At the house I was renting for the last six months, there was a huge soaking tub big enough for two. And I routinely took luxurious baths in it once or twice a month. There was an industrial size washer, top-loading and large enough to wash comforters or a week’s worth of clothes all at once — it filled the tub with water, gallons and gallons.
My bi-monthly water bill at that house was about $50.
So why is it that my first water bill at the new house — a house with a bathtub in which I never took a bath, a house where I installed a front-loading, low-water washer, a house where my sprinklers run only 30 minutes or so per day — a bill that covers November 3 – November 30, a period in which I was only in residence from the 17th – 30th, added up to $57?
According to the bill, in that 27 day period I used an astonishing 14,960 gallons of water. That’s an average of 554 gallons per day.
How is this possible?
Its even worse than you think, you’re still counting the days between the 3rd and the 16th.
If you look only at the days you were there 17-30 (13 days) your usage jumps to 1,150 gallons a day. That’s almost 48 gallons an HOUR 24 hours a day.
Time to call the water dept. Either you have a leak and don’t know it or the meter read is wrong or the meter itself is broken.
Even if you do count the whole month its still 23 gallons an hour 24 hours a day. I know car washes that use less water than that!
Update: I called the water company, and the first thing they asked is whether I had a sprinkler system. Aha! Of course I do!
Now, when I moved in, the system was set to water every day, about 10 minutes for each of 4 zones. When he did my landscaping, Jann told me to set the flower box sprinklers for longer, which I did. So, it’s quite possible that the sprinklers are to blame for my high water bill — although it’s hard to imagine that they are pumping out that much water. Hell, my water pressure isn’t even high enough to run them all at once.
Anyway, I turned off the sprinklers last week because of rain. The water company recommends using them once a week for 5 minutes during the winter/rainy months, and turning them off completely on weeks when it rains. So, I’ll just do my sprinklers manually through the winter and see what the effect is on my water usage.
Looks like the installation of the water-saving washer was a bit of a boondoggle, eh?
I’d have the water company come out and check the meter and your hydrants. There’s a good chance you’ve got a leak somewhere in the mainline. It’s not un-common, especially on older property.
Also, you might want to check the $$ per gallon vs. your old place. It might just be more expensive.
While I’m sure the sprinkler system plays a part, maybe even a big part I still don’t see that much usage. You have them on a timer? Look up the model and check out the GPH (gallons per hour) of the head and its easy to see how much water comes out in 10 or 15 minutes.
At our house we use a buried ‘soaker hose’ its almost a garden hose that sweats. Its buried and soaks the ground under or near the plants. On the surface we have 4-6 inches of wood chips. The wood soaks up rain water and keeps the ground from drying out too rapidly when the sun does come out.
My bet is that’s “sprinkler system” is the water Co’s stock answer. I still think there’s a leak. 23 gallons an hour for 24 hours a day!
Think of a white 5 gallon bucket, can you even fill 5 buckets in an hour if you don’t have the pressure to run 4 zones. Think about that for a second. That means if your not using any water for 12 hours of the day (asleep or gone) you’re using 10, 5 gallon buckets an hour while you’re awake. I just can’t se that kind of usage unless you do 10 loads of laundry, 6 loads of dishes AND take long showers every day.
Well, I’ve turned the sprinklers off for the winter, so we’ll see on the next bill just what’s happening. The water company will come out to do a free assessment of my property to find out what’s going on, so I may take them up on that if the next bill shows the same high usage…
Why wait ’till you get your next bill? If there is a bigger problem other than the sprinklers (which I tend to think yes on) then you’d want to know about it before you bill gets finalized. Given the amazingly hihg amount of volume you’re ‘using’ I’d say you have a leak, probably in the hydrant.
For comparison- I re-seeded my lawn this fall. I ran sprinklers for about a week, 3 hours a day on the etire thing… and I have over an acre of land. The result was barely what you used in one month. If that’s not a red flag, I don’t know what is.