Pipes in Chicago are frozen, and service waiting time is excessive

Not only Chicago, other cities as well too. I saw on news from Erie PA, they are experiencing freezing pipes, millions dollars damages,
 
diehardbiker said:
Not only Chicago, other cities as well too. I saw on news from Erie PA, they are experiencing freezing pipes, millions dollars damages,
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I think I heard about that a couple of weeks ago. This has been a bad winter.
 
Leaving water on can become expensive as well. I don't know how common it is but in the Southern Illinois town where I live, if living in a house, our water is metered and we pay by how much we use. The sewer charge is also based on the amount of water used.
 
Jane B. said:
Leaving water on can become expensive as well. I don't know how common it is but in the Southern Illinois town where I live, if living in a house, our water is metered and we pay by how much we use. The sewer charge is also based on the amount of water used.
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Ours isn't. Doesn't mean all houses here in Chicago don't have a water meter-- this house is more than 50 years old, so it's probably not required to have one.
 
ChicagoBlue2 said:
Ours isn't. Doesn't mean all houses here in Chicago don't have a water meter-- this house is more than 50 years old, so it's probably not required to have one.
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You landlord may well be paying it and it is included in your rent. That is what is also common for apartment houses here. I very much doubt that the age of the house has anything to do with it. Every dwelling that is connected to the water system here has a meter and pays according to the amount used.
 
ChicagoBlue2 said:
Ours isn't. Doesn't mean all houses here in Chicago don't have a water meter-- this house is more than 50 years old, so it's probably not required to have one.
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Water is not free. How does your house measure water? It may be included in your rent but there has to be a way to measure water so that the owners pay for it.
 
MangaReader said:
Water is not free. How does your house measure water? It may be included in your rent but there has to be a way to measure water so that the owners pay for it.
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He probably just doesn't know what the meter looks like and where it is. I assume that is one of the costs that his landlord considers in setting the rent.
 
Jane B. said:
You landlord may well be paying it and it is included in your rent. That is what is also common for apartment houses here. I very much doubt that the age of the house has anything to do with it. Every dwelling that is connected to the water system here has a meter and pays according to the amount used.
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That's likely, but I have a list of things I pay for, and water, gas, and electricity isn't part of my rent. If they were, good chance I'd be paying a lot more.
 
Jane B. said:
He probably just doesn't know what the meter looks like and where it is. I assume that is one of the costs that his landlord considers in setting the rent.
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That's because there isn't one.
 
MangaReader said:
Water is not free. How does your house measure water? It may be included in your rent but there has to be a way to measure water so that the owners pay for it.
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The city does that. Dunno how much it is, cause we never get the bills here.
 
MangaReader said:
There has to be one. There has to be a way to measure water. I grew up in Chicago and the house was over 50 years old too and we had one.
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Nope. Why? Cause we have a water boiler here, I believe. I know this house has an electric meter and two gas meters, but there's not an water meter here that I know of.
 
I just checked the room where the furnace is, and what did I discover? This house has 2 furnaces, 2 water boilers, and a humidifier.
 
ChicagoBlue2 said:
I just checked the room where the furnace is, and what did I discover? This house has 2 furnaces, 2 water boilers, and a humidifier.
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Usually water meters are outside on the side of the house. They are usually under a glass, round perhaps. We used to have a meter guy come every so often to check the meters. I used to watch him jump over fences. This was over 30 years ago. I wonder if they still do that.
 
Age is not a factor for not having water meter. I have seen over 100 years old houses or apartment having water meter. It depends on who owns the building and what relationship they got with water authority. OR if they got water well.

ChicagoBlue2 said:
Ours isn't. Doesn't mean all houses here in Chicago don't have a water meter-- this house is more than 50 years old, so it's probably not required to have one.
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ChicagoBlue2 said:
I remember that article. It was from a few years back. Not pretty.
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It supports what you're been saying though. Lots of people don't have water meters, even though they pay for water (either directly to the company, or through their rent, etc.) It just means that they're paying some amount determined by the company that isn't related to their actual usage.
 
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