Water Bill High During Winter/Leak in Pipes?
Our water bill for the past 3 months was $670.00. Is that from the boiler? When the boiler is not running, it is $300 or so. Does this mean we have a leak in the pipes?
Our water bill for the past 3 months was $670.00. Is that from the boiler? When the boiler is not running, it is $300 or so. Does this mean we have a leak in the pipes?
Walk through your house and try the dye test on ALL toilets (tenant’s unit included). Check all sinks for drips. Follow JRE’s instructions on the meter in your cellar. If you have an AMR, consider registering your account so you can watch usage during the day. Just one constantly running toilet can increase your quarterly bill by as much as $1,000 (I speak from experience with a tenant who did not mention the problem). If not a DIY repair, call your plumber, not DEP.
first of all, you have to make sure that you have been billed based on actual readings and not estimated (look at the bill readings).
Second check if the meter is moving (see jre’s instructions above) even when no water is being used, best to do this over an hour or so.
based on the number you have provided and the size of the property, it’s very likely that you have a small leak.
DEP is useless in this case.
if the meter keeps rolling = you have a leak = call a plumber. His fee will be paid fast with the savings from a leaks free home.
it is true you may have a leak. However, if you have a steam heat system your water bill will reflect a higher usage ( as opposed to a hot water system). Steam systems are constantly adding water into your boiler to create steam. my water bill for a 7 unit building goes up from $400/quater in the summer to $1000/quarter in the winter.
DO NOT call DEP.
Yes, the toilet leak may not be the flapper but the valve, in which case, when you remove the top of the tank, you will see the water up to the level of the overflow tube in the middle of the tank.
We have a 2-family with a single tenant who is not home much. We are 2 adults and 2 children. I always make sure the toilet is not running. Guess I’ll have to call Dep. Thanks for advice.
The best way to check if you have a leak, is to look at the triangle on the meter. If the triangle is spinning when no one is suppose to be using the water, like late in the evening or early morning, then you have a leak somewhere.
Have someone watch the triangle, while another person goes from fixture to fixture to shut off one fixture at a time, until you see which shut off causes the triangle to stop spinning. Fix the problem and the triangle should no longer spin.
Check the triangle once every couple of weeks.
If your building has one of the new remote water meter readers, you can also check usage online, go to nyc.gov/dep register your account and you can watch your usage 3 or 4 times per day, if you see usage during the hours when no one is home, there is a leak somewhere.
Good luck,
How big is the building? We have a two-family and the bill is $80 every quarter.
Definitely a leak; but $300/quarter is already a high bill unless you’ve got a multifamily property or a very, VERY large family. There are many videos and links online that describe how to add food coloring to toilet tanks to check for hidden leaks. Also online descriptions of how to check the water meter in your cellar. Here are two more that might interest you:
A new leak notification program: http://bit.ly/fvi3LQ
A chart describing leaks and their cost: http://bit.ly/8c66Au