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35,360 gallons

Blitzkrieg

Blitzkrieg

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That's the amount of water the utility company says my Mother used in the last billing cycle/period of 30 days. A daily average of 1178.67 gallons. Her bill was $414 and she is on a fixed income and this bill has her rattled pretty good. There's no way in hell she's using that much water. The utility is supposed to send someone out to check for a leak but I can guess how that's going to play out.

Are there any other options out there to dispute this bill that anyone knows about?

 
Not sure how it works in every city but I know that in ours you are responsible for any leak/repairs between the meter and the house and the city is responsible  for the meter on back.  I had a problem like this once but the meter was faulty so they handled it and I was just billed what my normal monthly bill usually was.  Good luck to you and Mom!!

 
Blitzkrieg said:
That's the amount of water the utility company says my Mother used in the last billing cycle/period of 30 days. A daily average of 1178.67 gallons. Her bill was $414 and she is on a fixed income and this bill has her rattled pretty good. There's no way in hell she's using that much water. The utility is supposed to send someone out to check for a leak but I can guess how that's going to play out.

Are there any other options out there to dispute this bill that anyone knows about?
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Most meters are RF now and fairly accurate but like anything else they do go bad. The district or municipality will come check.  Good that she is disputing it.  I'd make sure everything is turned off completely in the house.  Everything.  Then go out and pull the meter cover and check to see if the tiny wheel is spinning at all.  That would indicate a leak between the meter and the house.  Does she have an irrigation system?  If so is it on the same meter or a separate one?  Does she have a pool?  Is she on a city sewer system as well or septic?  For one person, that's an awful lot of water to be a toilet flapper or some other common nuisance issue.

 
gamecock88 said:
Most meters are RF now and fairly accurate but like anything else they do go bad. The district or municipality will come check.  Good that she is disputing it.  I'd make sure everything is turned off completely in the house.  Everything.  Then go out and pull the meter cover and check to see if the tiny wheel is spinning at all.  That would indicate a leak between the meter and the house.  Does she have an irrigation system?  If so is it on the same meter or a separate one?  Does she have a pool?  Is she on a city sewer system as well or septic?  For one person, that's an awful lot of water to be a toilet flapper or some other common nuisance issue.
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It's a patio home on a concrete slab. I'm over there at least 3 times a week and I weed eat and spray for bugs so I'm all over the yard, haven't seen anything that would lead me to believe that there's a leak anywhere. She has 12 sprinkler heads that come on twice a day 3 days a week for 15 minutes each session.   Other than that just flushing the commode, taking baths, and a little bit of cooking.  She normally hand washes her dishes because she uses so few of them.

 
Could be something as simple as a running toilet. That can send a ton of water down the tubes. Literally.

 
I checked the meter this morning and it doesn't seem to be registering anything.

 
Swayin said:
Going from a flow that put out 35,000 gallons to ... nothing? Seems odd.
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Maybe I should restate that, when I opened the cover there was a reading on the meter but nothing was moving.  My brother was there and I asked him to turn on the outside water faucet and when he did a small red multi pointed dial started spinning rapidly as well as what looked like a minute hand on a watch started moving slowly.  I told him to cut it off and as he did both noticeably slowed down and then stopped.

I then asked him to go inside and flush the commode, when he did the red dial started spinning again although much slower and again noticeably slowed down and then stopped.  The "minute" hand barely moved.  Once it had stopped nothing on the gauge was moving which leads me to believe that there is no leak.

 
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Blitzkrieg said:
Maybe I should restate that, when I opened the cover there was a reading on the meter but nothing was moving.  My brother was there and I asked him to turn on the outside water faucet and when he did a small red multi pointed dial started spinning rapidly as well as what looked like a minute hand on a watch started moving slowly.  I told him to cut it off and as he did both noticeably slowed down and then stopped.

I then asked him to go inside and flush the commode, when he did the red dial started spinning again although much slower and again noticeably slowed down and then stopped.  The "minute" hand barely moved.  Once it had stopped nothing on the gauge was moving which leads me to believe that there is no leak.
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That dial indicates flow through the meter.  If it wasn't moving, nothing was leaking or running in the house.  How does this compare to previous months usage or the same period last summer?  Check those sprinklers too.  I'd reset and reprogram the controller.  Could be an issue with that causing it to run longer than usual.

 
gamecock88 said:
That dial indicates flow through the meter.  If it wasn't moving, nothing was leaking or running in the house.  How does this compare to previous months usage or the same period last summer?  Check those sprinklers too.  I'd reset and reprogram the controller.  Could be an issue with that causing it to run longer than usual.
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She's only been there since late February.  It's a lot higher than any previous month but again we don't have a lot of months to compare to.  We did have her sprinklers running 7 days a week during that period for 15 minutes a session twice a day because she got a notice from the HOA that she had some spots in her lawn that needed attention which they certainly did.  IIRC she has 12 sprinkler heads.

When the lawn started looking better (about 2-3 weeks ago) we cut the sprinklers back to 3 days a week instead of 7.  I guess we'll just have to wait and see what the next bill looks like.

 
I absolutely refuse to live anywhere with an HOA. I know people who like it, but that isn't my bag.

 
Blitzkrieg said:
Maybe I should restate that, when I opened the cover there was a reading on the meter but nothing was moving.  My brother was there and I asked him to turn on the outside water faucet and when he did a small red multi pointed dial started spinning rapidly as well as what looked like a minute hand on a watch started moving slowly.  I told him to cut it off and as he did both noticeably slowed down and then stopped.

I then asked him to go inside and flush the commode, when he did the red dial started spinning again although much slower and again noticeably slowed down and then stopped.  The "minute" hand barely moved.  Once it had stopped nothing on the gauge was moving which leads me to believe that there is no leak.
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Yes, that dial indicates water flowing through the valve, if it's not spinning, water is not moving. 

I used to work for a plumbing company in COLA, message me if u want the info for an inspection or repair 

 
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