Possible water meter issues?

[gregk24]

About 2 months ago I realized that our water meter wasn't reading properly (reading below our usage). I contacted the City right away so they could make it right on their end. They told me someone would look into it and they thanked me for letting them know. One month ago (one month after notifying about issue) I noticed our water consumption per the statement was 10 times higher than usual. I called the City and eventually they told me they would have a meter guy come out and take a look. I never heard back from them but did see evidence that they checked the meter.

Now, one month since then our bill is is 30 times higher than our usual average. I went out to the water meter to see if it was running even though our water was shut off. It appeared to not move at all! It even measures to the nearest hundredth of 1 gallon. I took video of the meter for 4 minutes and it didn't move at all.

I did some calculation, and the for the amount the City charged us we would have to use an average of 0.95 gallons per minute constantly for 30 days. That is what we were billed for.

When I received the bill I was concerned about a possible leak, I just don't see how we could have a leak if the meter didn't move at all over 4 minutes, not even 1 100th of a gallon. Am I missing something?

I did take video of the meter running with the kitchen faucet on full spray, as well as 4 minutes of the meter with everything shut off (showing no movement from meter). I even have a video were the meter was "spazzing out". It was flashing all zeros (000000000).

Hopefully the city will take care of me!

 

[WhyMe]

do they have someone come out and read it every month? sometimes they just do a guesstimate and at a certain time of the year have someone come and look at the meter. then suddenly one month the bill is quite a bit higher than normal

 

[Dinoburner]

Read the meter every day and check the toilets for a good flapper valve and that they aren`t overfilling. Think they measure cu feet of water.

 

[gregk24]

Originally Posted by WhyMe
do they have someone come out and read it every month? sometimes they just do a guesstimate and at a certain time of the year have someone come and look at the meter. then suddenly one month the bill is quite a bit higher than normal


Not sure. We received an electronic meter a couple months back, so I would think that it would be an accurate estimate every month.

 

[ZeeOSix]

Yeah, something is definitely wrong if the meter never registers water volume going through it. City definitely needs to come out and swap it out, and also adjust your water bill.

I've go a new-ish digital water meter that sends it's readout via radio antenna once a month. I checked it's calibration shortly after it was installed by the city. It measures down to 1/1000 of a cubic foot (0.957 ounce). As a measurement of meter accuracy, I filled up a 16 oz measuring cup at the kitchen sink and calculated how much the water meter measured ... it was right on.

 

[gregk24]

Originally Posted by ZeeOSix
Yeah, something is definitely wrong if the meter never registers water volume going through it. City definitely needs to come out and swap it out, and also adjust your water bill.

I've go a new-ish digital water meter that sends it's readout via radio antenna once a month. I checked it's calibration shortly after it was installed by the city. It measures down to 1/1000 of a cubic foot (0.957 ounce). As a measurement of meter accuracy, I filled up a 16 oz measuring cup at the kitchen sink and calculated how much the water meter measured ... it was right on.


The current meter is measuring water going through. I have it on video, with water running and video of the meter when all taps in the house are shut off. That is why I am so confused as to why the reading is so high! My big question is, why did the meter go into psycho mode and flash zeros on the screen (got that on video too). Maybe this is the cause?

 

[heynow]

No good deed goes unpunished

 

[Skippy722]

Originally Posted by gregk24

The current meter is measuring water going through. I have it on video, with water running and video of the meter when all taps in the house are shut off. That is why I am so confused as to why the reading is so high! My big question is, why did the meter go into psycho mode and flash zeros on the screen (got that on video too). Maybe this is the cause?


It might be doing a segment check, though they usually use the number 8 to do so.

 

[ZeeOSix]

Originally Posted by gregk24
The current meter is measuring water going through. I have it on video, with water running and video of the meter when all taps in the house are shut off. That is why I am so confused as to why the reading is so high! My big question is, why did the meter go into psycho mode and flash zeros on the screen (got that on video too). Maybe this is the cause?


Flashing 0s probably means it's defective. Could be it's sending bogus data to the water company and that's why your bill is sky high. If all you see is 0s on the display, then you can't check it's measuring calibration in any way. But you said above that the meter is measuring the water volume. How can you tell if all you see is flashing zeros?

 

[Aredeeem]

System wide meter replacements can cause havoc. My last house went thru the same thing. Meter was replaced and water company asked for estimated quarterly payments based on prior usage until the system was up and running which I dutifully paid. 1 year later I get a letter saying I owed them $800+. My estimated payments had been credited to the old meter/account. Things got straightened out eventually.

 

[gregk24]

Originally Posted by ZeeOSix
Originally Posted by gregk24
The current meter is measuring water going through. I have it on video, with water running and video of the meter when all taps in the house are shut off. That is why I am so confused as to why the reading is so high! My big question is, why did the meter go into psycho mode and flash zeros on the screen (got that on video too). Maybe this is the cause?


Flashing 0s probably means it's defective. Could be it's sending bogus data to the water company and that's why your bill is sky high. If all you see is 0s on the display, then you can't check it's measuring calibration in any way. But you said above that the meter is measuring the water volume. How can you tell if all you see is flashing zeros?


Because as I was monitoring the meter during normal operation it began flashing zeros. So it was working normally until then. Shortly after it returned to normal operation.

 

[WyrTwister]

Originally Posted by WhyMe
do they have someone come out and read it every month? sometimes they just do a guesstimate and at a certain time of the year have someone come and look at the meter. then suddenly one month the bill is quite a bit higher than normal


Yep .

 

[sloinker]

Water table is pretty high in most of Florida. Jackhammer in a point and use your own water. Cut the water company out of the equation altogether.

 

[gregk24]

I went down to City Hall this morning and spoke with a worker, he seemed dismissive but asked the City Clerk what she could do. They said they could check the meter and do a consumption test for $25 and if the meter is bad and we have no leak they would credit us half of the water bill back. Needless to say I asked to speak to the Clerk myself! After playing phone tag I was able to speak with her over the phone later today, she said they would have a meter man come out and check the meter, as well as check the daily water use over the past billing cycle and we will go from there.

I am just not convinced that we have a leak since the meter isn't ticking away on the leak indicator, even after an hour there was no change. I hope and pray they make this right and that we will get our money back!

 

[Dinoburner]

Originally Posted by gregk24
I went down to City Hall this morning and spoke with a worker, he seemed dismissive but asked the City Clerk what she could do. They said they could check the meter and do a consumption test for $25 and if the meter is bad and we have no leak they would credit us half of the water bill back. Needless to say I asked to speak to the Clerk myself! After playing phone tag I was able to speak with her over the phone later today, she said they would have a meter man come out and check the meter, as well as check the daily water use over the past billing cycle and we will go from there.

I am just not convinced that we have a leak since the meter isn't ticking away on the leak indicator, even after an hour there was no change. I hope and pray they make this right and that we will get our money back!

Depending on how long you have lived there should be a history of past usage which should help in your appeal to have the meter and electronic sending unit tested. Usually if the equipment checks out the customer pays. If someone comes out to test you should be there.

 

[Dave9]

I'd try to get the local news involved, see if they can get a segment on air about what is happening. There's no faster way to get things sorted out than massive public scrutiny.

 

[Aredeeem]

System wide meter replacements can cause havoc. My last house went thru the same thing. Meter was replaced and water company asked for estimated quarterly payments based on prior usage until the system was up and running which I dutifully paid. 1 year later I get a letter saying I owed them $800+. My estimated payments had been credited to the old meter/account. Things got straightened out eventually.

This was my response to a related thread. Water utilities DO make mistakes. However, they are anxious to dig in their heels. My quarterly payments went into a dead account. When the new meters arrived they came with delinquent amounts. To the tune off $800+. I wish I had saved the correspondence between the water company and me. I’d love to show you. It went from “you owe us $800” to “after investigation we have determined your dispute is without merit” to “Oh, our bad. We have credited your last 4 quarterly payments to your new meter/account and you owe us nothing”. This absolutely happened to me.

 

[Aredeeem]

Just curious. How’d you make out?

 

[parshisa]

interesting. So, last month, I've noticed that my water usage was quite low for the month (although it was raining a lot and I haven't watered the lawn as much if at all, so figured it could be that). I've started monitoring consumption and having regular watering regime this past month readings were certainly lower than they probably should've been. A week ago i received a bill and it read 3,000gpm over the actual reading on the meter (previous reading was 620, and it currently reads 621, and the bill says it's at 624). And there's a guy that monthly goes around and collects the reading. So i'm not even sure who to reach out to about this. Is that a mud district office? and I assume meter's functionality is not my responsibility, correct?

 

[Aredeeem]

Meter’s functionality is not your responsibility until it results in a water bill that is higher than normal. Disclaimer[I’m not an expert with this]. But I can tell you from experience that it took me a long time to get my estimated payments properly credited and clear my account. Had I sat down and written a check to them for $800.00 and not consistently disputed this would they have reimbursed me at some point?