl You might try this.
I also checked the Ball Cock assemblies, particularly the rubber plunger that stops water from discharging until lever is operated.
As you know this rubber stopper/plunger ages and gets gummy/soft which allows water to seep out.
you might take a look at this
HTH PS: If it were me I'd keep after the suckers for a credit or rebate on the excess that they charged. The first person I would write to would be the president of the company...which I did in this case. As a result the district manager called..nice guy... and I'm getting the credit!!
200 gal per day? Sure that's not a typo? No matter. Call me insensitive or politically incorrect, but an old person can be forgetful. Stick two of 'em living unchaperoned in the same house and Lord knows what could end up running unnoticed for months on end.
My 80-year-old mother in law (who actually has most of her wits still about her) is just ending her 2-year-long stay here at our house. Dunno how many occasions in that 2 years I ended up shutting off unattended -- and empty -- oven burners and ovens left baking nothing but thin air for hours on end. Sometimes even overnight, which makes for some pure joy when you open the gas bill at the end of the month in January.
Ur points R well taken...But just because there's snow on the roof, does not mean there isn't a fire in the furnace...Old expression about intercourse...now called sex...which in my day referred to a gender.
This eighty year old and his Honey (wife of 54 years ) have not had senility set in yet. Arthritis, and much more yes, but when it comes to shutting things off or down we are regimented...Since we are just empty nesters..I do the dishes and other because when I retired my wife retired...we split the chores... as result we do not use the electric dish washer more then once a month, if that. I use one of our three toilets and flush the urine after I have voided three times. No there is no odor.
All faucets have been adjusted so that waste is reduced when washing dishes, pots, pans etc. Not to a seeping flow, but also not to a full flow.
Hail TheOldOne, I am still smiling to your comments! Though I know this is quite off topic, I had to say that my uncle was as sharp as a tack before he past in 1983 at the young age of 89 years old! He was an old northern farmboy as a youth, and continued farming to well in his years. At the first memories of him I have he was soft spoken, and my aunt who past when I was but a youngster myself, was in her very young mid sixties when I had known her!
Though I have the most respect for folks who are my senior, at the age of 40 myself here soon enough, I have to say that my 83 year old grandmother is one person I know is typical of most stereotypes! She yells at people in stores, doesn't listen to a word people say when intentions are good, and so on! In a way it is sad, she can't remember names or faces a lot of the times, when she had her license she would drive very fast, though most of us knew she coulnd't see the numbers on the speedometer! Not to metion she would have the passenger navigate (sometimes my own kids which I was not by any means happy about), and a lot of times just missed hitting things like garbage trucks and school buses, as she is so set in her ways, she refuses to buy herself new glasses and have eye surgery. In all I think the phrase "you are only as young as you feel" really brings to heart the honest medasure between both my uncle and grandmother. My uncle was always quick with a joke, light heart to new trends, and so on. My grandmother on the other hand is too close minded, living in world of memories without accepting new thinking and ideas. In short it is how one choses to look at life to make that person more aware of who they are at any age! I know as I said I am going to be 40, I have had a lot of things happen in my life that doesn't make sense, but for the most part I am happy with who I am, and who I hope to be as a person in my years!
I agree with you Everett, this months bill and last months are outrageous. Have contacted them to come out and read it last month, explaining there is only one person here, so laundry once a month. This bill is more than when 3 people lived here a month. After last months bill being doubled, I've shut the water off to the toilet after each use, taken a speed shower twice a week, and never did laundry. This months bill was a dollar more than last month !! When I went down to check the meter reading, it isn't the typical meter you see on the internet with the dial, just an old round thing with 5 squares and a number in each square, all of which aren't even close to the bill I've received. They'll be here tomorrow to show me how they read it. Doesn't make any sense.
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