Use the diagnosis toy above — five chips, one result

Click chips on the Sudden Spike Diagnosis tool above to answer five quick questions:

1. How big is the spike? — Modest (under 40%) or big (40%+).
2. House quiet, meter moving? — Yes (leak likely) or no (not checked yet).
3. Outdoor timer or irrigation? — Yes or no.
4. Guests / occupancy change? — Yes or no.
5. Hot water only or whole house? — Hot only or both.

The tool updates live with your most likely cause and a 10-minute check you can run today — no PDF upload, no phone tree.

Educational triage only. Always compare gallons per day (not just dollars) and run a meter test to confirm.

Why triage before you call the utility

Utilities field thousands of "my bill is too high" calls each cycle. The single question that separates real spikes from billing-period noise is: Did gallons per day change, or only the total dollars?

If gallons/day are flat but the total rose, you are in rate/sewer/fee territory — not a leak or habit change. If gallons/day jumped, the diagnosis toy narrows the cause class so you know which 10-minute check to run first.

Many utilities offer leak adjustments if you document a fix (new flapper + meter proof). Do the diagnosis first so you name the real cause.

Silent toilet flapper — the single most common spike

A worn toilet flapper is rubber that degrades silently. EPA WaterSense notes household leaks waste about 180 gallons per week on average, and about 10% of homes waste 90+ gallons per day. One running toilet can hit that number alone.

If the diagnosis tool says "silent toilet likely," run a dye test tonight: food coloring in the tank (not the bowl), wait 10 minutes without flushing. Color in the bowl without a flush proves the flapper path is open. A $10 flapper fixes it — then re-check the meter.

Outdoor timer left on — the quiet-house villain

Outdoor watering averages over 30% of household water use nationally and can dominate in dry climates. A hose timer or irrigation controller left on a peak-summer schedule after cooler weather arrived is a classic non-leak spike.

If you have irrigation: walk the system while it runs once, then check the meter with outdoor valves closed. Movement with outdoor off means indoor; no movement with outdoor off and a spike means the outdoor schedule is the villain.

Rate-tier jump — when gallons are flat but dollars rose

Increasing-block (tiered) rates charge more per unit after you cross a threshold. Being one unit over a tier can matter more than shaving a few shower minutes.

Find the tier table on your bill or the utility's rate PDF. If you crossed into a higher tier, the diagnosis tool will suggest comparing your daily use and targeting the threshold — not replacing fixtures.

Estimated-read catch-up — the fake spike

An underestimated prior period followed by a true-up can dump multiple weeks of usage into one bill. Check your statement for "estimated read" flags and your utility portal for daily data.

If the prior bill was estimated low and this one is actual, the spike may be an accounting correction — not new waste. Compare the same billing period last year for a fair comparison.

Share your diagnosis result (with UTM tracking)

After the toy gives you a cause + check, hit Share result to copy a link. Send it to a roommate, landlord, or plumber so they see the triage logic without re-doing the clicks.

The share link encodes your chip selections as URL params so the recipient lands on your result — useful for "the landlord says check it yourself" or "my roommate thinks I am imagining the spike."