quote:

Originally posted by selogic:
If it's the toilet , you will hear it filling . No mystery there .

Unless it's on a side of the house that you rarely visit (like a guest bathroom, or the kid's bathroom for empty nesters), and it's only intermittent.

I had that at my last house. The guest bathroom toilet would occasionally run, but only sporadically. And that bathroom only saw rare use.

As a result, it wasn't a high enough water usage spike to be noticeable on the water bill. And who knows how long it had been doing that before I walked past it one day while retrieving something from the rarely-used storage closet and happened to catch it.

If nobody was there during that time, any chance somebody could have filled their motor-home or other large tank using a garden hose?
That would account for the larger water flow rate.

quote:

Originally posted by selogic:
If it's the toilet , you will hear it filling . No mystery there .

Perhaps true, but in this case nobody was home for several days to have heard it.

quote:

Originally posted by tsmccull:
Look on the bright side. Those 1400 gallons went down the drain while you were gone, not into the house itself which could have occurred if a pipe or water heater had burst (and either of those might have run a lot longer than 7 hours). The toilet gods were looking out for you!

Oh, no doubt! I've certainly given thanks already that it wasn't something dumping water into the house. Good golly, what a mess that would have been.

quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:
If nobody was there during that time, any chance somebody could have filled their motor-home or other large tank using a garden hose?
That would account for the larger water flow rate.

It's a fun thought -- Somebody getting a motor home up this driveway would be pretty entertaining!

At this point, I think rtquig is on it... perhaps that last flush before everybody took off was the one that didn't close correctly, and then finally sealed later that afternoon. I know which toilet I'm going to rebuild (again) next!

Btw, for unoccupied house, perhaps consider Flo by Moen. Insurance may even subsidize and also discount premium.

Jesse I’m dealing with the same thing in my house.

We actually have 2 meters; one for the house and one for the irrigation system. We recently added a second drip line to our irrigation system as the result of adding more plants around the back yard. When we got the recent bill it stated that we had used 1500 gallons in the past month! I went and checked the Rainbird control and the landscaper had set it to run for one hour, three times a week. Certainly not excessive. There wasn’t any sign of the ground being damp either.

So I went outside and turned the supply off at the meter! I’m waiting to see what next month’s bill looks like…


BTW, newer toilets use between 1.75 and 2 gallons per flush, not 6.

And you can probably assume there are no old nor incipient clogs between that toilet and where water leaves your house. That part of the line’s been flushed!

The toilet probably had a "jiggle the handle" moment, but no one was around to hear it running. It can be possible for the chain between the flush-lever and the flapper to hang up. It will flush until the hang-up comes loose.

I have come home to an empty house to hear a toilet still running.

I don't leave the house now until all of the toilets are done filling.

quote:

First, because I've rebuilt the toilets in the house already

As a side note, and general statement to all, that ^ means nothing. I can't tell you how many brand new ones I've seen still leak, right out of the package. You and everyone else needs to dye test them every six months really.



That aside, what if the flapper was hung up and running non stop? Had that my own self recently, for about 12 hours. Expecting to see it this bill.


Toilets will leak a shocking amount of water, even the ones you can't hear. PLEASE BELIEVE ME PEOPLE, I've literally spent my whole life trying to get stubborn people to believe me. They won't, and two weeks later they're on the phone again complaining their cesspool is full again. "Because you wouldn't f*cking listen, no you knew better", beter than me who sees this day in and day out forever.
Or show them the water running through the house trap, "Oh that's just residual running down the pipe..." (says the know it all homeowner who's never looked in a house trap in his life, to the guy who looks in a half dozen a day, six days a week) Damn people are stupid. (and man oh man I do NOT miss doing that work)

"I'd hear it running" is like "I don't have heart problems because I'm not having a heart attack."

Where does the water heater t/p valve terminate?

What type of heating system is in your house?

quote:

Originally posted by konata88:
Btw, for unoccupied house, perhaps consider Flo by Moen. Insurance may even subsidize and also discount premium.

I do like the idea of an automated shutoff.

quote:

Originally posted by smlsig:
BTW, newer toilets use between 1.75 and 2 gallons per flush, not 6.

I know the 1.6-gallon units exist; I'm pretty sure mine aren't those. I'm looking now, though, at Danco dual-flush valve kits -- essentially, a short flush for number one and a full flush for #2 -- as a water-saving effort. (Kit HYR451 is what a neighbor put in and recommended.)

quote:

Originally posted by cas:
You and everyone else needs to dye test them every six months really.

That's something I'll happily put on the calendar.

quote:

Originally posted by Excam_Man:
Where does the water heater t/p valve terminate?

What type of heating system is in your house?

The house has gas heat. As for the t/p valve... that's the one on the side of the tank, right? Thank you for pointing that out. It just goes to a vertical piece of PVC, and would empty right onto the floor if used. I'll be adding some PVC to that shortly, to at least get any drainage to the garage instead.

quote:

Originally posted by vthoky:
The house has gas heat.

A boiler can be gas heat...
I assume you have a gas-fired, forced air heating system?

quote:

Originally posted by vthoky:
As for the t/p valve... that's the one on the side of the tank, right? Thank you for pointing that out. It just goes to a vertical piece of PVC, and would empty right onto the floor if used.

The relief valve can be on the top or side.
Supposed to be piped to within 6" of the floor.
Some are terminated above a drain, so you might not know it had popped off.

quote:

Originally posted by vthoky:
I'll be adding some PVC to that shortly, to at least get any drainage to the garage instead.

Heated garage?
As they can not terminate to a location which freezes.
Must not be reduced in size.
Termination must not be threaded.

If you have a crawlspace, you're better to have it left open over a drain pipe.
This way the piping is short to allow for better flow. And is less likely to become plugged/restricted with mineral deposits, from a seeping valve.

Remember, it's very important for this valve to be able to drain properly. As it is the fail safe to keep the tank from exploding.

had a toilet that was leaking for a good long while and was not the flush valve but was reverse syphoning.... the little pipe that runs from the valve and down into the over flow tube was sucking water out of the tank because it was terminated below the fill line of the tank.....

Thank you, Excam_Man, for the info. Your assumption is correct (and I wasn't clear) -- it's a gas-fired forced air heating system.

The relief valve is terminated as you mention... about 4" off the floor. But it goes right to the floor. This water heater sits in a closet on the main floor, over the garage (no crawlspace). I'm very tempted to put a hole through the floor and add on to that pipe, so as to drain to the garage in case of failure rather than damaging the main floor. The garage is unheated but doesn't freeze. The doors face the west, so afternoon sun keeps it fairly warm all day in the winter. Snow that comes in on the cars in the winter is water in the floor the next morning. I squeegee it out and carry on.

quote:

Originally posted by konata88:
Btw, for unoccupied house, perhaps consider Flo by Moen. Insurance may even subsidize and also discount premium.

I installed a Phyn water monitoring system after I had my automatic sprinkler system burst. It only flooded the yard for an hour or so before I noticed it, but it made me nervous about other similar issues in the house.
The system monitors use, questions strange events and can automatically shut off water in the event of a leak.
In the case being discussed, you would have received a notification of constant water flow, and could have cut the water off, or if you were unavailable it would have done it automatically.
The downside is the system is expensive, and it takes a couple months for it to "learn" your system before the automatic shutoff is activated.

quote:

Originally posted by Blume9mm:
had a toilet that was leaking for a good long while and was not the flush valve but was reverse syphoning.... the little pipe that runs from the valve and down into the over flow tube was sucking water out of the tank because it was terminated below the fill line of the tank.....

Me too, was happening AFTER I replaced the fill valve and flapper. Was driving me crazy until a Lowe's plumber advised me that could be the problem. I had never heard that before.

But, that would not be a start and stop situation. Just constantly slow leaking (not audible) and then re-filling, which is what I COULD hear.

quote:

Originally posted by bigpond73:
My first thought was someone knew you were gone, and stole the water from an outside faucet. It happens around here.

This was my first thought as well. I've caught dickheads stealing from outside faucets twice in the past. Benefit of working from home. Once during new construction next door, once neighbors teen friend decided to wash his car.
The new construction I probably would have let use it if they had asked. Since he didn't, fuck him, figure out how you are going to get it done without any water.

Another helpful test ... make sure no one is using any water in the house. Go out to your water meter and look at the dial. You should see a little black triangle, we called this a "tattle-tale" If there is any water leaking, then this triangle will spin ( if no water leaking it will not move ). The speed of the triangle will give you an idea how much water is leaking. It will only tell you the leak is between the meter and the house, but not where. If sure that no water leak inside the house ... then there could be a leak between the meter and the house along the water line.

If no leak indicated, then agree with above that either a meter reading error or someone stealing your water while away.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: old dino,

quote:

Originally posted by bigpond73:
My first thought was someone knew you were gone, and stole the water from an outside faucet. It happens around here.

my thoughts as well