Waterbill explosion - what shall we do?

[Munich]

Hello all, 

We are living in Europe 10 months a year and came back to Huay Yai two days ago. Yesterday we got our waterbill for the period April 8th to May 8th, unbelivable 450 units for 12.498,67 baht! Normaly we will use 40 units in average. From 8th of May until yesterday we have allready another 80 units on the clock, I checked the meter  - seems okay, no leaks anywhere. 

As we normaly deduct from BKK bank, we stopped this, but it will not help longtime. Pattaya waterworks are not willing to discuss this matter. WHAT CAN WE DO? Any ideas?

Thx Munich

PS - Changing the meter was the first thing on my mind, but then... 

[Crossy]

You do almost certainly have a leak. Look for dribbly taps, toilet valves etc.

 

With everything off is the meter moving?

 

That said, it is possible for the meter to go potty if there's a lot of air in the supply, have you notices taps spluttering?

 

Do you have a pump and tank?

 

[johng]

I would bet on toilet running constantly....but if your not there for 10 months why not turn off the stop valve at the meter....my next door neighbor does this religiously every day when he goes to work and back on again when home...why he doesn't fix his leaky toilet I dont know !

[petermik]

7 hours ago, johng said:

...my next door neighbor does this religiously every day when he goes to work and back on again when home...why he doesn't fix his leaky toilet I dont know !

Fixing leaky toilet much too difficult.....turning valve of easy

[ivor bigun]

We once had a leak between meter and house.even then our bill was nowhere near that

Sent from my SM-A720F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[Anythingleft?]

As mentioned, with the stop valve closed is the meter turning?
If it is then you either have a leak or a naughty neighbour.... it could be a faulty meter but check the easy ones first before laying out any more money..

Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk

[Munich]

Me again, just checked again, 2 unit = 2.000 litre used today with taking two showers.(8.30 am to 10.30 pm).

I can't see the clock moving when all tabs are closed.

Btw, we have a company taking care of the house, (weekly gardener,

pool boy, cleaner). No running toilet.

Tomorrow they will check again.

450.000 litres will be enough filling my pool x 16 times! I don't think it's possible to use /loose this much water without flooding our mini Soi !

Thx to all

[Thailand J]

A serious leak or the meter has gone crazy ?.

 

[uwe_rayong]

That can not be a leaky toilet.

450,000 a month = 15,000 litres a day. That means each and every minute you would use more then 10 litres, 24 hours and 30 days.

If on one day your usage is 2 units and the other day 15 units I would assume the meter is the problem. If it is a leak, it should be similar usage every day.

 

 

 

[cornishcarlos]

Someone is selling your water...

They are filling barrels or whatever and taking it back to the village to sell.

450,000 is not a dripping tap and if it were a leak of that size, there would be some indication..

 

I suggest you leave everything as it is and see how this month works out. 

If it is a normal amount then as said above, someone is taking the p-ss

[chakatee]

8 hours ago, Munich said:

450.000 litres will be enough filling my pool x 16 times!

a 20sqm pool?

[banglay]

Is your swimming pool the overflow type? ...this type have a compensation  tank which automatically tops up the water water level  using a floating ball cock ....if your swimming pool has a leak it will just keep topping up the water level to keep the equilibrium of the water  ...if you have  a overflow pool it will be worth tiring up the ball cock and seeing if the water level in your pool drops over time...just a thought

[asiamaster]

Underground leaks are hard to detect but it could be the cause. We used to have a sprinkler system in the garden which was closed off but later the still existing pipe started leaking.

Edited May 23, 2018 by asiamaster

[maccastime]

We had a similar problem some time ago got a water bill which was not as high as this one mentioned, but was really high. Found the problem was in the outside water tank.the ball had come away from the arm. Thus causing water to run all the time into the tank and then out of the overflow into the street drain. Not sure if u have this type of tank though

[xtrnuno41]

Your meter is a positive displacement meter, when tapping water and AIR is also passed in the meter, your meter will run fast.

Your meter should only have water in it. Maybe air is sucked in before the meter and disturbing your meter. But then only when water is tapped ! You have a water tank after the meter? As if there is air running in the pipe you should know when tapping water, your waterflow should be sputtering.

You have no waterflow when all is off, so no leakage then to the house.

Someone changed your meter while you were gone? IS modelnr, range still the same? Somewhere this info is available?

Someone made an error on reading the meter and misplaced a comma? There should be a begin and end metering time.

You could try with the water company, talking with the highest in rank about the abnormal amount. You probably have prove of your use in water from periods before the problem.   

[Cricky]

A mate of mine had a similar bill. What was found his underground water tank float level broke and water continued to fill the tank, that water went straight out the overflow into the street which was hidden.

 

I have had a few floats replaced, the hinge/split-pin rusts letting the tank fill continually.

 

Now I only by the best/dearest float for my water tank.

 

Everyone who has an underground water tank should take note.

[wombat]

pay the bin and stop having so many showers?

[Granit]

A friend of mine had a similar bill. Altough not quite as bad, but a few 100% over their normal usage.
After a lot of arguments with the water company they agreed to verify the calibration of the meter they took it in and did the calibration with my friend overseeing the procedure, Turns out it was way off. They got their bill reduced to their normal amount and the meter changed. Had the meter turned out to be ok, they would have had to pay for the calibration as well.

[Formaleins]

20 hours ago, ivor bigun said:

We once had a leak between meter and house.even then our bill was nowhere near that

Sent from my SM-A720F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app
 

My thoughts too, that has to be one hell of a leak for that water bill, surprised they aren't going around in boats.

[stephenterry]

You could try with the water company, talking with the highest in rank about the abnormal amount. You probably have prove of your use in water from periods before the problem.   

 

This previous suggestion is the recommended route. I would camp on their doorstep until they got off their high-horses and did something about it - meaningful. Alternatively, pay a water-tank technician from Home-Pro to come out and take a butchers, including the tank and meter.

 

From what's written and ongoing, it's (most likely) either an underground leak or a pool leak.  If that's not a fault while you are residing, then someone has filtered off your tank in your absence. 

[4MyEgo]

I used to manage 400 properties as a manager years ago and used to pay some overseas Landlords bills, one of which was off the rickture scale.

 

Got a plumber in to check for leaking pipes and the lot, and to also test the metre, nothing found, did some detective work and found the property was vacant for 1/3 of the period, then went back to the property and looked over the fence, found a neighbour with a swimming pool, then I started talking to neighbours, was told the house was behind with the swimming pool was a leased property, suffice to say one neighbour was king enough to tell me that the hose from that tenants property was hooked up to my Landlords property and put straight through the fence to the pool.

 

I asked him if was prepared to make a statement to the police about it, he said no problem as he couldn't stand the tenant, so I sent a letter to the tenant with a copy of the water rate bill advising that I had a witness who saw him filling up the pool from my Landlords property and that I would press charges with the police unless a cheque was paid to our Landlord in the name of XYZ within 7 days.

 

You wouldn't believe it, a cheque arrived in my Landlords name for the full amount which we banked and credited our Landlord.

 

Have you looked over your neighbours fence of late, do any of them have pools ?

 

Just asking 555

[ronaldo0]

I would say your pool is something to do with it.

I had a valve stuck open by a tiny piece of coconut shell before and it just kept filling the pool and draining away . Bill was 12,000 bht for the month but the house was vacant so I didn’t notice till next month.

Also another house our reserve pool tank underground fills to a level before cutting off. When there is flooding and excess goes into the street so the tank doesn’t overfill . New pool company opened a valve to fill this and didn’t notice the bouy that cuts it off was burst so for two days they poured our water into the street. 

[KhunBENQ]

15 hours ago, Munich said:

Me again, just checked again, 2 unit = 2.000 litre used today with taking two showers.(8.30 am to 10.30 pm). 

I can't see the clock moving when all tabs are closed.

 

1 hour ago, xtrnuno41 said:

Someone made an error on reading the meter and misplaced a comma?

 

2 hours, 2 showers, 2000 liter and no move of the clock when tabs are closed.

Either more like comma misplaced two digits or meter completely mad.

 

Even our water wasting granddaughter will not use 1000(!) liter for a hair wash.

 

Can you take pictures of your water meter?

 

[KhunBENQ]

I just checked our meter (it's kind of dead as we have our own well since long).

It shows 4 digits and I am quite sure the last one is a decimal place after the comma.

So what did you read before and after shower?

 

450 -> 45 units?

45 is not a little but somewhat plausible depending on your customs, watering?

Edited May 23, 2018 by KhunBENQ

[rwill]

2 things to check first.  One is that the meter reading on the bill is close to what the meter actually says, allowing for additional usage since the reading.  Two is there should be a spinner on the meter.  Make sure no water is running in your home and see if the spinner is still spinning (or check the meter reading and see if it is still moving).  If it is there is a leak.  

 

[seeallandmore]

21 hours ago, Anythingleft? said:

As mentioned, with the stop valve closed is the meter turning?
If it is then you either have a leak or a naughty neighbour.... it could be a faulty meter but check the easy ones first before laying out any more money..

Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk
 

10 months away?  I would take meter out , capp it, photo and document it

[andygrr]

 A few years back we were getting excessively high water bills. It turned out we had an underground brick lined water storage tank. The problem was the bricks were not sealed properly and water was leaking through the walls to ground. We filled in the tank and replaced it with a stainless steel above ground storage tank.   No more problems.

[terminatorchiangmai]

On 5/22/2018 at 5:26 PM, johng said:

I would bet on toilet running constantly....but if your not there for 10 months why not turn off the stop valve at the meter....my next door neighbor does this religiously every day when he goes to work and back on again when home...why he doesn't fix his leaky toilet I dont know !

 

Sounds like my crazy Korean neighbour , that put blankets on his car also every day after he closed the tap.

[phantomfiddler]

On 5/22/2018 at 3:26 AM, johng said:

I would bet on toilet running constantly....but if your not there for 10 months why not turn off the stop valve at the meter....my next door neighbor does this religiously every day when he goes to work and back on again when home...why he doesn't fix his leaky toilet I dont know !

I agree totally. I had a setup where the old ball and diaphragm rig was in all my cisterns. My water bills slowly rose to over 6,000 bht a month !!! and I was totally convinced a neighbor had tapped into my system. All cured when I replaced all the valves with the U.S. made sudden shut-off valves and the water bills immediately reverted to around 100 bht.

[connda]

Waterbill explosion - what shall we do?

 

Just send a 12.498,67 THB funds transfer to the utility company at the Bank of Nigeria. 

Edited May 23, 2018 by connda