Started By
Message

re: The $700.00 Water Bill

Posted on 10/6/26 at 1:47 pm to
Posted by Obtuse1
Westside Bodymore Yo
Member since Sep 2016
31452 posts
Posted on 10/6/26 at 1:47 pm to
quote:


I know people are joking about a neighbor’s pool, but Google tells me a garden hose maxes out at about 1k gallons/hr. 30k gallons is a lot of water in four hours


An even better argument is the fact that most houses have a 3/4" service line. Even at 100 psi (20 psi over code-compliant), flow is still only 2160 gph. So the max should ever be seen in residential water consumption would be less than 8000 gallons over 4 hours, even in unusual conditions.
Posted by Tifway419
Member since Sep 2022
2533 posts
Posted on 10/6/26 at 1:53 pm to
quote:

Google tells me a garden hose maxes out at about 1k gallons/hr.
I don’t know how to read the chart, as the dates are every 10 days. Is it an average of the 10 day interval? If so, it’s possible he had his sprinklers on for 4 hours every night for 10 days.

OP would be sleeping so he may not have noticed. I’d notice my yard to be sloppy, but maybe not everyone.
Posted by Joshjrn
Baton Rouge
Member since Dec 2008
33878 posts
Posted on 10/6/26 at 2:05 pm to
quote:

An even better argument is the fact that most houses have a 3/4" service line. Even at 100 psi (20 psi over code-compliant), flow is still only 2160 gph. So the max should ever be seen in residential water consumption would be less than 8000 gallons over 4 hours, even in unusual conditions.

That's some high quality shite right there
Posted by UptownJoeBrown
Baton Rouge
Member since Jul 2024
12965 posts
Posted on 10/6/26 at 2:07 pm to
quote:

An even better argument is the fact that most houses have a 3/4" service line. Even at 100 psi (20 psi over code-compliant), flow is still only 2160 gph. So the max should ever be seen in residential water consumption would be less than 8000 gallons over 4 hours, even in unusual conditions.

Posted by Lonnie Utah
Utah!
Member since Jul 2012
36141 posts
Posted on 10/6/26 at 2:13 pm to
quote:

a garden hose maxes out at about 1k gallons/hr. 30k gallons is a lot of water in four hours


This is the answer. Find out the size of the water main leading to the house. Is it capable of supplying 7500 gph?
Posted by Ben Rumson
Anywhere but a town
Member since Sep 2026
298 posts
Posted on 10/6/26 at 2:21 pm to
The only time I got a spike in my water bill like that it ended up being a leaky hot water tank that had to be replaced,
but can't be that because you said your meter was not running continuously.

It's got to be some type of billing usage error.
Posted by Ben Rumson
Anywhere but a town
Member since Sep 2026
298 posts
Posted on 10/6/26 at 2:24 pm to
That graph doesn't show beginning and ending meter reads.

I figure you probably checked the last couple of bills to make sure the beginning reading matched the previous ending reading.
Posted by X123F45
Dictated not Read
Member since Apr 2015
30269 posts
Posted on 10/6/26 at 2:24 pm to
quote:

30,000 gallons of water in four hours


That's a 1.5inch hydrant running at full pop
Posted by HogBalls
Member since Nov 2014
9410 posts
Posted on 10/6/26 at 2:25 pm to
Lawn sprinkler system left in manual on?
Posted by cajunandy
New Orleans
Member since Nov 2015
899 posts
Posted on 10/6/26 at 2:33 pm to
quote:

he thinks a toilet could run 30,000 gallons of water in four hours

To give everyone a visual example, think of the vacuum truck you see delivering gas to a station. At most they carry10000 gallons(likely less at 10000 gallons would weigh 60000lbs). You would need 3 truck loads in 4 hours to use 30000 gallons. That's a lot of water.
Posted by touchdownjeebus
Member since Sep 2010
27073 posts
Posted on 10/6/26 at 2:40 pm to
I’m laughing in New Orleans S&WB.

My buddy got a 3k bill. They auto drafted that shite. He called and they said they would fix it. No fix, and he got another bill, which was normal. They auto drafted that. He called and they said cancel the auto draft and they will deduct his monthly bill from his overpayment until they can get it sorted.

3 months later they turned off his water for failure of payment.

Posted by CatfishJohn
Member since Jun 2020
23134 posts
Posted on 10/6/26 at 2:41 pm to
That's a big hydrant running full blast type of water usage. Can your main even support that? That is no garden hose or regular pipe leak. That's an absurd amount of water in 4 hours.

That looks like an obvious error.
Posted by ShrimperDan
Fernandina
Member since Jul 2026
360 posts
Posted on 10/6/26 at 2:48 pm to
quote:

Smart meters have been an issue in every place they have been implemented. Though no company will admit it. This is a hot topic all over.



Smart meters are FAR more often an issue that works out in the customer's favor than they are on that works out for the water company.

They don't communicate back to the office like they are supposed to so the utility ends up using a flat rate thats is almost assuredly lower than your actual usage, and sometimes they can even be installed backwards and show negative usage

The issue is that when they do go bad its shite like this.
This post was edited on 10/6/26 at 2:52 pm
Posted by Putty
Member since Oct 2003
25961 posts
Posted on 10/6/26 at 2:54 pm to
quote:

30k gallons is a lot of water in four hours


30k gallons is about 3 days worth of a wide open garden hose
Posted by Tigris
Cloud Cuckoo Land
Member since Jul 2005
13281 posts
Posted on 10/6/26 at 2:56 pm to
quote:

So the max should ever be seen in residential water consumption would be less than 8000 gallons over 4 hours, even in unusual conditions.


Yeah, 30,000 gallons in 4 hours is just not possible.

A few years ago I came back home after a hard freeze and the 3/4 inch plastic line to my house was severed with water flowing unobstructed. This had gone on for 5 days and my water bill was "only" $350. It's usually around $25.
Posted by duckblind56
South of Ellick
Member since Sep 2023
6198 posts
Posted on 10/6/26 at 3:03 pm to
That's 125 gallons per minute.

For easy math.

For that amount of flow it would take..

Estimated 60 psi municipal water pressure
100 foot length of pipe, and a pipe diameter of 1.25"

I really doubt you have any 1.25" pipe at your house.

Got any buds that are lawyers and will help you challenge this BS?
Posted by Obtuse1
Westside Bodymore Yo
Member since Sep 2016
31452 posts
Posted on 10/6/26 at 3:03 pm to
Another tidbit:

The meter being used is a Neptune T-10, though we don't know if it is specifically a 5/8 or 1" meter. I have given a link to the product cut sheet below. The normal operating range for the 1" meter is 50 gph, so that meter was recording an average more than twice its operating range over 4 hours. I checked Black's, and the proper legal term of art is "something fricky" which should equal a directed verdict under No v shite.

Neptune T-10 sut sheet pdf
Posted by AwgustaDawg
CSRA
Member since Jan 2023
14903 posts
Posted on 10/6/26 at 3:18 pm to
quote:

On 09/19 in a four hour interval from 12:00 am - 4:00 am is the spike



That almost has to be a math error or a meter error. Some rough math comes out to 125 gallons per minute. On a 1 inch line that is somewhere in the neighborhood of about 300 PSI depending on the type and configuration of pipe. You would have some SERIOUS damage to plumbing fixtures and lines and probably some structural damage. It is most likely a meter problem and one the water company ought to be happier than a clam to resolve because its unlikely many customers would be in a position to pay it or inclined to do so.


MOST public service commissions, corrupt as they are and paid for by the entities they "regulate", have some language to provide some relief in the event of a water line break on an undiscovered leak or possible meter issues. It could also very well be a meter reading issue....
Posted by AwgustaDawg
CSRA
Member since Jan 2023
14903 posts
Posted on 10/6/26 at 3:19 pm to
quote:


You forgot your garden hose was on all night didn't you?


It'd be a damned big hose and a hell of a lot of pressure....
Posted by Lonnie Utah
Utah!
Member since Jul 2012
36141 posts
Posted on 10/6/26 at 3:21 pm to
according to AI....

quote:

The "Data Dump" Pattern: Look at the pattern preceding the spike. You have massive, abnormal blocks of high usage on 08/10, 09/09, and 09/19, separated by periods of near-zero usage. This stair-step pattern is classic textbook behavior for a stuck mechanical register or an AMR/AMI wireless transmission glitch. The meter's internal electronic register or its battery-powered radio transmitter likely got physically stuck or failed to transmit data for days or weeks. When the connection finally re-established or the dial unfroze on 09/19, it "dumped" all of the accumulated, normal usage from the past several weeks into a single day's reporting data.
first pageprev pagePage 3 of 4Next pagelast page

Back to top
logoFollow TigerDroppings for LSU Football News
Follow us on X, Facebook and Instagram to get the latest updates on LSU Football and Recruiting.

Facebook•X•Instagram