Can a Defective Fill Valve Cause a $620 Water Bill?

[Endurance]

Hello everybody,
Can a defective pool fluidmaster fill valve cause the consumption of 142 gallons of water in 23 days? We are being charged with $620 for this. Thank you for your time.
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[257WbyMag]

Welcome to TFP!

In a word, yes. In my opinion, a leaky auto-fill valve can easily result in the the unwanted addition of 6.1 gallons of water a day to a pool.

 

[Weth]

142 gallons in 23 days is 6.2 gallons a day

6.2 gallons a day with 24 hours in a day = 1/4 gallon an hour or just less than 3 cans of soda in an hour

Not really much and this can easily be from a relatively slow leak.

How are you getting charged $4.36 per gallon of water?

 

[guamguy]

Are you sure you didn't mean to say 142,000 gallons? I'm sure I easily evaporate more than 6 gallons per day. Was your pool overflowing? Just shut off the supply to the auto fill and see if your pool water level drops.

 

[Endurance]

I am sorry Yes it's 142,000 gallons and the bill is $620 Thank you!

 

[Endurance]

... no the pool was not overflowing After we received the bill we called a plumber to make sure we have no major leak inside and outside the house He checked the pool and advised us to change the valve.

 

[Weth]

That sounds more reasonable as far as cost of water!

Ok, we'll try it again:

142,000 gallons in 23 days = 6,174 gallons per day
6,174 gallons/day with 24 hours per day = 257 gallons per hour
257 gallons/hour with 60 minutes in an hour = 4.3 gallons per minute

A typical faucet runs 3 gallons per minute, a shower 7 gallons per minute. Hose line is usually about 10 gallons per minute.

So I would still say a leaking fill valve could run at this rate. You would have to see the water going somewhere though -- something is constantly wet somewhere.

 

[Endurance]

Thank you very much Nothing is wet anywhere. On April 12 we bought this house in Mesa and everything is DRY DRY DRY and HOT...Relocating after living in Montclair VA for almost 19 years....the weather is a SHOCK and the bill doesn't help either Did I mention that no one lived in the house during the 23 days the City of Mesa charges us with this amount?

 

[Weth]

I find it hard to believe you would have that flow rate and not hear the water running or see evidence of that water. You should also be able to track that on your water meter. Look at it and check back in an hour with no one else running water in the house.

Did the whole neighborhood fill up their pools on your water during the 23 days? Anyone's yard look especially jungle like in the middle of the desert?

 

[Endurance]

I agree with all you say. I am disputing the bill with the City of Mesa and all they say is that somebody has to pay for that water and since we were the owners of the house at the time (April 12-May 5) we have o pay. We arrived in Phoenix on May 16 and gave their management copies of our tickets to no avail. Our plumber checked the meter -he spent 4 hours on the 17th trying to find something wrong with the plumbing The meter is fine. I asked the City if it were not possible that their meter reader might have inverted the numbers. They ignored my question.
Thank you for your time.

 

[guamguy]

Turn off the supply valve to the autofill and see if the pool water level drops.

 

[zea3]

It is possible that the pool has an overflow line as well. If it does then you would not have the pool overflow and the ground would be dry. Can you ask the city to pull the previous water bills for the last year? That could also indicate whether this is an existing issue or one that just popped up.

 

[Endurance]

We'll do. Thank you. As far as we know the previous owner never paid more that $150/mo

 

[Endurance]

We did that for a week and we had to fill in the pool manually. --Turn off the supply valve to the autofill and see if the pool water level drops.[/quote]

 

[Diver]

if you have a water meter in the house, can you go and look if it's spinning? it should go pretty fast if you're loosing 4-5 gallons a minute.

 

[Endurance]

We do not have a meter in the house. Thank you. --if you have a water meter in the house, can you go and look if it's spinning? it should go pretty fast if you're loosing 4-5 gallons a minute.

 

[Diver]

We do not have a meter in the house. Thank you. --if you have a water meter in the house, can you go and look if it's spinning? it should go pretty fast if you're loosing 4-5 gallons a minute.

you should be able to feel/hear/sense the water flowing thru coper pipes. 4-5 gpm is a good flow. if for some reason you can't, you can heat up a part of the pipe (horizontal preferably) and see if the heat travels in one direction a lot more then in another - they would be a sign of the water flowing.