Anyone familiar with water meters ? UPDATE
The meter was replaced just before the bill spiked . They sais the old one was broken and had not been reading correctly. But our usage/ billing has been consitant for 7 yrs. And summertime usage is consistant ( higher) with using the sprinkler . We dont use much water.
I find it suspicious that the spike coincided with the fiber company work , the breaking of neighbors mian ( 2' away from our meter) and the replacement of our meter .
Well, here's some food for thought.
A typical 3/4 water line, free flowing moves about 3 or 4 gallons per minute.
gpm x ( minutes in a day) x 30 days
3x(60x24)x30 == 129,600 gallons.
That's the equivalent of 12 average pools.
I've seen this kind of leak and it ends in your yard looking like a swamp after just a week or so.... Further, if the city busted the main anywhere near your house, by now it would have sunk.
I'm not suggesting you'd have that sort of gusher since you'd have NO pressure and you would have the swamp. You don't have a leak (unless it's a leaking toilet or something) and more likely DID have a bad meter.
You're old meter was reading slow. If you want, you should be able to request a calibration test. A properly calibrated meter is one which measures between 98.5 and 101.5 percent of actual flow.
The test of turning off the main is wrong. All that tells you is there ins't a leak between the meter and your house. You need to leave everything in tact and after ensuring all of the water faucets are off, watch the meter for at least 15 or 30 mins to see any movement.
