USA Water usage very high when went on holidays

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USA Water usage very high when went on holidays

Discuss Water usage very high when went on holidays in the Plumbing Jobs | The Job-board area at PlumbersForums.net

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Rob83

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Hi guys I am Rob and new on this forum, hope someone can shed some light on my very strange issue. Thanks in advance to all the replies.

I seem to us around 6 to 7 cubic meters per month. But in October that doubled to nearly 16 cubic meters.

The funny thing is I went on holidays from the 6th to the 20th of October, so was not even using water. So very confused.

I don't have any outside tap, and I don't think my neighbours robbed it.

So still trying to figure out what happened. It was back to 6 and 7 cubic meters for Nov and Dec.

So if had a leak outside of house and no one has fixed it then it should be still high.

We did not leave any taps on.

The only thing I did different was

I turned off the hot and cold valves in the Hot press and emptied out the two toilets and ran the taps till empty.
I did not turn off the mains water.

So is it possible that maybe the cold water storage tank in the attic was overflowing over the two weeks and hence why all this water usage.

No leaks in house or any stains on any roofs.

Why would turning of the valves cause the cold water storage tank to do this or is it something else?

Thanks in Advance for all the comments
 
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do you have an internal meter or external (in a pit)
 
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Hi Rob. Guess you are from Northern Ireland?
Your overflow on cold tank could be running water when you are away. No water will be drawn from the tank, so the ballvalve if slightly faulty could be passing water. Very common while people go on holiday.
 
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Thats sounds more like it. You are probably right. The tank was the only thing that could be leaking out the drain pipe. So the ball valve might be the issue. So would it be cause I turned off the water in the hot press? Because does not seem to drip any water all day when not using water in house.
 
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turn the internal off and see if meter is still turning if it is you have a leak
 
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Best said:
It is maybe just a very slightly faulty ball valve that only really leaks if water left unused for many hours
Click to expand...

Will go up into attic tomorrow and have a look. It's just weird, cause I was on holiday in August for two weeks and did not turn the water off that time. And it did not happen, water usage was normal. Thanks for your help.
 
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Important that you do the check suggested mate. Turn off the stopcock in the house and go and watch the meter. If it still ticks over you have a leak. Caught one like this at my old mums house after she got a whopping huge bill from 3 Valleys. Never would have spotted it if she had not been away for a month.
 
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Radioman said:
Important that you do the check suggested mate. Turn off the stopcock in the house and go and watch the meter. If it still ticks over you have a leak. Caught one like this at my old mums house after she got a whopping huge bill from 3 Valleys. Never would have spotted it if she had not been away for a month.
Click to expand...

Was it the cold water tank or another leak?
 
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Surely even a dodgy valve wouldn't use MORE water when the OP is away? Unless the valve is temperamental and just happened to sit is the leaky position for all the time the family were out?
 
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Where have the readings come from? Do you read it or just check when the bill comes through? Sometimes if the bill has been estimated when they get an actually reading it throws usage out over a short period of time. Just an idea.
 
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IND_Nick said:
Where have the readings come from? Do you read it or just check when the bill comes through? Sometimes if the bill has been estimated when they get an actually reading it throws usage out over a short period of time. Just an idea.
Click to expand...

Paying for water in Ireland is only a new thing, it started in April 2015. The installed meters out on the footpath. The meter readings are collected electronically so have never been out to take a meter reading. I received a letter from the company saying that they suspect I have a leak due to a meter reading (I presume October's reading). So I went online to check the usage and from April to Dec it seems to be between 5 and 7 cubic meters per month. We are two adults in house, not sure if that is high. But in October the usage was 15 cubic meters, so double. Now in Nov and Dec it went to 6 and 7. So if I did have a major leak underground or in my house then Nov and Dec should be high like October. The bills have not been estimated. Just can't understand it. Maybe when the meter sent the data electronically something went wrong.
 
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