TLDR: One month of a broken toilet flapper =about 16,000 more gallons used than normal. My typical $30 bill is now $370.

Did Read: For the month of November we were gone on vacation and busy with work and prepping for holidays. So the times that we were home we would occasionally hear the sound of running water. I at first assumed it was our neighbors upstairs running something. Then my wife pointed out the toilet was filling up after we had gotten home one day. I spent a night looking at different things and could not figure out the issue. Stupidly I figured the "occasional" times it was filling up wasnt a big issue and it went on the back burner in my mind. Finally called maintenance to see if they could figure out what was wrong with it but because of Thanksgiving the issue ended up being resolved on Nov 30th. The flapper of course had to be replaced because I was inexperienced I couldnt see the issue with it and thought the problem was less than what it was.

So on the off chance this prompts someone to check and save themselves that is probably the only solace I will get from this situtation.

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dollar_signTexas t1_j1dihqn wrote on December 23, 2022 at 2:36 PM

I don't know if it's state, region, or company specific, but when I've had leaks that caused the bill to be WAY higher than usual, I alerted the water company, and once I provided a receipt for the new piece/ repair, they credited my account. Worth a shot

ziggyzaggyziggyzaggy t1_j1divm1 wrote on December 23, 2022 at 2:39 PM

Yup, often time a one time thing, but it worked for me as well

pkinetics t1_j1e9xb6 wrote on December 23, 2022 at 5:45 PM

Does not hurt to call customer service at the water utility.

ziggyzaggyziggyzaggy t1_j1diu02 wrote on December 23, 2022 at 2:38 PM

We live in Colorado. Had a leaky valve in our sprinkler system that ran for two weeks. Cost me $3,000. Almost shit myself after seeing that bill

keepthetips t1_j1dhgp2 wrote on December 23, 2022 at 2:28 PM

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SlightlyMortified t1_j1dngda wrote on December 23, 2022 at 3:12 PM

...and your neighbors. It sounded like it was raining in my wall. Drip-drip-drip. It was like 9 at night, but I got my building manager to confirm. He went upstairs, turns out my upstairs neighbor had left his sink on and fallen asleep. Fortunately, the ceiling didn't come down on my computer before I noticed what was going on, but you can see stains on my ceiling now where the water was pooling.

PerceptionOk9231 t1_j1e11h5 wrote on December 23, 2022 at 4:46 PM

Dont sinks generally have overflow protection?

SlightlyMortified t1_j1e3wp1 wrote on December 23, 2022 at 5:05 PM

Yeah, the whole thing is hard for me to get my mind around. He says he was washing his face, then fell asleep w out turning the sink off. Sounds sus, but I don’t know wtf I’d even be accusing him of. Then a while later he tells me it “keeps happening”. I don’t know, don’t want to, and can only hope, never find out.