Finally figured out why my water bill was so high each month

For the first 3 years in my Calgary house, my water bill was always around $120-$140 a month in summer. I just thought that was normal for watering the lawn and garden. Last August, I noticed a neighbor with way more grass was paying half that. So I checked my outdoor faucet and found a slow drip where the pipe connects to the house. Turned out a rubber washer had gone bad, and it was losing about 5 gallons an hour. I replaced it for $3 and this July my bill was only $72. Has anyone else found a sneaky leak that was costing them way more than they realized?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_daniel1mo ago

My buddy had a similar thing with his outdoor spigot. He was complaining about his water bill being like $80 more than his wife's parents who live two blocks away. I told him to check the faucet outside and he just laughed it off. Then one day he was watering his lawn and noticed the ground was really wet right where the pipe comes out of the house. He dug around it and found a tiny leak at the joint that had been slowly dripping for probably two years. After he tightened a fitting and replaced a worn out gasket his bill dropped by about $40 a month. He still gives me crap for being right.

jenny_sullivan971mo ago

Yeah my neighbor had a similar thing with a toilet flapper that was only about 20 years old but had a tiny crack costing them like $40 extra a month. You'd be surprised how much water those little rubber pieces can waste.