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I got a monthly water bill that knocked me down. It was over twice what I was expecting. I talked to a few neighbors and no one was near that high. One neighbor did comment that he always felt I was over watering my grass in that he saw my sprinkler coming an several times, one right after the other on the days I watered (3 zones, 3 days a week, 12 minutes per zone). As I am never up during watering times (7AM) so I did not know it. We looked at my sprinkler control box and it was set for 3 cycles, one after the other. I have no idea how this happened but we did reset it to one cycle per watering day.
My bad, so I will bite the bullet and pay the bill.
But there are other factors that play into the overall "optimum performance" of a sprinkler system- soil, grade, hours of sun exposure, and annual rainfall.
When I built semi/custom homes, sprinkler system were a standard feature. Though I would give a brief rundown on the operation of the system during my closing orientation, my main statement was always "water longer than you think- less often than you think". 6months, a year later- it's amazing how bad H/O's set their irrigation systems!
We had a leaky toilet in an unused bathroom and did not know it. Our water bill comes every three months. We got a $1300 bill! Found and fixed that toilet in a hurry (we also topped off our pool once during that time and waters the lawn a bit too. A family in our community just got a $7000 water bill. They are not sure why. Usually,but not always if you are using an unusual amount of water, the township will call you and notify you so you can find the issue and stop it before it goes too far. . Usually, but not always, if you get an insane water bill, they will negotiate it with you.
We had a leaky toilet in an unused bathroom and did not know it. Our water bill comes every three months. We got a $1300 bill! Found and fixed that toilet in a hurry (we also topped off our pool once during that time and waters the lawn a bit too. A family in our community just got a $7000 water bill. They are not sure why. Usually, but not always if you are using an unusual amount of water, the township will call you and notify you so you can find the issue and stop it before it goes too far. . Usually, but not always, if you get an insane water bill, they will negotiate it with you.
Our city water utility now offers leak insurance. Well worth it, in my opinion, about $2 per month.
Our city water utility now offers leak insurance. Well worth it, in my opinion, about $2 per month.
What a terrific idea! I think I'll mention that at my work. Of course since ideas aren't welcome from the little people, I'll be told it's already been thought of lol. We do send out continuous flow cards, since meters are read monthly but you'd be amazed how many people ignore them and then are shocked at their gigantic bills. Appeals are almost always denied.
We had a leaky toilet in an unused bathroom and did not know it.
One of the advantages of a Smart Meter is that it can help detect leaks. The typical alert setting is if there are 24 consecutive hourly readings that are not zero. The thinking is that most people do not use water every hour of the day - thus there is probably a leak.
I am in Columbia and have St Augustine grass. During the summer, I water 3 times a week at 6:00AM. 3 zones, 12 minutes per zone. Several of my neighbors and my landscaper feel this is sufficient.
The problem I had was my control box was set to repeat the cycle two more times for a total of 3 watering cycles. That has been corrected.
I shut off my control box as I no longer trust it.
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