[Bill14564]

Originally Posted by Bill14564

It isn't clear whether you are seeing valid spikes in water flow or errors in the Flume. In either case you seem to be attributing it to the meter when the meter has no affect on what you are seeing at all.

The Flume is giving you the per minute readings with the spikes, not the meter. Is it possible that whatever is using the 3gpm occasionally draws 7.2gpm? Is it possible that your have a sprinkler type that sometimes allows a surge in flow?

Since these readings are from the Flume, is it possible there is an error in the Flume? The sensor for the Flume devices I have seen doesn't actually touch the water, it listens for the water to flow through the pipe. Is it possible that Flume is "hearing" something that it believes is a 4.2gpm increase but really is not?

And in any case, the water meter does not cause water to flow or regulate the water flow it simply measures what is going through it. The meter doesn't measure how fast the water is flowing (gpm) it measures how much water passed through it (gallons). The change in the rate of flow that you saw in your Flume device has nothing to do with the meter. The meter will simply measure how much water moved through it.

According to the data sheet, the meter ought to be able to give water usage per hour. The spikes you observed would not invalidate those measurements at all. The meter would show how much water passed through it in an hour, regardless of whether the flow was continuous for the entire 60 minutes or spiked four times per hour.

The value of the hourly readings would be to show an impossible water usage. If the hourly readings showed 800gals used each and every hour then they would not help at all. However, if the hourly readings showed 25,000 gals used between 1PM and 2PM then it could very easily be argued that it is not physically possible for water to flow through that meter at a rate of 420gpm. Since the meter registered an utterly impossible number, there must have been an error in the meter.

That would be the value of the hourly readings. Obtaining them is going to be a problem. And even once obtained, they might not show the impossible reading that you would like to see.

It was pointed out to me today that the Flume essentially acts as a second electronic register for the water meter. The mechanics of the meter cause a disk to spin. The meter's electronic register counts the number of times the disk spins and converts that to gallons. The Flume meter reads the same disk and performs the same calculations.

That being the case, measurements from the Flume could help identify a problem. The bigger issue would be convincing the utility that your Flume readings are correct while their Sensus readings are wrong. At the very least you would have some kind of documentation that the meter reading is wrong and not just an assertion that the water was turned off.

[mvbird]

I anyone is following this mystery, it's finally concluding. (77, 890 gal. usage of potable water in 1 month..)

Early on, observation around property by prop. manager saw no wet areas or ponds.
Next, a visit by Villages water utility concluded that the meter seemed to be working properly i.e. when nothing indoors was using water, the meter was not registering any use. A great relief that there were no leaks that required digging up the yard..
And last after waiting a month, we received a call and a long email --- the data log of our meter which showed all water usage for months by gallons, date, and time of day. Highlighted was a period between June 19- 24 when over 600 gallons of water was used daily.
We are not able to apply for 'unexplained high-water use adjustment' because the utility has the explanation. It was unintentional error in the household. Someone had to have left a hose (water from hose is potable water not irrigation water) on for days.

What we learned ... When you experience a high water/sewer spike on your utility bill, try to stay calm. Pay the terrible bill, be patient, and begin eliminating possible causes one by one. Be courteous, and Customer Service at the Utility will be helpful. Thank you Cindy Neff, Billing and Collections Technician.

[Bill14564]

Originally Posted by mvbird

I anyone is following this mystery, it's finally concluding. (77, 890 gal. usage of potable water in 1 month..)

Early on, observation around property by prop. manager saw no wet areas or ponds.
Next, a visit by Villages water utility concluded that the meter seemed to be working properly i.e. when nothing indoors was using water, the meter was not registering any use. A great relief that there were no leaks that required digging up the yard..
And last after waiting a month, we received a call and a long email --- the data log of our meter which showed all water usage for months by gallons, date, and time of day. Highlighted was a period between June 19- 24 when over 600 gallons of water was used daily.
We are not able to apply for 'unexplained high-water use adjustment' because the utility has the explanation. It was unintentional error in the household. Someone had to have left a hose (water from hose is potable water not irrigation water) on for days.

What we learned ... When you experience a high water/sewer spike on your utility bill, try to stay calm. Pay the terrible bill, be patient, and begin eliminating possible causes one by one. Be courteous, and Customer Service at the Utility will be helpful. Thank you Cindy Neff, Billing and Collections Technician.

I assume you mean 600 gals/hour for the six days as that would make the numbers come out right.

600 gals/hour is 10 gals/min which the internet says is about right for a hose left on.

It's nice to find out that level of detail is available. I hope the date and time info helps you solve the mystery of what happened and how.