Excessive water readings?

[nopro]

Thanks. Will contact them. I just wonder if they would be willing to admit it if they have had failures but I will ask anyway.

 

[frodo]

all how you ask, not a failure an anomaly

 

[Caduceus]

I think you should read this article on Sensus digital meters. Amazing that meters that weren't even hooked up to water were showing flow.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-aurora-water-meters-met-20150724-story.html

 

[nopro]

I think you should read this article on Sensus digital meters. Amazing that meters that weren't even hooked up to water were showing flow.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-aurora-water-meters-met-20150724-story.html

Thanks for sharing that with me Caduceus. I intend to monitor this and hope I do not see a repeat. Have not contacted manufacturer yet as I wanted to wait. My guess is they will not admit to any problems and will blame it on the high pressure that has since been lowered. There are some anomalies about this situation. The meter has been active for about almost 29 months now and have not seen any drastic fluctuations til now. Is it a problem that might show up sporadically? Why was their a reverse reading when I monitored a few days ago which I didn't know about until after the water dept. had come out and inspected? One would think if a meter had a reverse flow that it would reflect on the reading. The water dept. employee that came out had a bit of an attitude. He said they had never had one of these meters malfunction. In other words that's impossible. He also stated that their responsibility was to install the feeders lines, meters and the in ground boxes that house the meters and beyond the meter was the homeowners problem and that anyone could have tapped on beyond the meter. In short- it's not our problem beyond the meter. He also told me that sometimes the cause of the problem is never found. Even when the homeowner hires leak detection specialist to investigate. Not vey reassuring is it? Sounds like a typical government employee response. I know for a fact it is impossible and absurd that someone has tapped onto my line. Thanks for the useful information. I will post future updates as they unfold.

 

[Caduceus]

A valuable resource for home owners who find themselves at a dead end with local utility companies is the state's Public Utility Commission, if you have one. Documenting every call and conversation on a timeline could help you if you get a whopping bill, as many in Pennsylvania have found out with various utilities and their new meter technology. So, it wouldn't hurt to start a log book. My co worker started receiving electric bills that went from $90-$100 per month jumping to $450-$500/month and eventually found it was the defective meter. The PUC has guidelines that utility companies are required to follow when metering and billing comes into question. If nobody lets them know there's a problem there is no cause for them to investigate.

 

[nopro]

This is very useful info Caduceus. I will document the info and sit back and wait for now. Yesterday I called them and asked them to take a look at the readings since Monday morning. She said there are no abnormalities showing and none since the pressure was adjusted down. At this point, one can only assume the higher pressure was the cause of the runaway meter. Still don't understand that and no one else can explain this either. Personally, I still believe it is a malfunctioning meter and I will monitor and stay on top of. This could be a drawn out process to resolve but I will be happy with normal readings for now. Thanks

 

[phishfood]

Let us know if you find out anything further.

I had something similar going on when I was still working for another company. An apartment complex that we had plumbed, residents were getting unreasonable water bills. Investigating this, I noticed the little "leak detector" triangles rocking back and forth sporadically. I never managed to get any concrete resolution to the issue, but I am absolutely certain that there were no aberrant water usage issues on the house side of the meters. It was something to do with the meters, I feel rather certain of that.

 

[nopro]

Thanks phishfood, This digital meter does not have the leak detector triangles like the analog meters. It does supposedly have leak detecting capability and is supposed to display this on the LCD screen face if a leak is detected. Have seen no such display on this meter. I am certain the problem is a malfunctioning meter but proving that will be difficult. The water dept. doesn't even want to admit that it could be a defective meter simply because they say they have never had one malfunction. One can search on the internet and see that some have had problems with this manufacturer's meters in the past and I have yet to hear one person say higher pressure at the PRV with no leaks could cause this. Sent a nice non inflammatory, non accusing email to the manufacturer asking if they had any theories and of course as expected, did not receive a reply. Have checked with water department twice since last Friday and they show no abnormal usage in normal and non normal hours. We've probably all been in situations at some point in our lives where no one is willing to admit anything and basically they say "it's not my problem, it's yours". Pretty much what I am getting from the water dept. When the employee was here and did his inspection, he informed me that they sometimes never find the source of the problem. Only thing I can do at this point is pay the bills and keep records of everything as Caduceus suggested and if this appears again to contact regulating authorities for their assistance in getting a satisfactory resolution. Thanks to all for the feedback and suggestions and I will keep updated on this forum as the story unfolds.