How am I using 21,000 gallons of water a month?

[East Texas]

One summer, when we lived in the MegaCity, the neighbors thanked me for their nice backyard. It seems my yard sloped into to their yard and the water from the broken sprinkler pipe, well, at least someone had the benefit. Evidently the pipe had been broken for about six weeks and [-]only[/-] when I was searching for the leak the neighbors said something. The pipes were buried about 18" and that's why the darn leak was so hard to find. The water happily followed the crack in the caliche right over to the neighbor's yard.

 

[TromboneAl]

One summer, when we lived in the MegaCity, the neighbors thanked me for their nice backyard.

Did they wait until the end of summer to thank you?

 

[East Texas]

Did they wait until the end of summer to thank you?

Yeah, right. They were pretty disappointed I fixed the leak. That was the only time their back yard looked half-way decent.

 

[Finance Dave]

Nevermind....just read his answer.

 

[NW-Bound]

Even if you turn a garden faucet to let it run full-blast through 50 ft of garden hose, my guess is that the flow would be only 20 gal/min. Your sprinkler flow rate might be more, depending on the total length from the meter to the point of breakage, and the sprinkler pipe diameter (1" max).

But even if we double it, say 40 gal/min, it is still just 40 gal/min * 1 min/week/circuit * 5 circuits * 4 weeks/month = 800 gal/month.

And then, the above assumes that all 5 sprinkler circuits are broken. That is a slim chance.

This is really mysterious!

Actual daily usage was 60 gal for the first day, and 220 for the second day (though that included 4 loads of wash). Even if I used 220/day for a month that'd still be less than 8k gallons. The sprinklers haven't run so that must be the culprit. I now suspect we have had an underground leak in the system for quite some time. Sheesh.

Our lawn sprinkler system runs for 1 minute per "zone" (which is the lowest time possible) and there are 5 zones. Right now it runs once a week.

 

[TromboneAl]

We are awaiting the moment of truth!

 

[soupcxan]

I checked the meter again tonight. Over the last 6 days I've used 800 gal. The sprinklers have been off because we had some rain and I haven't had time to run them while watching the meters. But at this point, it's either that, or the water company is rolling my meter forward several thousand gallons when I'm not looking.

Step 1 is to find the sprinkler valve box...

 

[PaddyMac]

One summer, when we lived in the MegaCity, the neighbors thanked me for their nice backyard. It seems my yard sloped into to their yard and the water from the broken sprinkler pipe, well, at least someone had the benefit. Evidently the pipe had been broken for about six weeks and [-]only[/-] when I was searching for the leak the neighbors said something. The pipes were buried about 18" and that's why the darn leak was so hard to find. The water happily followed the crack in the caliche right over to the neighbor's yard.

That reminds me when we bought a house where the owner had died. The hillside had multiple levels of retaining walls. When we first tested the sprinkler system, we were astonished to find that our sprinkler was covering the next door's garden? We got out the plans we found in the house, and by following the telephone lines, we discovered that the area being watered was all ours! We owned about twice the garden we thought we'd bought!

 

[frank]

my boy had a problem similar to this one. oddly enought his water usage went from 10k gallons a month to over 20. It turned out to be a toilet. we shut off the meter when he was gone for a day and showed nothing. checked for leaks in all the fixtures. finally when he shut off the water when he was gone for a few hours and then checked the toilets before he turned the water back on, one of the toilets were dry, tank and bowl. How that happened I can't explain, as we could not hear any leaks or see water running in the bowl. we replaced the toilet and water usage dropped back down. It will be interesting to find out what is causing your problem.

 

[NW-Bound]

Talk about toilet tank leaks, I have told this story but it is worthwhile to repeat here. My sister-in-law went away for a month, and came back to her home to find a toilet had been running for nearly a month! The flap somehow did not get seated properly.

There is a new filler valve on the market that will fill the tank only once per flush. How it works is very simple, but ingenious. As the tank gets filled after a flush and the float rises to the top, the latter is latched high and is not allowed to fall again, unless the flush lever is again actuated.

So, if the water leaks away, the next time you flush, you will find the tank empty, and know that there has been a leak.

This obviously will not work if the tank never gets filled in the first place, and the float never rises. This is usually rare, as one would notice that the water was running full-blast forever after a flush. For a slower leak, it works very well.

It is not worth rushing out to replace all your existing toilet fill valves that still work, but if you have to replace a worn-out one, it pays to get this new type.

 

[soupcxan]

The mystery continues. I ran the sprinklers by zone and found one busted head that was in freeflow. Even so, a 5 minute sprinkler cycle was still only using ~100 gallons. I fixed the head.

I'm continuing to check the meter every couple of days. We're averaging between 50 and 100 gallons per day depending on the dishwasher and laundry. Figure an extra 100 gal once or twice a week for the sprinklers. There's still no way I can get to 21,000 gal in 30 days. I would suspect that the sprinkler controller is malfunctioning and running the sprinklers more than programmed but the ground would be really soggy if that were the case.

So...I still don't know. Maybe a billing error? I will just have to keep watching the meter and see how the next bill compares to my observations.

 

[Rustward]

If you suspect the sprinkler controller of malfunctioning, why don't you just unplug the controller to completely remove it from the situation, or at least put some cans in the yard so you can measure the amount of water coming from the sprinklers?

I suppose you have already checked that the reading on your bill matches the meter.

 

[powerplay]

Do you have a kitty that creates his/her own entertainment?

Gizmo Flushes - YouTube

 

[LOL!]

Got my water bill yesterday: 4,000 gallons for the past 2 months. It probably would've been lower, but my daughter came home for a week of spring break.

 

[Nodak]

Got my water bill yesterday: 4,000 gallons for the past 2 months. It probably would've been lower, but my daughter came home for a week of spring break.

That's close to my average, 1800 gallons per month

 

[Texas Proud]

Do you have a kitty that creates his/her own entertainment?

Gizmo Flushes - YouTube

That is SO FUNNY.... my cat will also look at the water if you flush... once I was standing doing my business and looked down and saw the cat poke its head between my legs to watch... so far, she has not figured out how to flush by herself...

She also will jump in the kitchen sink when the water is going down... she likes the swirl... then licks the sink....

 

[gromit]

Billing problems do happen. Here's a CNN article about problems with electronically read meters in Atlanta and it mentions other cities. Skyrocketing water bills mystify, anger residents - CNN.com In Atlanta, when water meters were replaced with "new and improved" electronically read meters people had $40 water bills shoot up into the thousands of dollars. Then, in response to complaints and TV news questions, the head of the city's water department had the audacity to go on camera and claim that there was no problem, it was just that the new water meters were more accurate than the old ones. He eventually left that job. Fortunately, I live in a suburban county that wasn't affected by the mess.

 

[W2R]

Billing problems do happen. Here's a CNN article about problems with electronically read meters in Atlanta and it mentions other cities. Skyrocketing water bills mystify, anger residents - CNN.com In Atlanta, when water meters were replaced with "new and improved" electronically read meters people had $40 water bills shoot up into the thousands of dollars. Then, in response to complaints and TV news questions, the head of the city's water department had the audacity to go on camera and claim that there was no problem, it was just that the new water meters were more accurate than the old ones. He eventually left that job. Fortunately, I live in a suburban county that wasn't affected by the mess.

What a mess! In New Orleans, we had a different type of problem. After Katrina there were massive failure points in the water pipes, I guess due to the weight of the flood waters and shifting of soil plus very, very aged and poorly maintained water lines in the older historic neighborhoods to begin with. Many, many people had water bills in the tens of thousands of dollars or more. Often the massive pipe breakage was not even on the individual's property, so probably not even detected at the meter (if the meter was still in place), but the city charged them for the lost water anyway. This was the topic of many consumer advocate reports on the evening news.

I think the problem persists to this day for some homeowners living in certain badly damaged older, historic neighborhoods of New Orleans.

 

[Texas Proud]

What a mess! In New Orleans, we had a different type of problem. After Katrina there were massive failure points in the water pipes, I guess due to the weight of the flood waters and shifting of soil plus very, very aged and poorly maintained water lines in the older historic neighborhoods to begin with. Many, many people had water bills in the tens of thousands of dollars or more. Often the massive pipe breakage was not even on the individual's property, so probably not even detected at the meter (if the meter was still in place), but the city charged them for the lost water anyway. This was the topic of many consumer advocate reports on the evening news.

I think the problem persists to this day for some homeowners living in certain badly damaged older, historic neighborhoods of New Orleans.

I would not pay a water bill for broken pipes etc. that were not on my side of the meter...

But who knows what kind of laws are in NO...

 

[W2R]

I would not pay a water bill for broken pipes etc. that were not on my side of the meter...

But who knows what kind of laws are in NO...

Often people did not know why their bills were high, though (like soupcxan) they knew they were not using that much water. The consumer advocates from the evening news were able to make some headway for some. What should be, and what is, often are not entirely identical after a catastrophe.

 

[soupcxan]

Update: between 5PM Sunday and 5PM Monday, my water meter jumped 1,700 gallons. We took a couple showers and used the toilets but nothing else. Where did all that water go That's like 500 toilet flushes! The grass is dry, and the leak indicator on the meter isn't moving right now.

How do I figure this out?

 

[bld999]

I would be calling my water utility and ask for a new meter. 1700 gallons makes a pretty big "wet spot" if it actually happened.

 

[soupcxan]

Yeah I'll call them tomorrow but I don't expect much more than "oh yeah it's fine, we checked it real good". Not sure how I am going to prove this, especially if it's intermittent like this.

 

[bld999]

Any of your neighbors you can poll for water usage? I would think the observation you have done might convince the utility to at least humor you some. Imagine 31 - 55gallon drums in a row outside your door; that's not trivial in 24hrs.

That much water would supply my wife & I for 2 weeks at our usage rate.

 

[Dimsumkid]

How do I figure this out?

I would shut off/disconnect the sprinkler system to rule this out completely.
Add leak detector dye to your toilet tanks or food coloring dye to rule these out. Unless you're taking 2 hour long showers multiple times a day, if all else fails, I would think your water utility would allow a meter change if you mention this and press hard enough.