What will happen at the water meter reading when the air trapped during the city repairing a water main break?
The municipal water line broke near my house, after the repairs where made and the water turned back on, my pipes rattled and bumped with dirty water and air escaping for a few minutes, then the water cleared and the noise stopped. However, when I got my water bill, the reading was for what I normally use in
7months.
I guess you're saying that your reading for ONE month was the same as what you normally use in 7 months. I doubt that a little air in the pipes would cause that. I suggest calling your water utility and explain the problemm. Maybe some crud caused the meter to malfunction. There is nothing anyone else can do. Ask the company to replace your meter or provide another solution. They should understand, I'm sure that when water mains break, things like this happen....
You may even have had water flowing OUT of your home during the break and/or repair. (from water in your water heater, etc). Does that make the meter spin in forward or reverse???? (I dont know)....
You should also remove the aerators on your faucets and clean them, and also drain your water heater to flush out the dirt, as well as flush out any ice maker lines if you have one, and toss any old ice cubes.
There should be a back flow preventer to keep your water from getting back into the system. It is usually just a globe valve buried near the connection to the street.
The only I can think of is maybe the air going through could spin up the paddle wheel on the meter faster than water would but I still would be surprised if it was a very big number. I have a water meter in the garage. If I get a minute I will see what blowing compressed air through it does.
That's what I was thinking too. A meter expecting water flow might spin a lot faster with air. But seems it would have to be a lot of air to get 7x, but then who knows. In any case, given that they were screwing around with it and that it's 7x, I would think the water company would take care of it, as long as it hasn't appeared on a previous bill.
Thanks in advance - I am very interested in what you find out by blowing in the compressed air.
Is the meter in the house? If it is an a pit outside, I'd also check to see if there is a leak on the home side of the meter. I can just see the OP coming out of the house and into a large sinkhole.
Hi, You got water back. All is OK. How long did it take for the re;air?Did you expect smaller amount on the bill? How do you pay for water consumption. I pay by the cubic meter(metric ton) My household uses ~13 cubic meter permonth on average.
Hi, I'd ask neighbors first.
If it broke on their side, before your meter, nothing should be out of the ordinary. If for some reason an air burst messed up your meter simply call them and ask for a billing adjustment and a new meter.
I know all houses have a buried shutoff valve, which needs a long special tool to shut off, via a capped tube over the valve. But a globe valve is not a back flow preventer. However, there SHOULD be something to prevent back flow, but I have seen water lines installed and never seen anything other than the connecter on the main, the valve in the lawn, and the entrance of that pipe into the house, which goes right to the meter. Of course this could depend on local codes and requirements......
I'd be interested to find out the results of this experiment!
I know this was a long time ago, but I am having this exact problem now and am disputing with the water company over a bill that is triple my usual bill.
Lightning struck their pump, so they had to switch over to the "old well" while waiting for the replacement pump, which, when it arrived, they installed it and switched is back over. There was clearly air in the lines for a couple days, as the water was cloudy.
We have no leaks (this is a difference of over 12000 gallons!) and nothing was left on. Our usage on the current cycle so far is right back to normal, indicating that something last cycle was an anomaly. Well the ONLY thing that changed was on their end.
Problem is that my neighbor's bill was essentially the same as their usual bill, but there is no explanation other than a large amount of air forced through my pipes that spun up my meter in either a large burst.
If anyone sees this and has an explanation, please post it here or send to my email at snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com
Hi was wondering if you were able to prove it. We had a main water line break up the road in our neighborhood now my water bill is $900. There’s no way we used 38K gallons of water in a month. And we had two plumbers come out and say we had no leak.
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