ro unit costing me

[hound96]

i am wondering if anyone elses water bill went up when they hooked up their ro unit , my bill has jumped $100 a month since i hooked up mine and i didn't even find out till i spoke to epcor

i am starting to wonder if it would hurt my systen to run just tap water i know there are nitrates in tap water but i also know prime helps

[Coleus]

hmm that is a big jump. How many gallons are you using per month? I use probably 100 gallon of RO water everymonth and my water bill only go up around 10 dollars per month

[hound96]

i use about the same i have some other factors to look at like my toilet flaper and i am changing my house light bulbs but i had to find a cost for ro so i could determine whether or not to shut it down

[sphelps]

You should measure your waste ratio so you can find out exactly what you're using for water and be sure the RO is functioning properly and not constantly draining water. Something isn't right, no way it should cost you that much more.

[hound96]

as soon as the holding tank is full it stops running as for waste water i found i gewt 1 5 gallon bucket of ro for every 3 that i waste

[hillegom]

1:3 is pretty normal, with some being more efficient and some 1:4, not as efficient

[sphelps]

Well Epcor charges $1.6084 per cubit meter in your area correct? 1 cubic meter is equal to about 260 gallons so if you use 100 gallons of RO with a 1:3 ration that's 400 gallons total which should cost an additional $2.50 per month. So what are we missing here?

[hound96]

that sounds about right i think im gonna look into the other things that need adjusting i just needed to make sure my fish weren't the cause looks like i'll be keeping the ro thanks guys

[phi delt reefer]

your bill may just have been an "adjustment" bill.

Here's what i mean.

My water meter is located in my basement. I am supposed to submit a reading monthly but i never do (its in weird location and i always forget). The hydro company just default bills me what my average was in the previous months. Once every six months the water guy will come by and ask to read it himself (this stops fraud and help catch up lazy accounts like mine.) That month my bill is usually higher (about $75-$100) because they need to catch me up for the excess usage that occurred in th months they just charged me what my average was. They always low ball my average so i always owe extra. Yours might be similar. Ask your company if they do a reading each month or just once in awhile and bill an average instead.

[paddyob]

I use tap water.

My tank is doing as well as any tank with an RO system. Why worry Dennis?

[paddyob]

Well Epcor charges $1.6084 per cubit meter in your area correct? 1 cubic meter is equal to about 260 gallons so if you use 100 gallons of RO with a 1:3 ration that's 400 gallons total which should cost an additional $2.50 per month. So what are we missing here?

400 gallons of water only costs $2.50??????? Are you kidding me??? Wow.

[hound96]

coming to think of it i had a guy come last week and install a new water meter i wonder if that has anything to do with it ill call them and look into it

[mark]

400 gallons of water only costs $2.50??????? Are you kidding me??? Wow.
water is very cheap (unless you're buying bottled). My last bill was 26cumtr which is about 6900 gallons for $41.26. Total bill though is higher since the drainage fee is based on water in.

And an additional $100, I'd be calling EPCOR.

[Coleus]

i got enmax bill here and they charge me 1.306 per cubic meter. and last month i used 19 cubic meter so that only cost me 24.83. However, service charge + sewer charge is 36.98

which make my water bill around 61 bucks. So cheap, the gas + electricity is a difference story

[cale262]

A couple of years ago they came to my house to install and electronic reader on the exterior of my home and now they bill me every two months with an actual true reading...

I was looking at the mechanical metre in the basement when I was installing one of my rodi units...if I wasn't an honest person it would have been simple to tap my system in before the metre...I often wonder how many people out there have done this (grow op's etc)?

[DiverDude]

coming to think of it i had a guy come last week and install a new water meter i wonder if that has anything to do with it ill call them and look into it

I'll bet that they screwed-up the install. They are supposed to log the reading on the old meter and submit that when they install a new meter (which should be at zero). Your next bill should then be an amalgamation of the unbilled consumption on the old meter + the reading on the new meter on the billing date.

They screw this up REGULARLY though. It's a VERY good idea to take th reading of the old meter before they disappear with it so you can fix it when they screw-up.

[Madreefer]

What the hell? You guys have to pay for water?

[MarkoD]

on my old tank i ran tap water with prime and i had to clean the glass with the magnet every single day.

now running RO/DI i find that i need to only do it every 3 days or so. and i run way more light on my new tank too.

i wouldnt run tap water in a marine aquarium again. it wont hurt anything, you'll just more algae

[waynemah]

I switched to RO/DI water this last month and saw no real increase...

There are some sweet fees going on in those bills, have them review it. Maybe you were charged service on the meter change?

[hound96]

if they charged me to change my landlords water meter thats a good way to get on my bad side , as for the possible mess up for logs i will be having them review it

[jd949]

A couple of years ago they came to my house to install and electronic reader on the exterior of my home and now they bill me every two months with an actual true reading...

I was looking at the mechanical metre in the basement when I was installing one of my rodi units...if I wasn't an honest person it would have been simple to tap my system in before the metre...I often wonder how many people out there have done this (grow op's etc)?

Funny you say that. My parents bought a house 20+ years ago. The original owner had just finished renovating the basement at that time. The water meter was buried behind the drywall with only the readout screen visible and another hole in the drywall for the main shutoff valve.

Fast forward 12-13 years, and they were changing all the old meters out for the digital one they can read from outside your house. The installer comes in to check the old valve before installing it, and had to break away a bit of drywall to pull the old vlave. He sticks his hand in the wall and feels something. breaks the wall open a bit more, and there is a line coming off of the main line before the meter. turns out the line fed the hot water tank. so for the last 13 years they weren't paying for any hot water. Also the installer said the old valve was installed in reverse (water coming into house going through output side of meter). He said that the impeller inside the meter is designed to meter water flow in only one direction, by reversing it the meter only reads about 1/3 of the water going through it.

The bad part, they monitor you water usage for the next 6 months, take the average and back charge you the difference in usage plus interest. I forget how long the went back for but I think it was at least 5 years worth.

Needless to say my parents were not happy campers.