Unusuallly high water usage - new meter

[britecity]

Hi all,

I am in NYC and had my meter changed about a year ago. The first quarterly bill was estimated and about normal. The second bill was an actual read and more than 2X the highest usage during a particularly slow time. The following actual read was about normal as well.

We did not have any leaks(that we know about) so I am wondering how this could be. We never had this problem with the old meters in the 4 previous years. Is there a possibility that something was up with the new meter?

Any ideas are welcome!

Thanks in advance,
Frank

[britecity]

So after thinking about this I think I know what the problem might have been. The new meter was not zeroed. Has anyone seen this before? Can I fight this with the NYC DEP?

In case you are wondering, the landlord was not giving us the bills and that's why we are just finding this out(shame on us).

[laundryboy2]

Are you sure they read the meter correctly. Was the begin reading from the old meter and end from the new?

[James2011]

Hi all,

I am in NYC and had my meter changed about a year ago. The first quarterly bill was estimated and about normal. The second bill was an actual read and more than 2X the highest usage during a particularly slow time. The following actual read was about normal as well.

We did not have any leaks(that we know about) so I am wondering how this could be. We never had this problem with the old meters in the 4 previous years. Is there a possibility that something was up with the new meter?

Any ideas are welcome!

Thanks in advance,
Frank

the guy who read the new meter add "000", instead of "00"?
check it out how many zeros on the meter...

[jh]

Hi all,

I am in NYC and had my meter changed about a year ago. The first quarterly bill was estimated and about normal. The second bill was an actual read and more than 2X the highest usage during a particularly slow time. The following actual read was about normal as well.

We did not have any leaks(that we know about) so I am wondering how this could be. We never had this problem with the old meters in the 4 previous years. Is there a possibility that something was up with the new meter?

Any ideas are welcome!

Thanks in advance,
Frank

Some people had the same feeling about the new water meter and AMR system. You may find more information here on NBC News.
http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Water-Meters-Stir-Suspicion-116286949.html

[britecity]

Thanks for the article. Now I know who I can go to if I don't get anywhere with the DEP. As the article says, my water usage is up in the two bills after the high bill but business is the same. Definitely need to have them come check the accuracy(which they charge for!).

@newbie123, not a matter of an extra zero.
@laundryboy2, not sure what they did when the meter was changed. I posted a reply to my own post where I think that maybe the meter was not at zero when they installed it.

[MrMachine]

Sometimes an old water meter due to age will "slip" allowing more water through it than it actually registers. Thus when you put in a new meter and get the "real" reading, you are unpleasantly surprised.
For this reason I don't like to change old meters unless absolutely necessary.

[britecity]

How much more have you seen a new meter read? Not counting the first off the wall read, I am seeing about 40% higher reading than before the meter was changed. Seems like an awful lot.

Does anyone know the formula to calculate the number of turns from the water usage?

[sloassmac]

Sometimes an old water meter due to age will "slip" allowing more water through it than it actually registers. Thus when you put in a new meter and get the "real" reading, you are unpleasantly surprised.
For this reason I don't like to change old meters unless absolutely necessary.

That's an excellent point, I had the same issue on a rental property I own. That's probably your issue. On another note, I had a break between the street and property once. Bill was so large that the water company contacted me about it even before the bill came out. After a short conversation, they even split the bill with me as long as I had it repaired promptly.