Help me catch my neighbor

[kyrax12]

If by hot you mean ugly alcoholic cigarette smoking trollface, then sure.

Thought you and the girlfriend are on good terms.

That was a pretty harsh description.

 

[Newbian]

Get some night vision goggles and shoot him the moment he steps on your property and report it as you thinking it was a burglar breaking into your house.

 

[Gillbot]

Contacam is free dvr software you can use with a USB webcam.

 

[disappoint]

LOL so instead of thinking you have a leak since you are useing a LOT more water you think the neighbor is stealing it.

If he is stealing it to that amount he would have to be doing it nightly and all night.

no it can't be a broken or leaky pipe! heck no! it can't be that amount of water!

lol

Seriously. OP are you a paranoid schizophrenic? You probably have a waterleak numbnuts. Plus it doesn't cost you nearly as much to check for leaks as it would to get a webcam. Also some great free advice you got that is free to implement is to randomly check yourself. But I guess that doesn't jive with your altered sense of reality does it.

And so what if I took some water from you everynight? That's the best time to water my lawn get off my back already sheesh! Between you and my behemoth gf you 2 are drivin me nuts!

 

[Perknose]

Exactly!

LOL so instead of thinking you have a leak since you are useing a LOT more water you think the neighbor is stealing it.

If he is stealing it to that amount he would have to be doing it nightly and all night.

no it can't be a broken or leaky pipe! heck no! it can't be that amount of water!

SP, please do yourself a huge favor and check your water meter to see if it is indeed running when no other source of usage is evident before you go all webcam ninja on your neighbor.

A 24/7 leak in your pipes that you can't otherwise see is at least as likely as your neighbor stealing your wet stuff at night is, and would better account for your outrageous volume increase.

 

[disappoint]

Thought you and the girlfriend are on good terms.

That was a pretty harsh description.

Not anymore they ain't!

 

[shortylickens]

 

[MrDudeMan]

lol...Only on ATOT would someone's first guess be theft instead of a leak. This could have been easily tested in about 5 minutes. Go stare at your meter while you know everything is off. After you discover the leak, stop trolling this thread.

 

[tynopik]

Can you not hear when the outside faucet is running? If it's too far away from where you sleep, maybe setup a baby monitor by it so you'll hear it when it starts running.

But yeah, check for leaks first.

 

[Jeeebus]

bunch of small minded pussies on this forum.

get a camera and film him! check your water meter! wahhh wahhh

Think BIG.

Get your hands on a dye pack (the stuff banks use to catch robbers). Rig it up to the hose. Laugh at your neighbor covered in pink dye.

We've all heard of the umbrella assassination. Rig up a couple needles on the faucet filled with cyanide. Game over.

Dig a couple inches down under the hose reel. Fill with water. Add live wire. Enjoy neighbor barbeque.

If you really want to be elaborate: Buy 2 dozen eggs, a jar of vaseline, three foam pool noodles, and a blonde wig. You'll need a circular saw and nail gun also. Start by cracking all the eggs, mix them with the vaseline, and heat the mixture in the over to exactly 400 degrees. In the meantime, use the circular saw to cut the foam noodles into 8 equal sections. Now, put the wig on, wait by the window, and when you see your neighbor by the hose... shoot him.

 

[SSSnail]

Tie a honey badger to your outside faucet.

 

[amdhunter]

Get one of those webcams anyone can access. Please.
Let's catch this guy together.

 

[Markbnj]

I think you guys might be overplaying the chance of a leak. I didn't see anyone ask about the location of the water meter. Any leak you're paying for would have to be between the meter and the various valves in your house. Our meter is actually in the basement, so if we had a leak we'd presumably know about it fairly soon. On many houses the meter is mounted by the side of the house and the output runs right through the wall into the basement. There aren't that many places for water to be leaking without being noticed. Maybe if it's a crawlspace under the first floor it would pass unnoticed.

 

[pcgeek11]

I think you guys might be overplaying the chance of a leak. I didn't see anyone ask about the location of the water meter. Any leak you're paying for would have to be between the meter and the various valves in your house. Our meter is actually in the basement, so if we had a leak we'd presumably know about it fairly soon. On many houses the meter is mounted by the side of the house and the output runs right through the wall into the basement. There aren't that many places for water to be leaking without being noticed. Maybe if it's a crawlspace under the first floor it would pass unnoticed.

My meter is out by the street about 75 yards from the house.

 

[skyking]

Your meter, eh Mark?
Not everyone here is working in the geek industry. I've installed more meter setters and meters than there are posts in this thread. That line from the meter to the home springs a leak with the mundane regularity of a failed deathstar hard drive.
Unless the house is new, it is most often copper, and simply wears out, corrodes, gets bunged up by a root, nicked by the original installers, nicked by other utility guys, crimped, smashed on backfill with a rock........

 

[Red Squirrel]

I'm trying to figure out how A/C would run up a water bill...

Some (althought not very efficient) AC units actually use a continuous stream of city water to cool the compressor/condenser coil. These are normally self contained units that stay in the buiding. I never heard of one used in a house though....


As for the theory, I would setup some kind of sensor that can go on when water is flowing through that pipe, or maybe even the main pipe. Not really sure how you'd go about doing that though... basically something that can beep at you upstairs so you know there is water flowing.

Or you could also setup a web cam pointing towards the meter numbers and just keep a close eye on them so as soon as they start moving you can go investigate.

If he is stealing water, then it's time to have fun. I would look into injecting something in it. Maybe a some kind of foamy substance like dish detergent. Or something less obvious that will kill his lawn. I wonder if a small concentration of javex would do. You don't want to go too hard on environmentally unfriendly stuff though... Maybe stick to something like food coloring. Yellow food coloring. Or no, green, that way he'll think his lawn is healthy and he'll stop using it.

If you just want him to stop, then just close it from inside. Don't confront him about it. Passive aggressiveness is more satisfying.

 

[IAteYourMother]

beat him up anyways. ask questions later

 

[Baked]

Install some landmines around the water faucet. Watch the water thief explode.

 

[ShawnD1]

put a whole bunch of paint in the hose near the sprayer end. when he turns it on at night he'll spray his lawn with a bunch of paint.

you should be able to detect it the next day.

Forget paint, try salt. Paint might screw up the hose and dry inside of it. Salt will just dissolve in the water and kill the grass. I love salt. I think god made salt just to kill plants.

 

[SP33Demon]

Some great suggestions in this thread, thanks. Seriously though, I haven't had time to check the meter, had dam social commitments tonight. I really don't think it's a leak since I live in smallish townhouse. Nothing by the water heater, toilets, nor sinks, dishwasher. The townhouse is pretty old, and you can hear it whenever water goes through the pipes - even when I'm in the basement for the upstairs bathroom. In fact, the kill valve is about 4 feet above this desk in the basement. Only problem is that I sleep upstairs at night.

I'm going to do a stake out tonight since we're off for the 4th tomorrow. Too bad my webcam's mic is broken or I'd just live stream it.

 

[skyking]

the leak would be between the meter and your townhouse.

 

[MovingTarget]

Just hide in the bushes and be patient...

 

[SP33Demon]

the leak would be between the meter and your townhouse.

Ah, so should I just call the water company to investigate?

Unfortunately we just had some passing showers, but let's see how fanatical this guy is about his lawn.

Hourly updates until 5am about to commence.

 

[BabaBooey]

His rich g/f for starters. We're on good terms and if I have hard evidence, she'll pony up in the least. Especially after she begs me not to press charges and/or fuck him up.

 

[skyking]

No, you should find the meter, take a flashlight and observe the dial. If it is moving and nothing is running inside the house, you have a leak in the line.
Typically that line is your responsibility from the meter to your home. The water company can fix it and many times they will give you the most reasonable price, but not always.