Oopsies! I failed to turn off the water for my outside tap! Have you ever experienced someone trying to steal water from your house? If so, please feel free to share your experience with the class.
(Did they succeed? Yes... He basically filled a cup. Is my water now off? Yes. Am I glad this didn't happen right before the big freeze this weekend? Very.)
Yes, this is why I admittedly ignored the voice of the home inspector this summer. And coming out of this weekend, I actually lucked out on the timing.
Unless he filled up multiple pools it's not a big deal.
You don't want your house to become a gathering spot for homeless people but yeah, a one-off incident of someone filling up a water bottle is a non-issue.
No, just a cup. My mind went to the residual water on the ground and passersby slipping on ice. Fortunately it will warm up quickly today.
Back when I lived in a rowhouse the handle was never mounted to the spigot. We would take it outside and put it on as needed. When we sold, the buyer requested that we attach it permanently. I was like "are you sure?"
Yeah I want to say my realtor also was like "shut that off immediately."
On its face, I am fine with it: He turned the water off after, and the little ice that is there will be gone no later than 10 today. But the idea of someone leaving it running and it creating an ice rink right on the sidewalk or street was enough to make me go turn it off and add pet safe ice melt to my list of things to get for the winter. This is my first house ever...I am sure stranger things will happen.
There are lots of lockout/key options for outdoor spigots. When I lived in Canton I used one that replaces the round handle with a hex-shaped key slot. Or something like this will both secure and help weather-proof the spigot. But still a good practice to turn it off from inside during a hard freeze.
Thank you for the suggestions, will check these out.
I’m a couple houses away from Patterson park and get folks filling bottles or splashing water on their faces a few times per summer. My next door neighbor also uses it for her plants every once in a while - we’re friendly so I consider it a “keep the peace” tax. I’ve shooed folks away if my dog is barking at them but otherwise don’t pay much attention to it, the usage is a literal drop in the bucket that has no impact on my bill. I winterize the spigot by shutting off the water and putting a cap over it.
I had a friend in SoWeBo who suddenly had a huge water bill one summer. Turns out her neighbors backyard car detailing business had run a hose from her tap. They used THOUSANDS of gallons.
Oh god that is awful. Something similar happened to my neighbor a long time ago. Our apartment building had an outlet on the outside wall or something and neighbor got a crazy high bill. Turns out the auto shop next door was stealing electric that was connected to his unit.
a couple of years ago when i was doing service plumbing in baltimore i saw a house that had a huge water bill because the neighbors had connected a garden hose between the two homes hose bibbs to steal water because theirs had been turned off.
When I moved to a rowhouse that has one side along an alley and had to put a spigot in, I installed one of these: Aquor house hydrant. It has two benefits: first, you need a special attachment to turn it on (included with the kit) and second, it fits completely flush against the house so no one will bang into it and hurt themselves or their car.
Was pouring concrete in a 95°day., On a new hose with no water. Ran out of drinking water in cooler. Went to house next door, rather than bother someone or possibly set off alarm, attempted to get water from water spigot. Got yelled at for stealing water. Edit new house, not new hose
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Few_Society5388 t1_j1yhik1 wrote
I’ve noticed (presumed) unhoused neighbors filling water bottles. I’ve been asked to fill water bottles and obliged. Of all the things I could be stingy about, this certainly ain’t it.