What are my tenants doing with the water?

Question

I have two identical 6-unit buildings on the same lot, but they get separate utility bills.  One of the units consistantly gets water bills more than double the other building.  I found that the Kansas City Water Dept has a graph of the last 90 days' usage.

If the links below work, you will need to click on 90 days and click on gallons:

Building 1Building 2

My first surprise came when I looked at the lower-usage building. The minimum usage is about 75 gal/day. However, about once a month, the usage shoots over 1000 gals. The average there is about 200 g/day, but since the end of November, usage has increased significantly.

The high-usage unit has a minimum of 75 gal/day with an average of about 400 g/day and more spikes over 1000 gals. However, since the end of November, its usage seems to have gone down.

The gas bill has been similarly higher in this building. I believe the gas only covers the hot water and heating the common areas. Last March, this building's gas bill was $725 vs $250 for the other building.

My property manager has checked for leaks, but the daily swings make leaks unlikely.

The 3rd party coin-op laundry in the basement is usually broken so I'm thinking some the spikes could be due to washing in the sink or bathtub. I'm also wondering if someone is running hot water to heat his apartment.

Has anyone had experiences with tenants wasting water to this degree? Do you have other ideas as to what is going on? Money laundering:)

I'm also open to suggestions as to corrections.

Steve Vaughan · Answer

I pulled the handles from all front hose bibs from one of my multi's this summer.  They were washing their cars.  In the 3 months since, I haven't had the problem again.

Colleen F. · Answer

I do my water calculations per occupant /day.    We have a well and average 35gal/occupant/ day but the national average is higher then that. Try it that way.   You  also may have more high flow fixtures in one building then the other.  Leaks drove us up to 75 gall/person/day, little sink leaks.  Do you have any leaky faucets?, is the washer leaking?,  do you have an High Efficiency washer?  If you have more at home tenants in one building then the other that will drive up costs too.   If you stand in front of your meter and it is still going round with not running water on in the building you have a leak , that is how ours is.   I can hear water when it is on if I am in front of the meter.   If you have dishwashers and they are older they use up to 4 x as much water as the current models.

Franklin Romine · Answer

@Jim Workman

Lock down all your exterior faucets.Frank

Matt R. · Answer

Are you sure the meter reading happens at the same *time* each day?  If not, that could throw things off.  In other words: imagine the world begins at 12:01 AM Monday, and the building is using a steady 10 gallons an hour.  If the next two meter readings are at 12:01 AM Tuesday and 12:01 AM Wednesday, you'd see 240 gallons for Monday and 240 gallons for Tuesday, which is what you expect.  BUT, if the next two meter readings are at *noon* Tuesday, and 12:01 AM Wednesday, you'd see 360 gallons for "Monday", and 120 gallons for "Tuesday".  The numbers would look lopsided, even with a steady usage of water.

Part of the reason I'm asking is that both buildings have a few days that only show 75 gallons of water being used.  That's only 12.5 gallons per unit, for one day.  Even if only one of your tenants takes a shower that day, the average should be more than that.

Do you know if all the toilets have been replaced with relatively modern ones?  Recent toilets (the past 10-15 years) use about 1.6 gallons per flush.  Old ones (like the mid-60's original in my parents' house) uses about 3.5 or 4 gallons per flush.  If you have some apartments with old toilets, and those tenants happen to use their toilets a lot on a particular day (off work?  kids/friends are over?), you might see spikes like that.

Don't forget that 11/26-11/29 was Thanksgiving, and may have involved 1) more cooking/guests, or 2) people leaving the apartments to visit family elsewhere.

For Building 1, I agree that the occasional >1000 gal spikes could be laundry.  It could also be car-washing.  (Yes, even if there isn't an outside hydrant, people will run a garden hose out the window... maybe to the hookup for the coin-op washer.)  It even could be the nights that one of your tenants has a few friends over to watch Netflix and drink beer, which involves more flushing of toilets.

For Building 2, the spikes are not as defined, but they are still there... maybe the same causes.  Interestingly, it seems to have dropped off around the end of November, at about the same time the other building picked up.

For what it's worth, I live with one other person in a SFR in an east suburb of Kansas City, MO.  If I am reading my water bill correctly, then in the 88 days from 27 July 2015 to 23 October 2015, the average daily use was about 91 gallons.  I don't get daily readings, so I can't speak to how "spiky" or "lumpy" the usage is.

Thomas Fadden · Answer

can you sub dived the utilities BP offten uses that as a value add.

Deanna McCormick · Answer

I'd check and keep checking water meter and track I'd go late at night and see if the meter is spinning at all for 30 minutes, if it slow it's showing a leak.

I'd call and find out if you can have meter replaced if no leaks are present.

I would check all toilets with dye test for leaks, we put on low flow shower heads on units.

Yes, disable outside faucets take off the handles, and shut off in the basement.

Water leaks and gas to heat water leaks are big thief's and you should be concerned about water consumption.

Peter K. · Answer

I disconnect the pipes to exterior hose bibs at any property I pay the water bill on.

Zach Quick · Answer

Do you have a specific product you've used for this that has done well?

Matt R. · Answer

I had another brilliant idea, which unfortunately doesn't seem to match reality.  Are any of your tenants letting the water drip/trickle when they think it might freeze at night?  The spikes don't match the cold days in KC from Weather Underground, though.  People who have previously lived in mobile homes (with pipes underneath) or apartments with pipes in the exterior walls and not much insulation may have dealt with burst pipes before; they would be happy to "waste" a little water to prevent that, especially if somebody else is paying the water bill.

Leaky toilet flappers can waste water when the toilet runs by itself.  You can put a little food coloring in the tank water, and wait 10-15 minutes to see if the color shows up in the bowl water.  Sometimes the water department passes out dye tablets for doing this test.

If it were me, I'd buy a new kitchen faucet, a new bathroom faucet, a couple of toilet flappers, a couple of complete toilet valve kits (Fluidmaster 400 has always worked well for me), and figure out where to get parts for the shower valves and maybe the existing faucets.  Then, give the tenants proper advance notice of maintenance, and then start looking.  In 12 units you'll probably end up using both faucets and all the toilet parts.

Have you been in the mechanical room of the buildings?  Does each separate unit have its own, marked, water line?  If it does, you might consider buying your own water meters ($80-$100ish) and installing them, just to see what happens.

I am not a lawyer and the following is not legal advice: Even if you can't legally submeter and charge the tenants for actual usage, I'm pretty sure you can install the meters for your own personal entertainment and education, and see how much each unit is using.  I am not a lawyer and the preceding was not legal advice.

I know you can also buy your own electric meters and wire them up.  I *think* you can buy your own gas meter, but I've never looked.

Crystal H. · Answer

Are there more tenants living in a unit then on the lease? Maybe they had company, more people, more laundry and more water usage.

What are my tenants doing with the water?

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