Water usage?

[leechlake]

I am not involved in paying the house bills but the other day the wife mentioned the water bill was about double the average.  Our irrigation system, obviously not used this time of year, is on a separate meter than I will reference to follow.  I looked at the bill and their is an annual graph that shows our water usage.  Every month we've used 7-10,000 gallons a month with an average of 8,000.  Last billing period we used 15,000 gallons.  I checked the meter and it's correct and actually this month which will be the next billing period we used 16,000 gallons.  

Nothing has changed in our house, same appliances, same number of people.  I haven't heard the toilets running from bad flappers since in the past I have heard them and replaced them.  The only thing different that I can think of is I turned on the humidifier late December or so.  I haven't noticed it running continuously but don't pay attention.  My math tells me that in 30 days 7,000 gallons of water would be tough to do out of a humidifier line anyway.  Thoughts?
 

[highlife4me]

Have you checked the water softener if you have one?  

[leechlake]

I can hear it running when it does, it's right below the stairs in the basement.  Haven't notice anything different and the timer is the same.

[delcecchi]

7000 gallons a month is 230 gallons a day or 10 gallons an hour or about a pint per minute.   I guess, turn off water to humidifier and you should be able to tell in a couple days whether that is it.  Is there a drain for overflow from humidifier?  A toilet could do that easy, and you might not hear it.  before bed put some blue cleaner in each bowl and see if it is still there in the morning. 

And look in tank of softener, if salt is all gone and it is full of water that could be it too.

Edited February 24, 2016 by delcecchi

[RebelSS]

USWU states normal usage for family of 4 is 400 gals a day. Are the dogs hot-tubbing it when yer gone? Checked yer outside bibbs? That much, I'd call water co. and have' em check for accurate use measurements at meter....

Edited February 24, 2016 by RebelSS

[leechlake]

I will check those things.  Sounds like in a normal month we use 270 gallons a day.  I assume that normal usage is what you use at work, school or wherever you are part of the day though.  It's hard to eat a wallet or knife in the tub so I'm guessing no to the dog thing.

Edited February 24, 2016 by leechlake

[RebelSS]

I forgot one thing, too...that I had done...turn off your water at the valve in your house. Check your meter over the next hour or so, if it's moved, you have an underground leak somewhere.......

Edited February 24, 2016 by RebelSS

[leechlake]

Reb-  I had pondered a leak but if the water comes into the house and then is read by my meter in the basement how could I have an underground leak?  It's the last thing I'd want but don't understand how that would be possible.

Edited February 24, 2016 by leechlake

[RebelSS]

That's what I thought too, but was told by RPU here you could have a leak after they finally figure out you're sucking a lot more water. I don't trust these bas****s here anyway, but there WAS a leak in the main outside my house....It makes no sense to me either. I'd just call them up and ask them to check, that's why they rape us so much for water. Let'em do some work for it. I'm fighting with the gas co this year who is replacing all the lines around here, and so has to rip up my manicured lawn, because there's some big type of main right under my lawn, and break out my driveway. They'll repour my driveway, but after they wreck my lawn, they said it's up to me to take care of it and grow it back. Bull****. That ain't gonna happen. You may be able to come visit me in prison this Summer.

Edited February 24, 2016 by RebelSS

[Dotch]

I'll bake you a cake with a file in it Reb. 

Don't miss paying those water bills from many moons ago. Worst thing you can do according to my well man is to NOT run water out here in rural Bugtussle.

[leech~~]

7 hours ago, leechlake said:

I am not involved in paying the house bills but the other day the wife mentioned the water bill was about double the average.  Our irrigation system, obviously not used this time of year, is on a separate meter than I will reference to follow.  I looked at the bill and their is an annual graph that shows our water usage.  Every month we've used 7-10,000 gallons a month with an average of 8,000.  Last billing period we used 15,000 gallons.  I checked the meter and it's correct and actually this month which will be the next billing period we used 16,000 gallons.

Nothing has changed in our house, same appliances, same number of people.  I haven't heard the toilets running from bad flappers since in the past I have heard them and replaced them.  The only thing different that I can think of is I turned on the humidifier late December or so.  I haven't noticed it running continuously but don't pay attention.  My math tells me that in 30 days 7,000 gallons of water would be tough to do out of a humidifier line anyway.  Thoughts?
 

Are you on a billing budget? It may be a correction or catch up from last years usage? Or maybe your Teenagers have a Hydroponics growing experiment going on somewhere you don't know about?

Edited February 25, 2016 by leech~~

[Tom7227]

What I have read is that the goal is 75 gallons per day per person which is 2250 in a 30 day long month.  How much would a teenager use taking the 'typical' shower?  Might be time to send the kids to boarding school.

As for the meter running because of an underground leak between the street and the house -  N. F. W. 

[leechlake]

I've ruled out the "constants" for example the two teenagers have always used X amount of water showering in months gone by.  It's either toilets and/or humidifier and could be water softener but I think I'm close to ruling that out.  Thanks for all the help fellas.

[delcecchi]

5 hours ago, Tom7227 said:

What I have read is that the goal is 75 gallons per day per person which is 2250 in a 30 day long month.  How much would a teenager use taking the 'typical' shower?  Might be time to send the kids to boarding school.

As for the meter running because of an underground leak between the street and the house -  N. F. W. 

Meter would be in house.  So anything between house and street isn't metered.

Humidifier should have an overflow drain, right?  (Not sure, we have a boiler and hot water heat.)

Toilets... Put a litle dye in the tank or bowl and wait an hour or so.  See if it is still there.  Use yellow caution tape to keep it undisturbed.  

Looking in water softener should tell for that. 

[Powerstroke]

I used to work for a municipal water department. Water leaks are very common and no offense, but many people swear they would notice if water was leaking someone in their home. Sadly most are very minute, but your leak of only 5-8000 gallons is fairly small for a home water leak and can easily be consumed by a leaky toilet that only cycles once and a while or a leaky faucet. 

 

Most water meters have a main dial that does the gross measuring and then a smaller dial or star that shows the most minute of water usage. A quick peek at the meter usually will show a leak. If not, something you can do is record the meter reading before bed and again when you wake up, or when you leave for work and when you return home. 

As was mentioned, the general formula for water usage is 100 gallons per person per day per month. Obviously on a daily basis, that will vary, but when you add in laundry and such it averages out. Its generaly fairly accurate and a good measurement. 

Based on your sudden change of usage, I would turn off the humidifier since thats the first things you remembered. Next you can start working your way through fixtures in the house to eliminate leaks. SO many people think a drppy faucen doesn't cause a huge loss, but it can leak a ton over the course of 24 hours a day

 

[LindellProStaf]

Powerstroke is right.  I also was in municipal water for about 19 years.  One thing to also remember.  People would call and be mad because of their water usage and say "I want a new meter".  Well as a meter gets older more water slips by unmetered. That is how they are engineered.  Very small amount but still in your favor.  SO don't request a new meter.  There was always something in the house that was leaking and that is why the water usage went up.  One time a woman's usage skyrocketed.  I went to her house and she had 3 of those tree watering wands in her yard going.  She said they weren't the reason cause the ad said low water usage.  Her meter was just humming there was so much water running through it.  I pulled one out of the ground and it was spraying like a you know what.  Huge spray of water.  I couldn't help but to start laughing, she actually did too.  Water problem solved.  It usually is a humidifier on the furnace or a toilet.   

 

[leechlake]

I think I'm focusing on the right things in leaks, leaks, leaks and have any potential things either fixed or turned off.  With those approximate 4 things on the list I can monitor the meter and figure out what the culprit is by a process of elimination.

It's kind of funny how I have become aware of water usage though.  When I take the dogs out at night to pee why not save water myself if you follow me, things like that.  Thanks.

[Juneau4]

Maybe your one pooch (knife eater ect.) has come up with a new thing to do. Has now become a toilet flusher. Hope you find the problem, I know it's driving you nuts.

[jbell1981]

2 hours ago, leechlake said:

It's kind of funny how I have become aware of water usage though.  When I take the dogs out at night to pee why not save water myself if you follow me, things like that.  Thanks.

If it's yellow let it mellow, if it's brown flush it down!

[leechlake]

here's the verdict.  Turned humidifier off and that solved it.  Amazing frankly.  Now need to fix the humidifier before next Winter.   

[Juneau4]

At least now you know what to fix --90% of the problem is solved.

[RebelSS]

There ya go...glad ya found it. Amazing how much water you can lose....

[Tom7227]

There's a little valve with a solenoid in the rig.  I have found that if I set the humidistat high enough to get the thing to turn on and then disconnect one of the wires and jump it on an off a number of times it cleans the thing up and works correctly.  Works for me anyway.  Most of the time it won't open when I first turn it on in the early winter.  You may give this high tech technique a try and see if it works.  If not you'll have the whole summer to try and find the replacement part.

[leechlake]

thanks for the tip, I appreciate it.

[Craigums]

Glad you got it figured out. I'm going to hijack a little bit, reading the comments I find it funny how quickly the water softeners get blamed. I work technical support for water treatment products (including softeners) and I get that call ALL the time but in reality if your softener is the culprit it should be pretty dang obvious. Just look at the drain hose, is water draining 24/7? If not, it's not your problem. I just got called about a softener that wasn't working, I asked how he knew and his answer was "My icemaker isn't making solid cubes", it's almost amusing how the water softener gets blamed for everything.