$11,000 Water Bill

[Muhammad]

This thread has now been summarized in article format for easy reading: Leaking Pipe Leads to Insane $11,000 Water Bill | TractorByNet.com

 

[daugen]

nice job on article, except for you west coast guys, it's Carolina

a close friend had exactly this same thing happen this month when a fitting on her boat dock water line broke and she pumped
city water into the Pamlico River for quite some time. They told her to write a letter and they would consider it one time.

 

[Muhammad]

nice job on article, except for you west coast guys, it's Carolina

a close friend had exactly this same thing happen this month when a fitting on her boat dock water line broke and she pumped
city water into the Pamlico River for quite some time. They told her to write a letter and they would consider it one time.

I knew there had to be a typo in there somewhere. Thanks for catching that!

 

[EddieWalker]

This thread has now been summarized in article format for easy reading: Leaking Pipe Leads to Insane $11,000 Water Bill | TractorByNet.com

Quote from your article

"Turns out the plumber who ran the pipe used DWV pipe, which stands for Drain Waist Vent and is not intended for use in 50psi pressure lines. "


On post #23 there is a picture of the pipe used. While DWV is marked on the pipe, that is just one of many rating on the pipe. I'm at a loss why so many people focused on that marking, but ignored where its rated for 280 psi and the ASTM D1785 stamp that means it's used for pressurized liquids. This pipe can be used for BOTH drinking water and DWV lines.


If the run had been shorter, and the cement applied perfectly, there would never have been a problem.

 

[Deere Dude]

My understanding is that the builder is going to use HDPE rolls this time. I have read mostly positive reviews about it and we actually have it in use out here in Iraq - its pretty tough stuff. By far the biggest advantage is the fact that we will only have 3 connections over our 1300 foot run. PVC is a good product, but all 50+ joints need to be perfect.

Do you have any what size the pipe will be? As big as the original? He has to make his money up somehow so my instinct is he will use 1" and maybe 1-1/4" at the most. So with the profit he made on the 2" original pipe he will still come out in good shape.

I really think you are better off using a smaller pipe with a higher pressure anyway because that way if you have a leak or a crack you should notice it in the house faster. That is the stuff I would put in regardless and should hold up for a long long time, as long as you don't live in Texas.

 

[Jaeger]

Glad it got resolved, was trying to figure out a rural area that has public water though?

None of that where I'm from? Doesn't seem too rural if it does.

 

[aczlan]

Glad it got resolved, was trying to figure out a rural area that has public water though?

None of that where I'm from? Doesn't seem too rural if it does.

There are a bunch around here, especially in new houses.

Aaron Z

 

[Jaeger]

So it's a town water supply? or one big well and holding tank supplying multiple homes??

Sounds more like a neighborhood than "rural"

Hope they have natural gas like that too! HEck we can't even get high speed internet

 

[dodge man]

I'm on rural water here. It covers a big area, water mains, a water tower and all.

 

[Streetcar]

My water main went in a couple of years after they paved the gravel road

 

[aczlan]

I'm on rural water here. It covers a big area, water mains, a water tower and all.

Yes. Around here there's been a push with grant money available from the state to make town water available to more people.
There are also a fair number of people who have wells that have issues with hard water, sulfur, and high iron. Those people are very happy to be able to get on town water.

Aaron Z

 

[dragoneggs]

This thread has now been summarized in article format for easy reading: Leaking Pipe Leads to Insane $11,000 Water Bill | TractorByNet.com

:thumbsup::thumbsup:

 

[turnkey4099]

So it's a town water supply? or one big well and holding tank supplying multiple homes??

Sounds more like a neighborhood than "rural"

Hope they have natural gas like that too! HEck we can't even get high speed internet

I have a house in very rual famrland. It was one of four in a half mile radius on a community well. Now only two of us remain and I drilled my own to get off of being the unpaid 'well fixer'. Still do maintain a connection to the neighbor for use if one of our wells needs some fixing. Both of us had used that interconnect, nice to have a backup.

 

[Cord]

I really need some assistance. My wife recently received two bills from the water company totaling $11,000!!!! We immediately called.our builder and he sent out a guy to figure out what's going on. He found the leak and replaced the pipe, but the hole in the pipe makes no sense to me. It almost looks melted. Has anyone ever seen something like this before? Builder is saying it's a freak accident and that the pipe must have rubbed against a rock. I'm not buying it - first off we have sand for soil, next, the hole isn't at all jagged.

I'm currently deployed to Iraq and this is just causing tremendous stress on my wife and I. The water company is saying that around 2 million gallons leaked in a month (around 50 gpm). Can anyone help me make sense of this????

Thanks in advance,

JustinTapatalk Cloud - Downlaoad File Screenshot_217-5-13-2-53-17.png
Tapatalk Cloud - Downlaoad File Screenshot_217-5-13-2-53-28.png

I'll start off by saying that I haven't read all the posts. I will say that as an Architect, this isn't the first time that I've seen this. The good news is that the problem is common enough that the water utility will have a procedure in place to address it. The critical thing is that the water didn't go into the sanitary system. It costs dramatically more to treat the sewage than to supply potable water. Hopefully your builder documented the location of the repair. If you can prove the leak was underground then you will be successful in getting your water bill reduced. You will still need to pay for the water that leaked out, but the bill will go from $11,000 to maybe $500. After that, I'd turn to the builder's plumber to have him pay the difference between the normal water usage and the usage caused by the plumbers leak. Call the local utility and get the forms that you'll need to fill out, send them the supporting documentation and stand back while the wheels of government grind.

 

[newbury]

I'll start off by saying that I haven't read all the posts.

If you had you would have read it was happily resolved.

 

[Cord]

With 15 additional pages of people not adding anything constructive?

 

[justinramani]

My wife saw them working on the line replacement today. Looks like they aren't using roll pipe after all. She sent me a few pictures. Looks like SDR21 200psi. It's hard to tell, but it looks like it might be gasketed pipe.

 

[justinramani]

 

[dragoneggs]

My wife saw them working on the line replacement today. Looks like they aren't using roll pipe after all. She sent me a few pictures. Looks like SDR21 200psi. It's hard to tell, but it looks like it might be gasketed pipe.

View attachment 511737

I'm no expert but it does look like gasketed pipe based on color. Good to see the progress report. Keep us posted.

 

[justinramani]

Hopefully this is the last time we ever have to deal with this water line.