David Schwartz
Have you ever heard water running through your pipes at night?
It’s probably just some air bubbles making their way through the plumbing, right? There’s no way a toilet could be running for that long...
Failing to acknowledge a toilet leak, whether because it goes unnoticed or because a tenant can be bothered, can lead to some horrific costs for a landlord.
The Cost of Unreported Leaks
In NYC, the average cost of water is $3.81 per 100 cubic feet, and landlords aren’t able to charge tenants for water consumption. To make matters worse, tenants are significantly less likely to report a problem or reduce their use of water when they’re not forced to pay for it. So every 750 gallons, landlords are shelling out nearly $4 for water, hoping that it’s not wasted.
Leaks come in a variety of sizes but tenants will start to notice when they’re around the medium level. That means they usually miss the small leak, adding extra expenses to your bill before it grows into a larger problem.
It’s estimated that 1 in 5 toilets have a leak, meaning the more units you have, the greater the chances of wasting money on your water bill.
If you have 100 toilets in your building, with an expectation of 20% having leaks, you could potentially be losing around $24,000 annually.
The more toilets, the larger the possible expense.
Costs vary depending on the speed of the leak, but it’s safe to say no leak is worth the cost. A small leak may only run you around 30 gallons a day, but over time, it adds up.
It will also worsen, becoming a medium leak and waste roughly 250 gallons a day before gaining more speed as a large leak and costing you up to 4,000 gallons daily.
If that small leak was reported, it could cost less than $10 to replace the faulty part. If nothing is done in a month, the leak itself will cost nearly $5. Something usually does happen, though... The leak gets worse.
With the proper tools, you can save yourself truckloads of money in conserving water. Our case studies prove that being aware of leaks and monitoring water consumption can cut costs by up to $500 per unit per year.
Stopping Leaks without Tenant Notification
For toilets, the problem usually comes down to a lack of notification. Fortunately, there’s a way to become aware of the issue without the tenant needing to lift a finger.
The Toilet Scrooge helps you identify leaks as they happen. This money-saver connects between your toilet’s tank and the water source to monitor the rate at which water is being used.
Through Bluetooth technology, your phone can receive alerts to which particular toilet is leaking, even in a building with a hundred units. Then, you can spend that $10 to fix the problem rather than waste hundreds of dollars not knowing.
Saving money with toilet leaks isn’t hard, it just requires a helping hand. Since your tenants may not do it, let the Toilet Scrooge help you.
