Water bill showing enormous amount of usage

T

Tailgate

500+ Posts
This is at our office....a converted 2,500 sq ft home, originally built in 1922, in downtown Austin.

We can't see any signs of water from the sprinkler system (which is turned off at the unit) or anywhere else.

There is very little water usage at this location. The toilet is flushed a few times throughout the day, but our drinking water is brought in by Ozarka.

I believe the last reading was around 20-25k gallons for the month?

Any thoughts?
 
Maybe you have a leak right after your main shutoff/meter?

You might not hear or even see it.

If you can open thr manhole where the meter is, Try turning yor water off at the main shutoff by the street and then looking at the meter and seeing if it's still running.

Or, you might be able to simply call the city, I think (but am not certain) that they can check for leaks.
 
If you are in rocky or gravelly terrain, a tremendous amount can soak into the ground without ever leaving a wet spot on the surface. Very high possibility that a toilet is leaking, either through the flapper or overfilling the tank. Inspect the tank when full to see if it is overfilling and running out the overflow tube. If not, let the tank fill and mix in some food coloring to see if the flapper is leaking into the bowl. However, if it is a toilet leaking, you should hear it refilling on occasion. Water usage of that magnitude means roughly a thousand gallons per day, but I have seen that much absorbed into gravel subgrade with no sign of a leak on the surface. Only solution in that case is to dig up and plug the line close to the house to eliminate that as a possibility, since you should be able to watch the meter and see when water is being used. If it's not leaking on the house side, then you have to shut off valves or plug sections of the irrigation system until you narrow it down. Or if there is a main valve for the irrigation, shut that off first to eliminate that source, then look elsewhere. Good luck, I found a similar problem at work this week, 43,000 gallons gone in two months with no visible signs.
 
I had a small leak just on my side of the water meter. I could see the meter just barely turning even when I confirmed all the water in the house was turned off.
 
We have a toilet that is running and our bill has been a bit higher than normal. The toilet runs for about 30 minutes after flushing and that seems to be getting longer and longer. How can we fix this?
 
Turn off all water in house and make a note of water meter reading, after an hour or so see if meter has moved to determine if you have a leak somewhere.

With that kind of usage, it is most likely going to be underground. Don't rule out sprinkler system just because it's off at unit. Some sprinkler installations include water pipes that are always pressurized.

A second possibility is a neighbor stealing water at night for their lawn.
 
or...... the city has not actually read your meter in several months... this happened to me.

they estimated the meter reading for several months (underestimated).
then one month they actually read the meter and hit me with several months of catch-up..
call and complain, no one cares.
 
My money is on a toilet. It happened to me. I called the city and a really nice guy called me back and worked with me to check everything out. He really knew his ****. Just by looking at my billing history he could tell how big my family was and how long and often I watered my lawn.

I put a new flapper in my upstairs toilet and went from 23000 gallons in a month to 8000. You wouldn't think it would make that much difference, but it sure as hell does.
 
Also, just because the sprinkler is off the solenoid that opens and closes the valves could not be closing all the way and need to be replaced.
 
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