Snake on side of road On Nut

[mallmagician]

I have just this minute had the water guy going round checking the meter. He rang my doorbell to inform me that from last month, somehow my water consumption has jumped to over 250 units, and he informed me my bill will likely be 2400baht up this month.

I have just asked my wife to call the water company, as clearly something is wrong with their meter, or possibly the pipes just by the meter have been damaged underground, although I wouldn't know how that would happen.

I had no songkran party at home, and there has been no leaking pipes or anything of the sort. One of the toilets did break last month, which resulted in water flowing through the cistern until I fixed it. But 2500 baht worth of water??? I dont think so.

Usually I have no bill as its so low.

Ideas? Suggestions?

[debcmai]

we had the same trouble...in fact I have been refusing to pay for the past two months. jumped in one month from just under 200 baht, to OVER 900 baht! AND that month we hardly used any water at all, did not water the lawn, we send our clothes out to be washed...only 3 of us live in the house. cannot understand it. We live in Kulapuntville 5, wondering if you are nearby and if there a problem with the mains???

[mallmagician]

Im in Pimuk in San Sai. So I dont think its the same mains. Plus, Im sure the guy would have been going up and down the street telling everyone their bill had jumped.

I do fear it was my running toilet, but 2500 seems like an awful lot of money for the level a running toilet could use.

I dont run a waterpark or a swimming pool, so Im wondering how long until they cut me off if I refuse to pay?

[Spoonman]

I had my water bill bill jump 2000b about 12 months ago, turned out one of the pvc pipes that ran under the floor to the kitchen tap out the back had cracked and was leaking...... hel_l of a mess was made to my place whilst they traced pipe work to find it.

[mjnaus]

We have had the exact same problem a month ago (we live in Hatyai), our usual water bill varies around 300 baht; however all of a sudden it went to 1200baht. We also first thought the meter was broken and called the water company to come and check. They came by the next day and checked the meter which turned out the be working fine. Next, we contacted a handyman to have a look at the pipes on our property; as it turned out, the pipes below the concrete were cracked and due to an increased water pressure (they recently improved the main pipes out on the street) more and more water was leaking under the concrete.

Don't be too quick by blaming the water company; the problem may very well be with your pipes.

Forgot to mention, don't be stubborn and pay the bills. If you don't they will cut off your water supply sooner or later...

Edited May 6, 2010 by mjnaus

[mallmagician]

Spoonman, well, it looks as if I may have jumped the gun, and my leaky toilet could theoretically use that level of water, especially as a cracked pipe made yours jump 2000.

mjnaus - Yes, indeed I will have to pay it I guess, but am just wondering how long I can delay that.

A sudden unexpected trip to the UK in 2 days has left me very poor this month. So as long as my wife sweet talks them to give us some breathing room, then no harm done.

Cheers all

Phil

[toptuan]

Turn of all water in the house (toilet inlet, sinks, etc.), and check the little spinner most water meters have on their dials. If it's still spinning, you have a leak. When all my pipes are in order (frequently broken by tree roots), the spinner is dead-still.

[angiud]

2400 baht.

Astronomical.

[Puwa]

I've never observed any science behind the water bills. They just rise and fall on their own, for the hel_l of it.

[mallmagician]

Yep, its not moving, so its not a current leak. Must have been the loo problem. Oh well, will see what my wife can work out with the water people regarding deferring payment until Im back from the UK.

[Maejo Man]

Yep, its not moving, so its not a current leak. Must have been the loo problem. Oh well, will see what my wife can work out with the water people regarding deferring payment until Im back from the UK.

I had a leaking loo for about a month (just too idle to fix it) then I got the water bill!!! Jumped from the normal 500 to just on 1000, and got fixed the day I go the bill. Your 2500 sounds a little high, even for a leaking loo. However, the meters they use here, are "positive displacement" meters, and sadly, are pretty accurate, so no recourse. The internal rotor will only "displace" the ammount of water that has passed through the meter. If it's not moving with everything shut off, it's not the meter.

[garyh]

Doesn't pay to jump to conclusions so quickly.

[Blindtigar]

Water Co is very strict here. If you do not pay the bill by the 2nd month they will come and take your meter and on top of the bill you will then have to pay between 5 and 6 hundred Bt to get the meter back.

I had a problem with my bill and wanted them to check the meter was told they would do but if nothing was wrong with the meter I would have to pay around 200 bt.

After 2 months of getting high bill, it went back to normal, I still don't know why I had the problem as my water usage is always the same month to month.

Good luck

[sarahsbloke]

read your own meter every week, note the reading on a calandar, then there won't be a problem.

[doppa]

if you have a leak anywhere the water pump will be running continiously, because it thinks your running water so check that first.

[Donnyboy]

we have had water bill spikes from time to time

on one occassion the toilet cistern was running all night, result 500 baht bill

another occassion the hose came off the tap, and ran all night, result 500 baht

it usually comes in around 200-300 baht, and thats watering the garden as well

ps. the pump doesnt have to run continuously should there be a leak, the leak could occur between the meter and the pump, you wouldnt know unless there was a pool of water somewhere in between or when the bill came

actually we have a garden tap which isnt pressurised by the pump, the moo baan has a water tower which keeps the water mains pressurised so if the power when off we still get a shower abiet a slow one

Edited May 6, 2010 by Donnyboy

[Donnyboy]

mjnaus - Yes, indeed I will have to pay it I guess, but am just wondering how long I can delay that.

drip feed them,

sorry couldnt resist

[doppa]

we have had water bill spikes from time to time

on one occassion the toilet cistern was running all night, result 500 baht bill

another occassion the hose came off the tap, and ran all night, result 500 baht

it usually comes in around 200-300 baht, and thats watering the garden as well

ps. the pump doesnt have to run continuously should there be a leak, the leak could occur between the meter and the pump, you wouldnt know unless there was a pool of water somewhere in between or when the bill came

actually we have a garden tap which isnt pressurised by the pump, the moo baan has a water tower which keeps the water mains pressurised so if the power when off we still get a shower abiet a slow one

very true.

[Donnyboy]

in some parts of NZ, theres 2 charges for water

one is for water consumed, then they have the cheek to charge a percentage of it as discharge wastewater

discharge used to be covered in house rates for local government

this probably occurs elsewhere i the western world i would assume

[NancyL]

We had a similar problem in the U.S. and first did the obvious of checking that the meter wasn't spinning when all the taps were off. (It wasn't)

Turns out the township guy had been reading the meter incorrectly sometimes. Ours was a different model from most others in the area and he was off by a factor of ten in his readings since he sometimes forgot and used the wrong "factor" in his math when recording our water use.

[jackr]

^^ Beat me to it. There's a good chance the guy read it wrong but there's also a good chance the bog caused it. The latter would have to be over several days even if there were a pump in the system. No clue what your mains pressure is at, but say it is 20l/m. For an entire day that'd make it about 200 baht - 20x60x24/1000x7baht unit. Ten days of that could rack up a few hundred units and over 2,000 baht.

[LJW]

My average water bill, for the past 5-7 years, has been 3,000 baht.

Maybe I have a leak, or perhaps I just use too much water

[Donnyboy]

My average water bill, for the past 5-7 years, has been 3,000 baht.

Maybe I have a leak, or perhaps I just use too much water

per month?

you run a water bottle filling plant?