Help me catch my neighbor

[SP33Demon]

I have one of these. It take perfect picture at night.

I take it wherever I go including on the motorcycle where I mounted a USB port on my 1986 Honda VT500. 1986 meets 2012.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...EN6NX9RBJ93NFF

/thread

The only problem with cams like that is the IR LEDs make it pretty obvious. I want to put a cam right by the window, literally 2 feet away from my hose, so it has to be inconspicuous at night (i.e. no lights period).

I couple of things I can do starting tonight:

1) My roommate is going to do nighttime recon for the next week with a Sony point and shoot camera that is timestamped. My hose is right below this window so even without IR night vision, we should be able to get a decent grainy incriminating pic because he'll be literally 2.5 ft away. There's ambient light from both our porch lights + backyard flood lights that should be enough, but we'll have to test out some shots beforehand.

2) I have a pro sound recorder - Zoom H2 (http://www.amazon.com/Zoom-H2-Portab...ywords=zoom+h2) that I'm going to set up right by the faucet in the basement since it's quite loud and obvious whenever that faucet turns on. In 64 kbps mp3 format, I can record over 12 hours at a time so while I'm asleep and it's timestamped. I can upload the file each morning.

3) Armed with both timestamps (pic and sound recording) and a witness, that should be enough to convict the fucker.

4) My other neighbor, who waters her plants and lawn, is at < 1/3 my water consumption. It really makes no sense.

5) I really don't think there are any leaks. I tested both toilet stoppers today (no water going through), and the meter doesn't seem to be moving at all. If I can't get evidence of the neighbor in the next week I'll call up the water company and have them investigate. It could be a line underground but I'm not an expert on water lines to and from the house.

 

[RbSX]

You know I thought you were a douche-y douche-fuck after the TED thread, but now you certainly are the douchiest douche fuck in all the lands.

Automatically assume your neighbour is jacking you.

 

[AMCRambler]

The only problem with cams like that is the IR LEDs make it pretty obvious. I want to put a cam right by the window, literally 2 feet away from my hose, so it has to be inconspicuous at night (i.e. no lights period).

I couple of things I can do starting tonight:

1) My roommate is going to do nighttime recon for the next week with a Sony point and shoot camera that is timestamped. My hose is right below this window so even without IR night vision, we should be able to get a decent grainy incriminating pic because he'll be literally 2.5 ft away. There's ambient light from both our porch lights + backyard flood lights that should be enough, but we'll have to test out some shots beforehand.

2) I have a pro sound recorder - Zoom H2 (http://www.amazon.com/Zoom-H2-Portab...ywords=zoom+h2) that I'm going to set up right by the faucet in the basement since it's quite loud and obvious whenever that faucet turns on. In 64 kbps mp3 format, I can record over 12 hours at a time so while I'm asleep and it's timestamped. I can upload the file each morning.

3) Armed with both timestamps (pic and sound recording) and a witness, that should be enough to convict the fucker.

4) My other neighbor, who waters her plants and lawn, is at < 1/3 my water consumption. It really makes no sense.

5) I really don't think there are any leaks. I tested both toilet stoppers today (no water going through), and the meter doesn't seem to be moving at all. If I can't get evidence of the neighbor in the next week I'll call up the water company and have them investigate. It could be a line underground but I'm not an expert on water lines to and from the house.

If the meter is not spinning with everything turned off, you wouldn't be getting charged extra.

Sounds like he's stealing from you. Dig a pit in front of the faucet, fill with pungi sticks and cover with sod...profit.

 

[HeXen]

5) I really don't think there are any leaks. I tested both toilet stoppers today (no water going through), and the meter doesn't seem to be moving at all. If I can't get evidence of the neighbor in the next week I'll call up the water company and have them investigate. It could be a line underground but I'm not an expert on water lines to and from the house.

from your meter pit to your house is what your charged for. If you meter does not move, check it again in a couple hours without using water. if it still doesn't move, you have no significant leak. beyond your meter pit is the water companies baby.

I don't know your household, but i assume you know your family or friends are not sucking dry that water as well doing various things. Also try to think back and make sure you didn't have it running a slip n slide for the kids or everyone washing their cars..etc during those specified months.

i would just put a lock or something on your outside spickets and be done with it. but thats me.
also, i think that if he is injured on your property, you could be held liable. i wouldn't do anything too drastic beyond a camera or something.

 

[SP33Demon]

from your meter pit to your house is what your charged for. If you meter does not move, check it again in a couple hours without using water. if it still doesn't move, you have no significant leak. beyond your meter pit is the water companies baby.

I don't know your household, but i assume you know your family or friends are not sucking dry that water as well doing various things. Also try to think back and make sure you didn't have it running a slip n slide for the kids or everyone washing their cars..etc during those specified months.

i would just put a lock or something on your outside spickets and be done with it. but thats me.
also, i think that if he is injured on your property, you could be held liable. i wouldn't do anything too drastic beyond a camera or something.

Not going to turn off the spigot until he's caught, it's the bait. Yeah, not doing anything beyond the timestamped pics /recordings. That'll be all I need to threaten to press charges unless they pay for everything.

The good news is that it's going to be high 90's for the next 4 days.

 

[Puppies04]

Ok here is what you do.

1. Quit your job/any other commitments
2. Wait up all night every night until you see him going to steal the water
3. Sneak into his house while he is in the garden take a massive shit in your hand
4. Using your other hand finger paint "WATER THIEF" in faeces on his bedroom wall
5. Piss in his milk
6. Go home and sleep like a baby knowing justice has been served.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Wait, the meter is not even on or in your house? How does this work? What if there's a leak between the meter and the house? It's the city's plumbing you should not be responsible for paying for that! The meter should be at the "nid". I would complain to the city about that and get it changed.

But have you at least checked the meter?

 

[Nemesis 1]

Maybe you have a leak under the house. You should call a plumber, first.

Stop back up rethink . He can have a huge leak under the house but it shouldn't make a differance. the leak would likely be ahead of the meter. Bad meter maybe. We aren't charged for water usage but sewage. This allows s to run water outside in the warm months that doesn't use sewage

 

[HeXen]

lol, wut?

 

[SirStev0]

He is a lazy up all night POS yet he waters his lawn???

 

[coloumb]

Do you have the ability to log into your local water provider's website and see what your water usage is?

 

[SP33Demon]

Do you have the ability to log into your local water provider's website and see what your water usage is?

Nope, they have a POS website and last I checked, I can't log in to check usage. All I have are the printouts for the bill. Hell, to even sign up to pay by checking account DD I have to mail them an app and voided check.

SirStev, yep he's up until 3 or 4am watering the stupid lawn and all he pays for are utilities (cable/electric/water). Actually, it's not even his house, it's his g/f's but he has to act like he does something.

Anyway, my roommate staked them out last night after they were out late drinking and came back, he didn't do anything to my knowledge (still have to talk to roommate when I get home). I told my roommate to wake me up asap if the guy took the hose into his yard, no way he could bring it back in time before I'm out the door. So at least he didn't do that.

 

[Mixolydian]

this is the good thing about have a well. nobody can steal my water! damn water thief's!

Except that well water is shit to begin with.

 

[SagaLore]

I don't know what the other poster meant, but I'd check your water meter when he's not stealing and you're not using water yourself to see if it's spinning, which would be evidence of a leak somewhere in your house.

Yep. My meter is at the edge of the property, and I'm responsible for the water in the pipe that gets to my house. I've had my pipe leak. Once that starts, it leaks a LOT, and I ended up with a huge bill. It took about 3 weeks to realize it was happening. Lucky for me the town noticed and left me a note, and I could see my front yard turning into a marsh. But for you the water could be draining away underground and you wouldn't even know it. You can still try and "catch" someone taking your water, but you should get the town/city to come check the meter and tell you what's going on. There are tests they can do to see if its an active problem. If you just let this go you end up with more damage and will cost a lot to fix, IF its from a leak. Especially if its under your house. The dirt erodes away and a part of your foundation could sink.

 

[abaez]

How much money are we talking here. Hundreds of dollars or like $50? You're really going to take someone to court over $50?

 

[SP33Demon]

How much money are we talking here. Hundreds of dollars or like $50? You're really going to take someone to court over $50?

It was at least $30 + sewage ($84) = $70~ per bill. And I have no idea how long he's been doing it, so it could be in the hundreds. The first time I noticed a big jump was on the March bill, so at least for the past 2 bills. So around $150, but it's not really about the money. Keep in mind I do these assholes favors every now and then (UPS/Fedex when they're not home with packages, feeding their pets when they're away) and we have keys to each other's place in the event of an emergency. So it's not like we have a bad relationship.

 

[waggy]

Except that well water is shit to begin with.

disgree. my well water is far better then the water in either of the two towns near me. Dekalb (witch has been sued a few times over how bad the water is) and Rockford are pretty big and im in the middle of.

Though i do have a RO system set up. but even without that the water ain't bad.

 

[steve wilson]

OMG this is funny how much effort you are going to catch this guy. I seriously hope you do catch him though.

The guy who said you should plant landmines really made me LOL hard.

 

[vi edit]

disgree. my well water is far better then the water in either of the two towns near me. Dekalb (witch has been sued a few times over how bad the water is) and Rockford are pretty big and im in the middle of.

Though i do have a RO system set up. but even without that the water ain't bad.

It's hard to compare. Both city water and well water vary so much from area to area you can't make a blanket statement. I'm drilled 450 feet into the limestone aquifer. My water is undrinkable out of the tap. It's salty, corrosive miserable stuff. But at least it's clean and you can wash dishes (although it'll rust silverware) and clothes with it. I paid $20,000 to get that well dug and run into the house. I had to pay another $1200 for a decent RO system through Culligan to make it remotely drinkable. And it's still so bad that I burn through filters every 3 months. But I'm willing to pay for that vs. having to lug in 10 gallons of water a week to drink.

My parents were lucky to hit a shallow well, but it had a lot of mud around them and they have very nasty water with a terrible sulphur smell to it. Again to even make it pleasant to drink you'd need an RO system.

Both of our wells have water with tannins in it that will stain your toilets in weeks.

The best water I've ever drank came from Dubuque, IA city water. It's nationally ranked for some of the best tasting municipal water. Of course that's because Dubuque is well known for it's lead mines and that has an effect in how the water tastes. It's within safe limits, but still higher than other parts of the country for lead content.

The worst city water I ever had was in Phoenix. It tasted like pool water that had been dumped in a plastic bottle and left in the sun for a week. Bleh.

 

[SSSnail]

You mean with your superior intellect to understand and appreciate a great movie like Prometheus, and you can't figure out simple shit like this? It's time to really take a step back and reassess your supposed&#8221; intelligence&#8221;.


/waiting for the nerd rage.

 

[waggy]

It's hard to compare. Both city water and well water vary so much from area to area you can't make a blanket statement. I'm drilled 450 feet into the limestone aquifer. My water is undrinkable out of the tap. It's salty, corrosive miserable stuff. But at least it's clean and you can wash dishes (although it'll rust silverware) and clothes with it. I paid $20,000 to get that well dug and run into the house. I had to pay another $1200 for a decent RO system through Culligan to make it remotely drinkable. And it's still so bad that I burn through filters every 3 months. But I'm willing to pay for that vs. having to lug in 10 gallons of water a week to drink.

My parents were lucky to hit a shallow well, but it had a lot of mud around them and they have very nasty water with a terrible sulphur smell to it. Again to even make it pleasant to drink you'd need an RO system.

Both of our wells have water with tannins in it that will stain your toilets in weeks.

The best water I've ever drank came from Dubuque, IA city water. It's nationally ranked for some of the best tasting municipal water. Of course that's because Dubuque is well known for it's lead mines and that has an effect in how the water tastes. It's within safe limits, but still higher than other parts of the country for lead content.

The worst city water I ever had was in Phoenix. It tasted like pool water that had been dumped in a plastic bottle and left in the sun for a week. Bleh.

This is very true.

the water here is good. Even without the RO. BUT the RO makes it even better. i only replace the filters every 9-12 months.

My wife's family lives in Dubuque. i do agree they have good water.

 

[skyking]

Wait, the meter is not even on or in your house? How does this work? What if there's a leak between the meter and the house? It's the city's plumbing you should not be responsible for paying for that! The meter should be at the "nid". I would complain to the city about that and get it changed.

But have you at least checked the meter?

In the US, the meter box is typically near the lot line. That last 50~75 feet of pipe is the homeowner's responsibility.
My company fixes that line quite often. The city never pays.

 

[SP33Demon]

Well, another update. After I left to hang with friends yesterday, he apparently tapped on the glass of the window (roommate was sitting by it reading and neighbor didn't know he was there) nearest the hose that I took the screen off of (for a better view). So I may have spooked the asshole by doing this.

These next 3 days are going to be triple digits so let's see how much risk he's willing to incur, even after he may be worried that I know.

 

[olds]

 

[highland145]

Jeeebus is sad.