It's mechanical so it is not fool proof. Now,if we've heard the straight of everything,I would suspect another house is tapped into your service line. I don't believe a meter will speed up then slow nor do I believe a leak of that size will stop and start on and off. A 20k gallon per month leak will create standing surface water.

Thanks, but it's highly unlikely, if not impossible that a neighbor would be tapping into it. We're in a little subdivision of mostly elderly people. The 2 on either side of us would have no reason to do such a thing--nor would they have the knowledge, I'm sure.

If you are showing no movement at times, but you have an underground irrigation system, I suggest setting the irrigation system to "Off" for a week and taking daily readings. The one thing I can think of is that you could have a break in your irrigation system located past one of the valves, and that when the valve opens up you get excess water spilling out of the break underground.

I had a huge water loss from a break in my underground system, but it was in the supply line before the valves, and was going 24/7 for a month before I noticed. The place it occurred was wet, but no standing water. Nonetheless, I managed to use up 60K gallons in the month and it cost me a $900 bill. However, unlike your situation, the meter was clearly moving all the time before I found and repaired the leak. In your case, I would think there should be a damp area if you have a big leak, but who knows?

Our irrigation is always on OFF till we want to water. We've only watered twice in the past 3-4 months. I'm pretty sure they ruled that out. At least if it had been the irrigation system, the local sewer dept would reimburse us (don't know why).

Wish I had your water system! The break was on my property, past the meter, so I was responsible. After I fixed the break, they did a modest bill adjustment by selling me the water at the wholesale rate, but that only saved about $100.

Good luck with your vexing problem. Please post again when you get this figured out.

"The 2 on either side of us would have no reason to do such a thing--nor would they have the knowledge, I'm sure."

Mac,I can't tell you off the top of my head what's wrong,however I can tell from experience your mindset is all wrong for troubleshooting things. We gave you POSSIBILITIES,not certainties and you say you know for sure. I did not say the old men next door intentionally tapped your line nor that malice is involved. Water could have been accidently routed to multiple houses during construction or repair.

Sorry my mindset is all wrong, klem. I have NO idea what's going on and I'm only passing on what the plumber and our handyman friend are telling me.

My original question was to know whether anyone had any experience with a meter speeding up.

I just got a call from the head of our HOA who said the people who live behind and above us up a hill had a similar situation. They went ahead and rerouted all their plumbing into the attic instead of under their slab--but they never did find any evidence of water leakage.

HOA director is emailing everyone in the subdivision to see if they've had any troubles with the meters.

Ok Mac,so now that we are comunicating,let's sort out the facts to see where it might be wise to look. Your statement "water meter which is registering a huge overage (24,000 gallons when our average usage is 2200"leave's room for interpitation. Explain if you will exactly what you mean by the word "overage" in above statment. While you are at it,how did you come up with 2200 gallons average? Where I'm headed is the possability water company "guess-ti-mated"everyone's usage for several months then read meters to discover they had been under estimating and tacked it all on next bill. Another possability is a lazy reader that spent his working hours doing something other than reading meters and turned in bad readings for several months. Another possability is clearical mistake(s) in office. Any of the three is imo,grounds for a lawsuit by people who spent money chaseing non-existant problems with their plumbing. Based on what head of HOA told you,the evidence point's to a proverbial gentleman in the water company's wood pile.

Can you tell me what period of time the 2200 vs 24000 gallon readings represent? In other words, over what period of time do you normally use 2200 gallons? Is this is a "smart meter" that sends readings back to the water company remotely, or does someone need to manually read the numbers on the meter?

You would be AMAZED how much water one faulty toilet can use. Lots of times the toilet is running so quietly no one notices it. Those sorts of leaks are often caught in just this sort of manner. Not necessarily saying that is your problem, but on a quick first glance that is one professional's best educated guess.

That would only be a 1/2 gallon per minute leak.

Only, as in it could be a couple of very small leaks, very difficult to locate.

Yep, that was my point too. A faulty toilet can easily use a half a gallon a minute. The numbers sound shocking until you realize how easy it is for a toilet with a very minor leak to use that much water.

I certainly hope C J,handyman friend and the certified plumber didn't miss something obvious as dripping toilets. If so they deserve the green winnie award for expecting people on the opposite side of earth to point it out. On the other hand the longer I hang around houzz,I increasingly expect such things.

Long story short: with the help of a physicist neighbor we ran all kinds of experiments testing whether the leak was in the house or outside. Conclusion: leak outside or faulty meter. Plumber came and switched out our meter for one of his own and it was still clicking away at a fast pace, so it does appear there's a leak under our driveway. House is only 12 years old and they say this shouldn't have happened so soon. We're going to have to re-route the line. Plumber has figured out a way to avoid the driveway and only go under a small portion of cement by our front door. Pipes will be exposed in the garage but we can't afford to have them hidden in the walls. There's another possibility of going up into the attic and coming back down into the garage.

Thanks for the update.

And that is why your water company won't spend a bunch of time and money to replace a perfectly good meter.

Alice, your input has been extremely helpful. Don't know what we would have done without you.

Appreciate the update. What's curious is that the leak was intermittent...

" What's curious is that the leak was intermittent...."

So true,especially a leak that size. I also find it strange the handyman,much more so the certified plumber didn't simply turn the stop valve off (or install one) at house to isolate leak between inside/outside.

The water department told me I had an 80 gallon a minute leak but yet I am still at a loss I cannot find a leak anywhere but the meter will not quit turning 80 gallon a minute would have flooded my basement it's dry as can

Yes a water filter can speed up and defective. I have experienced this problem.

Although this post was long ago, I was wanting to know the same answer today. I turn off my sprinklers in October and have a pool in the back yard my bill for the past year A unit is about 800 gallons. In Feb 2020, 2units mar - jan 2021: 2, 5, 5, 3, 9, 13, 12, 7, 3, 1, 1, and today for Feb 2021 = 26units or 20,000 gallons. The meter was read ten days ago on the bill it states current read 561 units. Today an hour ago I read the meter it still states 561 units so less than 800 gallons in ten days. I have not fixed or found any leaks nor has a fixture leaked or was fixed I also did not leave any a hose running or fill my swimming pool, which wouldnt take that much water to fill. In the past year and in the above uses include last summer I had the main line crack on my side of the meter break and the water flowed down the street. As in the summer the fill float in my pool broke and my back yard and the neighbor's were flooded. I have had no leaks and have done nothing different and have no idea where that water went or why it stopped. Is there any way that meter could have advanced without using water? It has a smart meter and the utility company indicated no leaks have been detected. Its like the water company is claiming I filled up my swimming pool or used water that I have no clue that I used or when,

water co. says i was using 150gals.. per hour. even when they had shut the entire island off as per their e-mail?!?!

Hi CJ, hope you are still reading this post. We encounter the same issue for our house.

"with the help of a physicist neighbor we ran all kinds of experiments testing whether the leak was in the house or outside."

What are the experiments you did? We are getting a plumbing technician to check on our main water line tomorrow. However, it sounds like it is possible that he might not be able to identify the issue.

Looking forward to hearing your advice...

Before I spent more money, I would buy myself another meter and place it on the house side of the City meter. Than way you have a comparison on whether they both report the same usage

In my experience a faulty water meter can speed up. When I collected exactly 10 litres of water into a graduated bucket, the meter recorded a consumption of 16 litres. ie. a 60% error.

I replaced my meter with a new one .Now the volumes collected and that recorded on the meter exactly match each other.

Hi guys

i m from vic Melbourne Australia,

we have used 180 kl water in 93 days, while 1 adult, and 2 kids.

out neighbours only rcving bill of $ 200-250 ..

mine is $971.

i am pulling my hair to understand whats going on?

Do have ittrgation but turn it on teice day

shiuld I dig the ground?

Fatima-

Check the water meter to see if the indicator is moving when you don't have anything going (like shower, washing machine, toilet). If the indicator is moving, you have a leak somewhere. I had a problem like this a couple of years ago and it turned out to be a badly glued joint in the supply line to the irrigation system that came apart underground and was spewing 1-2 gallons of water per minute from the pressurized line running to the various irrigation valves. If you do have a leak, it could be in the irrigation system or in the supply to the house. My house and my irrigation system can be independently turned off. When I suspected a leak in the irrigation system I turned off the valve for it and the water meter stopped spinning. That allowed me time to hunt for the leak without wasting more water, which was fortunate since I had to do some digging until I found where the bad joint was.

In 2007, we had the same problem. No matter how hard we tried cutting back consumption it kept getting bigger. Gratefully, because our meter was old, public utility had to change it out. After they tested it they claimed that it was working fine—yet our bill went down, showing our cutbacks. BTW we did our own testing and it can speed up. We opened a water line near the water shut off and allowed it to fill up a bucket. Measuring it out The meter said that more came out than what actually did. We tested our water saver shower as well and same thing happened. Without money it’s difficult to fight utility companies. We lost against them. now I’m in a battle over my electric Bill usage.

You could measure a bucket full of water on your water meter and determine it was inaccurate? lol

My faulty PRV was causing my Neptune water meter to show water being used all the time even though it was not.

I am also having the same issue as you are describing. The average usage we have had for 30 years is between 5-7 units in 2 month period. The last 3 billings they claim we used 97 units, next bill was for 63 units, and the last one was 141 units. I need to know what causes the meter to move ahead without water usage. I have had professional plumbers look and no sign of leaks.

I see that you are new around here so I should tell you how things work. Everything in this thread up to now is free. If none of it answered your question and multiple plumbers have been unable to find it I'll have to charge you for revealing the problem long distance. Are you up for it?

I work for a utility company. Water meters DO NOT speed up. They measure rotations as water is pushed through the meter. Imagine someone on a bike. They pedal, the wheels turn. The faster they peddle, the faster the wheels turn. They stop pedaling, the wheels stop. Unless there is an outside force pushing on the wheels, they will not turn.

About half the time the readings are incorrect because the meter reader got a number wrong. Easy fix- read the meter yourself and compare it. They're pretty simple to read. If the read is wrong, they will fix it over the phone or can send one of theirs to reread it.

The other half of the time there is a leak. Plumbers seem to be TERRIBLE at finding leaks outside of the house. There are Leak Detection specialists. It's almost always an irrigation line because they don't have the same robust pipes. You won't necessarily see standing water or green lawns, but those can be indicators. You can have an entire pool's worth of water flow into the ground and you would never know, depending on how porous the earth is where you live.

Leaks sometimes fluctuate due to erosion, temperature, etc. Dirt and rocks can get moved around and periodically block the flow of water. That's why you might see ups and downs. But the meter itself should have a Flow meter on it. It's usually a red triangle or red needle. If the triangle is spinning when you're not actively using water, then you've got a leak. If the red needle goes up, you've got a leak. Both of these red indicators detect very small quantities of water passing through the meter.

Water meters do slow down over time or get stuck. Miniscule particles of dirt get into the mechanisms and slow the gears down over time. Meters last about 10 years but can be shorter or longer. If you replace your meter, you might see your bill jump UP because it's now operating at the correct speed. Think twice before you ask for a replacement.

Bottom line- it's not the meter making your bill high. You either have an incorrect read, a leak, or you forgot that you filled the pool last month. Tiny leaks REALLY add up. Running toilets are just like turning on your faucet 24/7. If the read is correct, call a Leak Specialist, not a plumber.

PS- Depending on where you live, the sewer company can reimburse you for some of the leaked water because it doesn't actually go into the sewer, it goes into the ground.

I was referring to the meter has a defect that causes it to jump ahead. I am attaching a photo that shows the 2nd digit (the 2) looks like it is moving up and should not be doing this. In my case the meter supposedly went from 00000000 to 58 in

The meter was installed on March 9. This is a photo of the meter on March 21st.

The above is a photo taken on 10/7/22

Additionally these supposed massive leaks happened 3 times within the last 6 months and fixed themselves because we did nothing to stop them. we have be doing constant dye tests

The meter is in our basement so I could not have leaked into the ground.

We had a video camera on the meter for about 30 days. The little triangle did not move unless we were running water. That told us there was no leak. If the number did jump over night, What would the electronic data logging report that they have look like? We have a copy of the report from our water company. Everyone tells us it takes some action to stop a leak. The assistant director of the utility company states in a conclusion report that leaks fix themselves.

Posting in case anyone happening to browse this in the future makes the same mistake I made. I thought my meter was measuring 10X more water than it actually was, because I didn't notice the meter had a decimal point here.

So, can the meter "jump" or not? I have the same issue: No spinning dial, no leaks. No changes in usage. I tested all the irrigation valves, same as ever. My meter is back to normal, after last month recording an extra 40,000 gallons, almost tripling my bill. All the city people can say is the meter can't read more. A toilet is not going to use 40,000 gallons un-noticed! Besides, there is NO continuous leak, the dial is not moving at all! They offered to do a bench test, but if it tests OK I am on the hook for another $300! How is the test going to show it was faulty when it is operating normally now? I am getting screwed, and there seems to be nothing I can do.