Water usage villa rentals. Andalucia

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Swales
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Water usage villa rentals. Andalucia

Post by Swales »

Im interested in average water usage whilst renting our villa. 3 bed two bath. We rented last year for first time and were shocked to receive a bill showing 141m3 water used in a quarter. In some areas this may be ok as water is cheap. Ours is not anything over 41m3 costs 4.6 euros per m3 so our bill was over 600 euros.
Obviously I can't compare amount in euros as tariffs vary enormously. However I would like to know what usage people are seeing. This bill was peak season July Aug sept. We had 75 nights occupancy. So this means people using 1.88m3 per day. 1m3 is equivalent to 13 baths. I can't imagine people are using that much. Villa often not filled to capacity usually 2 or 4 people.
Can anyone give me water usage figures to compare. Thank you.
AndrewH
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Post by AndrewH »

Twenty or so bath-fills a day seems excessive even for 4 people plus the use of say a dishwasher, a washing machine and loo flushes added on to that.

I am not meaning to be flippant, but does your property have a swimming pool and if so might it be leaking? Or could there be leaks in the supply pipe from the meter, of which you are unaware? Or is the meter itself faulty?

I can't give a cubic meter comparison, because we are on a private water system and billed differently, but I hope someone on here will be able to do that.
Ecosse
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Post by Ecosse »

Ooft, that's a lot! I've just looked at our water bill for the past year's usage in our up to 22 bed place (usually only 15 staying), where we, a family of 5 also live, and it only amounts to 60 litres for the year. I suspect therefore, that you have a leak somewhere... or that someone has misread your meter.
Marks
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Post by Marks »

Do you have a garden watering system programmed correctly? Is a hosepipe left out so that guests might decide it would be fun to play with it turned on? How does this quarter compare to last year? Is the bill a catch up? Our local water company occasionally does a 3 month reading rather than a 2 month. Lots of variables to consider, along with a leak somewhere.
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Swales
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Post by Swales »

We had new water meter fitted and tested for leaks everywhere by fitting new isolation valves and all is ok.
We know we definitely dont have a leak. We were there ourselves over Christmas and last week and no water usage recorded during empty period. There is a spanish property on the land below us with lots of new planting avocados and new perimeter hedging that he watered heavily over the summer.
We have been told that his property is not on a meter.
We read the meter every day sometimes twice a day whilst we were there is September and recorded heavy usage on two evenings whilst we were out at exactly the same time and for the same amount of water. We think someone may be tapping into our supply during peak season. They apparently also had a pool leak and someone advised us that they had said it was extremely cheap to fill!!! When we visited the town hall they said our usage was equivalent to several pool fills. Our booking season is about to start soon and we have asked the rep who looks after the property to take regular meter readings. I really dont think it is the renters but do suspect water thieves somewhere. Just wanted some average cubic meter usage from people in similar situations. We do water for 10 mins a day 3 times a week in very hot weather and have measured this too but it is negligeable.
Marks
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Post by Marks »

is your pool being managed properly and not being filled to fix a problem?

Very common for people to run hoses from taps of empty properties. I know of one person not far from me who found her neighbour had tapped into her water pipe and was irrigating hundreds of of fruit trees and a very large (think football pitch) vegetable garden. The local water company and the old bill didn't want to know.
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RichardHenshall
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Post by RichardHenshall »

Swales wrote:... We have been told that his property is not on a meter.
We read the meter every day sometimes twice a day whilst we were there is September and recorded heavy usage on two evenings whilst we were out at exactly the same time and for the same amount of water. ...
It sounds to me like your neighbour might be (inadvertently?) connected to your meter for irrigation or pool filling. If you have outside taps or pipework that could be accessible to anyone not resident in your property you should consider fitting lockable taps or isolation valves and check for faulty lavatory cisterns that keep on flushing.

However, it's possible that your guests are just extravagant in their use of your water (multiple showers, car-washing, playing with hoses, watering your garden for you etc), especially if you don't have a pool of your own to cool down in. Our 3 bedroom 3 shower, pool and ~500 sq mtrs of garden in the Algarve would typically use 100 -110 cu mtrs in the worst 3 months of summer out of an annual total of around 200 cu mtrs.
Ecosse
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Post by Ecosse »

Sorry, mine should have read 60 cubic metres, not 60 litres for the year. Our guests have a lot of showers, and we had one leaky tap last year, but no significant garden to water, just various pots.

As we're now busier, we've been told to budget for 100 cubic metres usage, but as a comparison, that still doesn't come anywhere near your usage. Good luck in solving the mystery - it does sound like you have a water thief somewhere around.
Last edited by Ecosse on Wed Mar 15, 2017 5:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.
AndrewH
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Post by AndrewH »

Swales wrote: ...There is a spanish property on the land below us with lots of new planting avocados and new perimeter hedging that he watered heavily over the summer.
We have been told that his property is not on a meter.
We read the meter every day sometimes twice a day whilst we were there is September and recorded heavy usage on two evenings whilst we were out at exactly the same time and for the same amount of water. We think someone may be tapping into our supply during peak season...
I think therein you have the answer to the problem! Does "not on a meter" mean that your neighbour has no water supply of his own?
Sam V
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Post by Sam V »

Last year, out of season with no guests, my manager told me our gardener had turned up at the villa to find the hose attached to the tap and in the pool. I had a massive bill that month, higher than peak summer. Neither the gardener or the pool man had done this and we suspected the builders in villa E (we are C) had Been using our water. They were converting the car port into a room. My manager then fitted locks to both our outside taps which in September she found broken off on the top including the tap handles and laying on the ground. we had to replace the locks and taps. My friend was staying at the villa at that time and during and didn't see anything, probably done when she was out.
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fincafern
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Post by fincafern »

We have 3 houses on one plot in Andalucia and recently had an undetected water leak, under the pool.
Our water company came to warn us of excessive usage which was really good of them.
Your bill of 600€ is higher than the massive cost of my water leak. The second bill is due soon - 200€ and 360€ which our water company have kindly agreed to help us with the latter having provided photos , proof of repairs and an inspection by their engineer.
My average 3 monthly bills are normally 30€ and maximum 75€ in high season, so I hope this will help you to make a comparison. We have two meters. In summer, the guests rarely have baths- they use the pool shower a lot. In winter this comes down to 15€ and 25€ when just my husband and I at home.
If you have not got a leak, there is only really one answer.
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NeatandPicky
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Post by NeatandPicky »

Here in Cyprus getting an airlock in the pipework can send the meter doolally to give a high reading. You can buy some sort of gadget to put in before the meter to avoid this. (Sorry not sure what that is exactly as we haven't done it.)

But from your investigations it sounds like someone's deliberately tapping into your supply. Here you can buy taps that you can lock with a padlock - admittedly a faff. I found this on a quick search to show what I mean: http://bit.ly/2nd9CeD

Our neighbour (who goes round checking on a regular basis) reckons the local bank manager's villas have meters that run backwards!

We have an agricultural supply for the gardens and pools, but regularly see people stopping at the end of our road and filling up from our supply. All sorts of shenanigans with water here!
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cleanforum
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Post by cleanforum »

Had some heavy bills last year so did some very rough calcs for our Andalucian three bed 2 bath villa with about 100 fruit trees.

heaviest 2 months (July/August)

Aprox 150m3 and 35Euro for the two months together.

As follows;
House 1m3 per dayx 60 = 60m3
Piscina fill ups 10m3
Watering plants 80m3
volcano
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Post by volcano »

nonreturn valve could be broken!
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CSE
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Post by CSE »

volcano wrote:nonreturn valve could be broken!
That would mean the meter running backwards. I have been lead to believe that is impossible in mechanical water meters.
Never try to out-stubborn your guests.
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