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We have the old style water meter in Cary and our water bill tripled last month. Tripled.
I called the utility company and spoke with several nice women as they patiently explained that it could not be the fault of the meter as it was like a car's odometer, it only read what water came through.
I explained there was no way our water usage could have gone from app. 4,000 gallons per month for four months when we had had overnight guests and watered the garden beds, to 11,0000 gallons for a month in which we did not have guests and did not do any watering at all as we were getting an inch to four inches of rain every weekend.
According to the utility guy who came out to check our meter, all is well with the meter and we have used about 3,000 gallons this last month. So we are back on track.
Now there is no reason on earth our water usage would have tripled last month. None. No faucets leaked. No toilets were running. Nothing.
According to the utility guy who came out to check our meter, all is well with the meter and we have used about 3,000 gallons this last month. So we are back on track.
Now there is no reason on earth our water usage would have tripled last month. None. No faucets leaked. No toilets were running. Nothing.
Anybody have this experience? What was the cause?
Most likely a leak between the meter and the house. Read back through this thread for info on how to check. Basically, turn everything off in the house and see if the meter is still running.
Most likely a leak between the meter and the house. Read back through this thread for info on how to check. Basically, turn everything off in the house and see if the meter is still running.
We have turned off all the water in the house and the meter stops running.
Also, this month the meter is reading just under 3,000 gallons since the last reading about a month ago. It seems we are using the same amount of water that we used the first few months we were in this house.
We have not fixed or changed anything. No toilets constantly running. No watering garden beds. No guests showering. Nothing.
PatRoy ... I've had the same problem with my meter in Raleigh. My bills are considerably higher than they were under the old system. It might indeed be that my old system was so much less efficient, but it does puzzle me intensely. I actually did have a small leak, and had the repairman check the meter after he fixed it. No leaks now, but the bills are the same. I've cut down water, even in small ways, such as using dehumidifier water to water plants, I've been using bottled water to cook and drink ... Raleigh water has a bit of an aftertaste to me. (I do plan to install a water filter sometime in the future, though ... bottled water can get expensive in the long run!) I even cut down on flushing somewhat, but at some point, one really does need to flush a toilet!
My bills still haven't budged. Maybe some sort of water-hog trolls take over my house at night and flush when everyone is sleeping?
I'm not sure what type of meter we have, as I havent looked yet. We had the water co. out today, they did their leak check, no trouble found what a shock.
Since we've only been in the house since May, we only have a few bills to compare and some of them have lawn sprinklers involved. We are awaiting this past months bill, they just read the other day to compare since no irrigation was being done during this time.
10890 gallons sounds like way too much for 2 people who watch their usage.
We have the same issue. Our total water bill is $450 for 6 weeks.
Our irrigation water usage more than doubled over the last two months. I called the TOC and they are insistent the problem is on our end.
We have no leaks. The system is set to run automatically on timed intervals. There have been no changes or adjustments made to the watering schedule.
We turned off the system two weeks ago. Checked with the TOC and there is zero usage on the irrigation system. We will restart it and see what happens.
10890 gallons sounds like way too much for 2 people who watch their usage.
Indeed.
We were told by someone at Cary utilities that "on average" one adult uses 60 gallons of water a day. So the two of you should be using about 3600 gallons a month.
Since three live in our household, our usage should run about 5400 gallons a month. In four of the five months we've lived in Cary, we have used 3,000 - 4,000 gallons a month. Last month, we supposedly used nearly 12,000 gallons.
Does not make sense. We have new Toto low-flow toilets installed. We have a new front loading washer. I never wash clothes or dishes unless I have a full load. We did not water the garden beds last month as I have been watching our rain gauge and we've had over an inch of water each week. And we are back to 3,000 gallons for this month. So if there had been a leak between the meter and the house, it apparently repaired itself.
I checked and we have an old style meter. I have started a daily recording of usage. It will be interesting to see what goes on since I think we should be using 1/3 of what they say.
PatRoy ... I've had the same problem with my meter in Raleigh. My bills are considerably higher than they were under the old system. It might indeed be that my old system was so much less efficient, but it does puzzle me intensely. I actually did have a small leak, and had the repairman check the meter after he fixed it. No leaks now, but the bills are the same. I've cut down water, even in small ways, such as using dehumidifier water to water plants, I've been using bottled water to cook and drink ... Raleigh water has a bit of an aftertaste to me. (I do plan to install a water filter sometime in the future, though ... bottled water can get expensive in the long run!) I even cut down on flushing somewhat, but at some point, one really does need to flush a toilet!
My bills still haven't budged. Maybe some sort of water-hog trolls take over my house at night and flush when everyone is sleeping?
Raleigh bills in 1,000 gallon units so small water conservation effort may not show.
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