Huge increase in my buildings water usage. Can't figure out why.

I have a ten-unit building. The water usage for the last quarter is over 50% higher than the same quarter a year ago. The usage began sharply increasing late last year.
A few months ago I sent an email to each tenant asking if there are any toilets that continue to run after flushing or if there are any leaky faucets. No significant response. I happen to have been in about half the apartments in the past few months and didn’t see any problems.
A 50% usage increase is huge. Something must be going on. Any ideas?

starfish11040

in Landlord 13 years ago

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callalily | 13 years ago

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A flapper valve leak can be on and off randomly. Sometimes you need to jiggle the handle or it runs, sometimes it flushes correctly.

brokelin | 13 years ago

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yes, you would think a leak would leak consistently.  My guess is a leaky washer or toilet…that would explain the high night…a toilet that ran, when it usually does not, or a faucet was left on a bit.   go check all the toilets…flush a few times and see if it always shuts off immediately after filling.  there could be a flap not closing correctly in the tank, such that is sounds like it shuts off, but if you listen carefully after that, you willl hear a low trickle of water every few minutes….I have had this.  toilet parts sometimes wear out or need adjusting.  also, check how easy it is to completely shut off all faucets.  when they are wearing out, they can take a really hard twist to shut off, such that they are hard to turn on again.  They are not designed to be used that way…fix any that are hard to turn off so they turn off easily. If you just have people showering and cooking, one night could be higher sometimes if you have some night owls…taking a bath, cooking, cleaning, or handwashing sweaters after eleven p.m.  fix your stuff, if needed, and keep an eye on it…if it is not consistent, you may not heave a leak.  But I would ask a plumber if there is something that can cause an intermittent leak.

starfish11040 | 13 years ago

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http://cdn.brownstoner.com/4fbead4b1f7e9-processed-ChartImg.png

Here’s the graph of the very small usage in the middle of the day – smaller than even compared to the daytime usage back when the general usage was lower. If there were a leak it seems to me that that daytime usage would be much higher.

Bklnite | 13 years ago

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Look at other days too… the “hourly” periods seem to vary from day to day. It should drop off for periods when nobody’s home or they’re all asleep, but if a leak is the problem it won’t drop as much as it should. Look at usage from a the previous billing period, when your bill was lower. Maybe you have a crazy cat lady.

starfish11040 | 13 years ago

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Well, the DEP site shows that yesterday was a particularly heavy usage. So I displayed “hourly usage” for yesterday. What they call “hourly” is really four periods of six hours each. 9pm-3am, 3am-9am, 9am-3pm, and 3pm-9pm. They were all about the same except for the 9am-3pm slot which was MUCH less. Practically no water use. Makes sense because it was the daytime when almost all of them are at work. If it were a leak wouldn’t the daytime usage be higher? On the other hand, I found another day of heavy use where the 11pm-5am slot was the highest, which would suggest a leak. So its contradictory. It’s weird how each day is broken into different six-hour time slots. Confuses things.

Townie | 13 years ago

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The new web site is extremely helpful. Our bill was raised by more than two hundred dollars when a tenant started leaving the bathtub running so her cat could drink fresh water during the day.

bowl-of-dicks | 13 years ago

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maybe a tenant snuck a portable dishwasher in.

Bklnite | 13 years ago

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That was my building’s water usage for a period when the leaky toilet caused the quarterly bill to be about $500 more than normal.

huesos | 13 years ago

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Also, if you have a boiler with return lines that are under cement, look for water on the cement in that area or darker patches. You can lose a lot of water from buried return lines that are leaking. Also, emailing tenants is not sufficient. You have to inspect every apartment yourself.

Bklnite | 13 years ago

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Sounds like a leak. Do you have the automated meter reader? If so, look at your water usage at the dep site https://a826-amr.nyc.gov/DEP_AMRReads/ Check the monthly, daily and hourly usage graphs. If you find a day where the hourly usage gives you an overnight time – midnight to 5am or something like that – and usage doesn’t drop way down, then that would also suggest there’s a leak. You might want to go in to all the kitchens and bathrooms and look listen for the sound of running water while everything is off. I had a tenant with flushometer type toilet that was leaking. Tenent said there was no problem, but when I finally tracked it down and got it repaired the usage went back down after a couple of months of high bills.