Strange Water Situation

[clguy]

I purchased this laundry about 8 months ago. The main water line was only a 1" line but the laundry has been there for 30+ years and I tested the washers fill rate before I bought it. There didn't seem to be a problem with the amount of water coming in. About a month or two in I found a second incoming 3/4" line hidden back behind the boilers. I mentioned this to the landlord whos family has owned the building for 40 years and they didn't know anything about this. My city water bill stated that I had a 1" line. I was a little worried because it seemed like I might be getting unmetered water that I wasn't paying for. Well 8 months later it turns out I was right. I'm pulling extra water from the coffee shop next door (owned by the landlord's son). I've been getting free water from the landlord for 8 months now and its likely that this has been going on for years. How would you guys handle this situation? I can think of a few choices.

1 - Turn it off and make do with supplying 32 washers with a 1" line.

2 - Put in a meter on that line so I can just pay the coffee shop for any of their water that I use.

3 - Turn off that line and put in a cold water storage tank to help buffer usage during busy times if my 1" line can't handle the volume.

Any other thoughts?

Jim

[chad]

The big question is....Did the previous owner know about this..
What if your water bill is 30% more now?

[Adamski]

Jim,

I think the biggest risk to you is if the coffee shop were to close, it's water might get shut off thus causing you to lose the flow through that 3/4" line.

Installing a cold water storage tank would not supplement your 1" line's flow unless you incorporated a pressure pump on the outlet of the storage tank and some type of intake control that would delay refilling the tank until water demand dropped to a lower level.

I think the simplest and easiest way to deal with this issue would be to work out a deal with Mr Coffee Shop owner for the water you are using. Since he's probably getting his water for free from Mr Landlord (dear old dad); he might be willing to cut you a pretty sweet deal on that supplemental water service. I'm thinking something like a $25/month flat fee.

[clguy]

The big question is....Did the previous owner know about this..

Good question but I doubt he knew. The city and the landlord didn't even know.

I think the biggest risk to you is if the coffee shop were to close

Now that is something I hadn't thought of. I'll have to take that into consideration as I figure out what to do about this.

Jim

[laundryboy2]

My concern is this: Are you sure you are NOT suppling the coffee shop?

A simple test; shut off the 3/4" line and see how you opperate.

Otherwise, I wouldn't say a word.

[clguy]

The coffee shop has a wireless unit that monitors their water meter usage. Over the weekend I borrowed this and after they closed for the night I reset the unit to zero. I then monitored their water usage with the 3/4" line in the laundry turned off. For a 30 minute period the coffee shop used 2 gallons of water. I then turned off my main 1" line and turned on the 3/4" line to force all water usage to come from that line. I started about seven washers and then checked the meter after 15 minutes. The coffee shop meter read 106 gallons for that 15 minute period.

Otherwise, I wouldn't say a word.

Oh I think they know :). The current water bills just arrived. My bill was for 87,000 gallons of water and the coffee shop's bill was for 90,000 gallons of water. The coffee shop thinks they use about 17k gallons of water a month so that would mean I used about 73,000 gallons of their water. Oops. One of the major problems with this situation is that the city sets their rates by projected usage. Since the coffee shop is way over the budget their water charges are $13.75 per 1000 gallons.

This is going to get ugly.

Jim

[chad]

Did you look at water bills during DD?

[laundryboy2]

With the given information, I would shut off the 3/4" line and be done with it. Your water bill will obvoisly increase and you should adjust your prices accordingly. If the other tenant tries to come after you, they should have done 'Due Diligence' also - not your responsibility.

You lease the space and did NOT make changes that would effect your water supply. You did not steal water from the other tenant - the plumbing was 'what is was'. They should be happy you did their job.

This is not how they will see it!

[clguy]

Luckily I have pretty reasonable landlords (no CAM fees). To resolve this whole mess I took over both meters for the entire property. By taking over both meters I won't have to pay to have a sub-meter put in. This arrangement lets the city adjust the rates properly by counting in both the coffee shop and the laundry in one bill. The coffee shop will pay me a flat $100 rate based on their usage in the past. Any water I have used from this line in the past is forgiven since they say it wasn't my fault that the water lines were setup that way. This is probably about the best solution I could have managed.

Jim