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lostwatergirl · Mar 28, 2014, 06:48 PM

I moved into this mobile home 5 months ago. Every month the bill has been around $30-35. I called the water company today cause I have not gotten my bill yet and I normally do by now because the bill is due on the 10th every month. The water company tells me they had problems with reading my meter. She said that the guy came out on 3/10 to read it and it seemed a little high. So they call the manager of the park and asked him to clean my meter. I don't know why cause mine is one of those magnet ones. You point the gun at it and it reads. And she tells me they have the meter person come back out 10 days later to do a reread. She goes on to say that the bill is being mailed out on Monday. Im thinking she said "a little high" so I ask, "ok so what is my bill?" and she said that the meter said I used 15028 gallons of water in those 10 days!! And my bill is $727.26!! I don't know what happened. I am not leaking water anywhere. The park manager came over and looked under the home. There are no leaking spots. I do 1 load of wash a week and only shower twice a week. I live in Minnesota and I don't go out, so I only shower every 3 days. I only flush about 3 times a day cause it is just me here. The water company said that the meter can't break cause it is a magnet. I have no idea but it must have. My toilet does not run. I replaced when I moved in. I don't leave anything on. I went under the house myself today and not one wet spot. Please someone HELP!

smoothy · Mar 28, 2014, 07:17 PM

THe way meters work mechanically they can't jump ahead..its a physical impossibility, they could stop moving at all however.

I'd start my keeping a log of what the meter reads daily... even twice or more a day. That water is going someplace after the meter. And after the meter is your responsibility.

THats a lot of water so you should see it change in even a few hours. then start looking at everything.

lostwatergirl · Mar 28, 2014, 08:00 PM

Originally Posted by smoothy

THe way meters work mechanically they can't jump ahead..its a physical impossibility, they could stop moving at all however.

I'd start my keeping a log of what the meter reads daily... even twice or more a day. That water is going someplace after the meter. And after the meter is your responsibility.

THats a lot of water so you should see it change in even a few hours. then start looking at everything.

There is no meter for me to read. There is just a little black box that they hold a reader gun to. So I can't even see my usage myself.

smoothy · Mar 28, 2014, 08:47 PM

Ow, that's going to make it really hard to sort things out then...the ones we have can be read electronicly but also have the visual numbers too.

massplumber2008 · Mar 29, 2014, 08:46 AM

My toilet does not run.

As unlikely as it is that the new toilet is an issue I would still suggest taking some dark food coloring and dripping say 20 drops into the toilet TANK only. Over the next hour or so, periodically check to see if colored water shows up in the toilet BOWL.

If that fails to show a leaker, do you have an outside faucet that someone could have attached a hose to? Unlikely as this is, it should at least be considered in the question...

Back to you...

Mark

smearcase · Mar 29, 2014, 05:27 PM

Can a water meter break? Yes, just like any other mechanical, electronic etc device. Did they indicate why they had a problem obtaining a reading? You have "used?" about 6 times more water than we have ever used at our house and we didn't even exceed the basic (2700 gal or so) when we had our yard excavated and tried to get grass growing for a couple of months. Appeal that bill long and hard before paying it.

mass said "do you have an outside faucet that someone could have attached a hose to?" Do you ever hear water running? Has anyone in your vicinity been doing work that could have consumed a lot of water? Your location makes me wonder about a frozen pipe busted and leaking underground but there should be at least some evidence if that occurred? Did your water stop during any of the very cold weather this winter?

lostwatergirl · Apr 3, 2014, 02:12 PM

Ok, So I still have not gotten anywhere as far as what is going on. But today the city came out to look for leaks (thats my water company). None were found. I do not have an outside water source. The water company did say that many times in the last five months that it kept giving them an error and a reading could not be gotten. I don't know what that means. Twice in December, they could not get a reading at all for Jan, and Feb. Even thou 5 attemps were made. Three attemps were made in March when they said they were able to read it. I am going to request a new meter, but who knows what's going to happen.

smoothy · Apr 3, 2014, 03:24 PM

Did you try what was asked by massplumber2008 with the food coloring to make sure its not the toilet?

For those times did they estimate the usage on the bill? If they didn't then it might be a catch up bill... but I honestly don't thing that's the case. The places I've lived would estimate based on prior usage then do a catchup either way if ended up being more or less than the estimatd amount when they did read it. It shouldn't be that extreme however.

lostwatergirl · Apr 3, 2014, 04:12 PM

Yes a food color test was done. No color leaked to the bowl. And I have gone over and under the house. I have even taken off the back board to the tub this way when they came to inspect there were no hidden spots. I have checked everything. There is no way that that water was leaked or used. I am at a loss.

smoothy · Apr 3, 2014, 04:16 PM

Well keep in mind what you did to prove the toilet wasn't leaking when it comes time to talk with them... that will cover your butt on that part. They do commonly leak long before people tend to notice.

lostwatergirl · Apr 3, 2014, 04:27 PM

Ya I know. But my Throne sits just feet from my bed, and that's why it was fixed the first day I moved in. It was spraying like a water fountain. It was a $10, ten min fix. Even the tub dripped when I moved in. Fixed that a few days later. I can't stand the sound of anything dripping. Loud noise's don't bother me, but little noise's drive me insain.

lostwatergirl · Apr 3, 2014, 08:39 PM

Originally Posted by massplumber2008

As unlikely as it is that the new toilet is an issue I would still suggest taking some dark food coloring and dripping say 20 drops into the toilet TANK only. Over the next hour or so, periodically check to see if colored water shows up in the toilet BOWL.

If that fails to show a leaker, do you have an outside faucet that someone could have attached a hose to? Unlikely as this is, it should at least be considered in the question...

Back to you...

Mark

Yes, I did the food coloring test.

Ritaalt · Oct 23, 2014, 10:13 AM

The same thing has happened to me. Our water was turned off to the house and I still got charged for 25000 gallons when no one was here. No one can explain how this could happen but it did. There has to be an answer.

smoothy · Oct 23, 2014, 10:18 AM

The bills might be a month or more behind the meter reading. Meaning the bill you got might have actually been for water used BEFORE it was shut off. They rarely read the meter every month , and the estimate between reading by previous usage. So you could have had the meter read before it was shut off and received a bill for usage that was in excess of anticipated.

You also might have a leak after the meter but before it enters the house... which is your responsibility for usage and repairs.

speedball1 · Oct 23, 2014, 12:28 PM

Our water was turned off to the house

But was it turned off at the meter? You could have a leak in the house service line. Could that be it? Back to you. Tom