<p>My D the grad student shares a house with several other people. This month’s water bill was $800. They have had a toilet that seemed to be running a lot and had notified the management company several times but it has never been fixed. Can a leak like that get significantly worse quickly? The normal bill, even with the toilet running a lot, is less than $200. Anyone have any idea of how to address this? Obviously another call needs to be made to the management company to check things out, but can they get the management company to pay the extra water bill? Can they get the water company to reduce the charges? </p>
<p>I’ve never had to deal with anything like this and I don’t know how it all is supposed to work.</p>
<p>Yes, it is great that she knows it’s her problem and not mine and I know that too. I’m just asking to give her advice since I had nothing to give except a very lame “Oh no!”. She will handle it with or without input from me. I just thought this is a place where weird problems get good advice.</p>
<p>I suggest doing some math on the water bill. How much water per hour would they have needed to have been using for the water bill to be $800? Would it have to have been like a constantly running faucet?</p>
<p>Sometimes if a homeowner (don’t know about renters) can present proof of money spent on repair, the water utility will forgive the portion of a bill that’s higher than usual. </p>
<p>We were “lucky” that way in 2007. There was an underground leak in our front yard. The water bill that quarter was $675. Usually it’s $80/quarter. We simply showed the utility our cost of repair ($2,600!) and they reduced our bill back to $80.</p>
<p>Taking Cardinal Fang’s post a bit further, a toilet constantly running (as opposed to just cycling on and off spoadically) is akin to a running faucet. The obvious is to compare usage on this bill versus the prior two or three months. Getting the management company to pay for this may be an uphill climb. If the requests for “service” are documented, she may at least have a position to fight from.</p>
<p>It’s highly unlikely it’s a meter issue. Back in the old days, most companies would either send a tech to read the meter, or a reply card for the customer to self report consumption by reading their own meter. Nowadays, readings are typically done wirelessly, with the meter connected to a device that can be read from the street just by scanning from the street. I’d tell her to verify the method the meter is read.</p>
<p>Have her check with the city or county utility /water department where she lives. They may be willing to reduce the charges based on past usage. Sometimes a big jump like that can mean problems with their system . If it is a toilet problem, they should keep receipts that they have fixed it or document their efforts to get the landlord to do so.</p>
<p>Just feel the need to say, I’m much, much older than your D and I still call my 80-year-old dad and ask for his advice on things that break around the house. Not only is he very handy, he has pretty much seen it all. I also know it makes him feel good to help me and pass his knowledge along to me.</p>
<p>It sounds like it would a lot less hassle to just do the repair themselves. Replace the flush valve and the flapper assembly all at once. Also, they need to turn off the water supply at the wall when the toilet is not in use.</p>
<p>Where is she? Policies differ from one utility to another. Here in NC we had an outsized water bill. I called the water company and of course all they did was come out and confirm the meter was ok. I also called our irrigation system guy (underground sprinklers) and he came out and found a small leak. Fixed it under warranty and gave us a letter. We forwarded the letter to our water company and one month later received a $250 credit on our water bill!! I was very pleasantly surprised. </p>
<p>If toilet was running constantly that certainly will use lots of water, would have been noticeable, and should not have been ignored.</p>
<p>One reason for an unusually large bill can be that it was estimated for a number of months, and someone finally came out to read the meter. Not all locales have remote reading capacity: ours doesn’t.</p>
<p>There is always the possibility of some kind of error: they should compare their current meter reading to the figure cited on the bill.</p>
<p>I suggest that they a) use the shut off valve after flushing, and b) immediately call a plumber if they can’t do the repair themselves. Even if they can’t get the management company to pay for it, it is cheaper than an $800 water bill. Before calling a plumber they should call or visit the management company and tell them that they have now been presented with an $800 water bill after repeated requests for repair have been ignored. Stay on the line or remain in the office until some action is agreed upon.</p>
<p>The running toilet may or may not be the problem, the other possibility is that there is a leak between the meter and the house ( see the irrigation system above). If I were them I would call the landlord and let him know there is a much higher bill and that they are concerned. They should ask the landlord if he wants to come check it out or does he want to have them call a plumber to check it out and they will have the plumber send him the bill. This level of water usage could be indicative of much bigger water problems in the building, and a good landlord will want to find the cause right away.</p>
<p>Hopefully, your daughter kept a copy or other proof they contacted the management company about the problem. I’d first contact the water company to have them check the meter in case it’s faulty or was misread. At the same time, contact the management company and tell them they may have a plumbing water leak. </p>
<p>As suggested, they should do a rough calculation to see what it would take to have used the extra volume of water and then compare it to the toilet. For example, flush the toilet, note the level when the main filling stops and time it until water flows down the overflow tube. That will give you a volume per minute flow. Compare that to the over usage to see if it’s even possible for the leaking to have caused it. I’d guess that it isn’t. Show it to the water and management company. I’d probably go as far to tell them they are responsible for the bill and you’ll be deducting it from the rent until it’s fixed.</p>
<p>Hopefully one of those contacts with the management company was in writing! Call the water dept. and have them check the meter/their equipment. The water company probably knows the property is rental so have the kids ask the water company if they can set aside the difference in the bill while they negotiatie with the landlord so that their credit isn’t hurt and their water is not shut off. Then they need to contact the management company and tell the management company they have notified the water department regarding the leak reminding the management company that they have not fixed the water problem and then follow up the conversation with a letter. Meanwhile if it is ONLY the toilet running tell them to use the shut off valve when they aren’t using the toilet! Tell them also to listen carefully for running water, there could be leak somewhere behind a wall or under a sink they aren’t aware of. Hopefully they can “negotiate” the increased water bill with the management company. If any of the kids is handy, they should be able to diagnose and repair if it’s simply a “toilet guts” problem but they are now in a stickly position with the managment company for the additional $600 bucks. Good luck to them!</p>
<p>Agree they need to pay attention. One of the duties of being a tenant or homeowner is listening to your place. DH was out of town this week. I came home from the gym one cold morning and immediately thought I heard water running near an irrigation valve by the front door. Went inside and clearly could hear what sounded like water running. I shut off the water to the house temporarily and only turned it back on when I needed it for short periods of time. We are on a fixed water bill-same price no matter how much you use-but I didn’t want to waste it.
If they had/have a constantly running toilet they need to insist landlord fixes it or learn how to fix it themselves or learn how to shut off the water to a toilet as needed.
Hopefully in this case they can negotiate with management company or water company.</p>
<p>Quick and dirty calculation: let’s say it’s 2 gallons per flush and the tank refills in two minutes. That’s a gallon a minute or 1,440 gallons per day. Even if the rate is half that, it’s a lot of water.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t use the valve to control water flow. I don’t think that they were designed for frequent use and if that goes, then you’ll need to find the next shutoff valve and replace the local valve. The best solution would be to fix it themselves with one or two standard plumbing kits from Home Depot or a local hardware store. The thing is that most people are scared of working on a toilet if they haven’t done so before. I would suggest looking on YouTube for videos on fixing toilets - I’ve never looked as there’s instruction on the packaging of repair kits but the videos might be reassuring for someone that’s never done repairs before.</p>
<p>Edit: I was at my son’s apartment today and noticed that the handle was loose. I just opened up the tank and tightened up the nut holding the handle in.</p>
<p>One funny water bill problem: one time I received a water bill for a huge amount of money. The water utility had just put in a new wireless metering system and they were off by three decimal places. The fixed the recording issue and our bill.</p>
<p>Our water company tends to give you one freebie. If you have an unusual bill and have not had one in the past they will adjust the bill. Granted we are part of a small water company.
Also as a landlord who pays water on some properties if you have a leak or hear water running please call the landlord. Someone is paying for that water even if it isn’t you.</p>