If you have water and sewer charges separate on your bill, they can give you a break on the sewer charges. Sometimes they can’t give you a break on the water because then it would be ‘giving away water’.
Laws are different in different places though, so you might get a break on the whole thing. Just thought I’d mention it.
BTW my hubby left the water on all night once last month. It only added about ten bucks to the water bill.
Thanks for mentioning that. I don’t think it’s separate here but maybe if they’re inflexible on some I can get a break there.
I did the math on what the water company reported and it’s around $175 in usage from that hose. Fortunately I live in a place with plenty of water or I’m sure it would be even uglier.
The yard isn’t soggy any more. All of this happened about five days ago (okay, six now) so it’s had time to dry out.
You really should have just moved those lawn chairs…
I guess I’m not paranoid shutting off the water at the main for vacations.
I’m betting on a neighborhood kid having done this.
Thats always a good idea. Nothing coming home to a flooded house. A pipe in your house can burst. The water line to the washer. The line to the dishwasher or refrigerator.
Of course if you turn of the water main, make sure you turn off the water heater too! And if its a gas water heater make sure you turn it off and on correctly as well!
I remember the time we came home from a vacation to find our bottom floor holding five inches of water, thanks to a malfunctining water heater. My mom may/may not have nearly got electrocuted from a submerged power strip. Good times, good times…
Yep, when our dog had puppies on the sly, I caught the neighbor rugrats climbing over our 7-8 foot solid wood fence to play with the cute widdle furballs, nevermind that our dog was a surly customer with nine very new puppies to protect. :eek:
To this day, I’m glad they didn’t break their fool necks or get bitten before I kicked them out.
Some children (and adults) can and will do anything because they haven’t caught onto the word “consequences”.
That said, that was a really crappy thing to happen to your yard. 
Well… yeah. But I think it’s important that first you make him pee his pants. Don’t want to miss out on that. It is after all where the term “golden opportunity” comes from.
Practically everybody, if what I read in the news every day is true.
Really? My cousins considered the dobermans fair game, too… you didn’t?
Why would you need to turn off the water heater? If you’re away and the main is off, no water will be leaving the system so the heater will just keep reheating the water in the tank. No?
Sounds like it’s time to invest in security cameras, providing you have any money left over after paying the water bill.
In theory its okay to leave it on. If murphy starts a water heater leak or the the thermostat sticks on high, your water heater could be eventually running dry. I doubt that is good for them, and could also possibly be a fire hazard, though I don’t know for sure.
I dont do this stuff half the time myself. But it doesnt hurt…
I’d think the bigger problem would be empty, hot water heater + cold water flowing back in when you get home and turn the water back on = explosion.
It’s your own fault for going on vacation.
Hmmm… an exact age…sounds to me like someone here knows a little bit more then they are letting on! 
I think our water costs are average - we pay ~ $1 per 1000 gallons. Earlier you said you thought they caught it after a day. 175,000 gallons in a day would be 121 gallons per minute. Even if it was on for five days, that would be 24 gallons per minute.
That’s one hell of a hose.
Or could your water be that expensive? At 5 gallons per minute (still an impressive hose), running for five days, that’s $5 per 1000 gallons.
Maybe I dropped a decimal point somewhere, but as a reality check, my pool is 20,000 gallons. It took 3 days to fill with two garden hoses. My bill was maybe $40 higher.
On preview, I can’t believe I’m posting to dispute the capacity of JustSomeGuy’s hose.
Heh. I read the rates on their site as 7 cents per gallon. Looking at a previous bill, though, and doing the math based on that it looks more like it’s much cheaper. Must you take all my outrage from me?
You can still be outraged:
[CrankyOldManMode] Hey! Kid! Get off my lawn [/CrankyOldManMode]
Did she rush to apologize before you even mentioned it? And shift her eyes? How well do you really know these people?
And, where was the cat all this time? How well do you really know the cat? Perhaps s/he was angry at you for leaving.