So we got a note on our door from the water company stating that our water meter showed continuous running of water over several hours/days on days that we had guests at the house and that are bill will more than likely be higher than usual. Do I have any recourse on this??
How far away are the water sources from where the guests sleep/eat/lounge? The sound of constantly running water would drive people nuts. Are you sure it’s not a loo?
It is a very tiny house… Our cleaning person said nothing was running that they saw/heard, checked our hoses so whatever it was they must have turned off before they left.
Weird. If it wasn’t the loo then I’m at a loss.
I’ve just returned from staying in an Airbnb with a running toilet and a couple of times I’ve had to get up in the night to fix the running water.
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The toilet is very close to the bedrooms. Never had issues with toilet running before… I am thinking they left hose on?? Do I ask them??
Did they provide more specifics? Was it hours or days? How many gallons and how much $. If it was really just several hours over the course of less than a day, then maybe somebody accidentally left a faucet running. It’s hard to imagine water running constantly for days in a sink/shower/tub, but if you have a spigot outside, that could be it. It can happen with a toilet, but it’s not something people would think is normal.
I think I would tell the guest you received a note from the water company and ask if there were any issues related to water. If it’s possible there is a real problem of some kind, you need to know about it.
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I know that I sound like a stuck record (do people understand that these days?) but I still think it might be the loo. If the cleaners heard no running water, then it would be the guest using the loo that started the problem.
If the guests used the loo just before going out for the day, that would explain why it ran for hours.
And belatedly, you’ve made me realise that I should have mentioned it to the host…
It said with was over one day into the next day, from 11/15 to 11/16. I did not think to ask how many gallons
We have never had issues with toilet running at all there.
It’s when the little chain thingy comes off the little flapper wotsit. It can happen at any time.
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Whether you’ve had issues before with the toilet running is irrelevant. It’s one of those maintenance things- the toilet flappers need to be replaced after awhile, or the chain gets stuck under the flapper, or some dirt or other crud has lodged itself where the flapper sits, so it isn’t closing all the way. I went out one day and didn’t realize that the toilet was running (never happened on that toilet before). It drained a 2500 litre tank of water in about 4 hours.
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She said there were no issues with the toilet and that maybe one of the boys did not shut the hose off…
So do I have recourse on this if our bill is very high?
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Honestly this is such a weird thread. The title of the thread says that the ‘guests left water on’ yet you have no proof that they did. Why do you ask if you have recourse if
a) you have no proof that the guests did anything wrong
b) you don’t even know how much this cost you
My twopence: it probably was something related to the toilet. Sometimes the flush gets stuck and you don’t even notice that the water continues to run. That’s hardly the guests fault. Even if (and this seems very unlikely) the guests ran water on purpose, you are probably talking about $10 or so which is just the cost of business. Focus your attention elsewhere and move on.
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Well sorry I did not word it properly for you. We were just at the property right before the guests and there was no issue whatsoever. In the meantime, I spoke with the guest and she basically said yeah, one of the boys probably left the hose running after confirming there were no issues with toilet, etc, in the house. It was running for 2 days so I would say it would be a bit significant in cost.
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How much do you think it’ll cost?
I don’t know and having trouble getting through to my water company to get more specifics on it but a running hose can put out several gallons a minute.
Why is there a hose? What is it for? Does it need to be there?
@Suntory is right. It’s a cost of doing business. Did you allow adequately for the property’s utilities when you first calculated your price-per-night? Of not, then you might want to rethink, especially if you have a hose that can be left running.
As for recourse, I doubt that the amount is very much so it’s not worth claiming on your insurance.
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A water hose can use up to 24 gallons per minute: https://homeguides.sfgate.com/flow-rate-garden-hose-82928.html
Water in the US costs circa $0.004 a gallon: https://slate.com/business/2013/07/cost-of-bottled-water-vs-tap-water-the-difference-will-shock-you.html
Assuming that the water hose ran for 24 hours, this would equate to $138.24
It is highly unlikely that it would even be 10% of that because before you’d get notification from the water company about water usage you’d flood the garden …
The house is at the beach, it is used for washing sand off feet before entering the house so yes it needs to be there.
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The people checked out on Saturday. We received the notification yesterday… The house is at the beach and it is dry season so likely the water soaked very easily into the ground and would not have caused a flooded garden.
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