I can’t view Youtube from here, but I’m pretty sure I know what that video is, and it’s the very first thing that popped into my mind too.
Or they have neighbors in their basement wondering why their sump pump hasn’t turned off for two weeks.
I don’t see why you are waiting to call the utility.
You don’t have to solve the mystery before you call them. They are going to have to dig up your yard.
I’m kind of confused: What do you mean by ‘between the meter and the house’? My meter is on the main line coming in the basement, therefore my meter is in the house. There is a remote meter attached to the side of the house, but it has a line running to the meter in the basement.
My meter is on the road, about 200 Ft from the house.
I had a problem like this a couple of decades a ago. It turned out there was a leak in the underground pipe between the meter and the house. It wasn’t obvious for a while because most of the water just soaked into the ground.
You get a water bill only 3 times per year? A water line break could bankrupt someone in that amount of time!
Why don’t you just use 6 times less water, so it evens out?
Do you have a whole house humidifier attached to your furnace? I have to continually monitor mine since the solenoid valve easily gets corroded and stuck in the ‘open’ position leaving a continuous flow 24/7.
I work for a city, and 99% of the time, a situation such as yours is because of a faulty meter. They’re easy to replace and the city shouldn’t charge you for it, and they should adjust your bill to a “normal” amount, based on previous usage.
The other 1% of the time it’s a leak, and it’s usually on the city’s property, not the resident’s. Other cities may operate differently, but when it happens here, we don’t wait for the resident to hire a plumber. Nobody wants to waste water.
How often do you get a water bill? I thought 3-4 times a year was normal.
Mine is monthly and has been everywhere I’ve lived. Even when I was a kid, it was monthly.
Monthly water bill for me as well.
Most meters in my experience are out right off the curb, while most main valves are somewhere inside (usually) or right outside of the house. Depending on what type of distance you have from house to road, it can be anywhere from 20-30 feet to something more like hundreds of feet. Where I live the meter reader doesn’t even need to get off her scooter to check. “Water bill is 6x normal” isn’t too descriptive, especially when its on a 3 month cycle, but assuming a normal american house usage of 1-2k gallons/month, you could easily imagine several thousand gallons going somewhere fairly quickly if it’s a water main break.
It sounds like the OP is already working on it, but the first step would be to close the main in the house and watch/listen to the meter. If it’s between the street and the house, most likely the city will repair it, but if it only runs when the main is open you need to look for something inside the house, preferably before the dishwasher falls through the kitchen floor.
I get ours twice a year! Our meter is right on the house.
The utility does not do this - they are responsible for getting the water to the property line, which is where the meter is located. I am responsible for anything from then on. If there is any digging to be done, it will be done by a private company, on my dime.
Update:
After much fiddling, testing, turning the main on and off, measuring, etc. It looks like there may not be a leak at all. That’ll teach me for listening to someone who was going on about “there must be a leak somewhere! Keep looking!”
So… No leak.
The current operating theory is that the meter reader messed up the PREVIOUS reading 4 months ago, so we are only NOW paying for the summer’s lawn and garden watering.
Or maybe someone is stealing water from us somehow? This seems unlikely.
Then your last bill should have been low. If you got a bill that was 6 times higher then it should have been, somewhere along the line, you should have a low bill. Happens sometimes. But it should all get reconciled.
Anyways. When you go to bed tonight, mark the number on the meter and shut off the water to the house. Check it in the morning. It should be the same. When you leave for work, do it again. Again, it should be the same when you get home.
Or, just call the number on the bill and you don’t have to do any detective work. They’ve seen billing problems, leaks, burst mains, people trying to get discounts, water theft…they’ve seen it all. Let them come and figure it out. They want it straightened out just as much as you do and they’ve got the tools to do it.
I’m confused - yesterday you ruled out a reading error because the meter was so much higher 6 days after the last read. Now you think a reading error on the penultimate bill is your main cause?
When you turned off the water did you leave it for an hour or so to be sure you don’t have a relatively slow leak?
As someone mentioned earlier check your toilets for a slow leak. I had that happen in my house once. Fill valve wasn’t shutting off completely and water was running down the overflow tube. The slow leak wasted over 5000 gallons in a month.
Where I live the water meter is in the basement so that would rule out an underground main leak running up the bill.