Back flow prevention is needed for permanent irrigation systems in case the utility water pressure drops while the automated irrigation system is on. If that happens, contaminated ground water from the irrigation system can possibly be sucked back into the plumbing for your home, or back into the water provider’s system.
For manually controlled spigots, not usually an issue, as you would not leave the spigot on if the water supply is not working, and they are not normally permanently connected to below or at grade irrigation heads.
So would attaching a Iro-controlled irrigation valve at the spigot change any of those requirements?
If I’m understanding what you’ve just said, if I were to connect say, a stake-in oscillating sprinkler to an outdoor spigot with ordinary garden hose, I wouldn’t normally need to worry about backflow into the water supply (e.g. I wouldn’t need a vacuum break at the spigot). Right?
Now if I insert an irrigation valve in the line (hose), use it to control the sprinkler, and leave the spigot open all the time, what changes in terms of needing a vacuum break?
If your hose and sprinklers are above grade, so no ground water can be pulled back into your residential or municipal water system, then I would think the practical risk is minimal or nil.
There is a real risk if there are buried pipes which may leak, or irrigation heads in contact with ground water, and there is an automated valve which might come on when the water supply is at low pressure.
In my municipality, it is a legal requirement for proper backflow prevention to be installed at the POC (point of connection) with an irrigation system, to protect the municipal water supply. You should check out the specific legal requirements in your jurisdiction.
My first irrigation system was a hose timer drip system kit for patio pots. It included a $5 back flow prevention device.
The Melnor Raincloud, http://www.melnor.com/16403-raincloud-smart-water-timer looks very interesting. Its Wifi Valve bodies have four valves per device and run on four “AA” batteries for about 6 months, low battery leads to failsafe that keeps the valves closed so they don’t get stuck open. The valve bodies are about $70 but currently require the internet control box - a kit (1 internet controller and 1 battery powered four valve body) for about $140
The valve bodies are made in Taiwan… if there is a way of obtaining the protocol for turning them off and on. The valve bodies could be purchased independent of the controller kit. They are sold as stand alones now, because each internet controller can support up to two valve bodies.
Since nothing hardware wise actually has to be invented or wired up… this might be the simplest path.
The question then would be if the Rachio controller has any WiFi ability to issue those commands if they are discovered.
I realize this is an old thread, but I found it while searching for, well, hose water timers that work with Rachio. I was hoping that Rachio would have such a device by now, but it appears not.
However, Orbit does. And although it pains me to use a different app/ecosystem, I plan to bring it into the Rachio controller control using my home automation system. I have created a new zone in Rachio for the temporary area where I need irrigation. There is not actually a valve connected to that zone. Instead, my home automation system will trigger on this zone becoming active in Rachio, and turn on the Orbit. Likewise, mirror turning the zone off.
I’ve not yet done this, so if anyone sees any flaws, please let me know. Yes, I have the luxury of a home automation system that can manage both Rachio and Orbit, which allows me to do this. I thought perhaps IFTTT might be someone else’s solution, but it doesn’t appear Orbit is supported there.
Rachio can operate any valve operating anything, provided it is wired with the correct voltage solenoid. Any inline valve of that type could be used, doesn’t have to be buried in the ground, could be attached right to your hose faucet. Rachio doesn’t make valves, but many/almost any valve would work. But of course you have to get wiring to it, for Rachio to operate it.
A wireless (wifi or bluetooth) valve would be nice, by eliminating the wiring, but at least the Rachio controller is not currently designed to handle a wireless valve. You could use IFTTT to initiate both your wireless value /and/ Rachio, but I don’t know that you can have Rachio initiate operation of the wireless valve, which I believe is what you’re after. You could have a wired output from Rachio operate a wifi transmitter of some sort, which would then operate the wireless valve, but that’s unknown territory for me.
This appears to be a completely wireless solution to connected wired controllers (Rachio) to wired valves (any valves you have or want to get):
I shudder to think of the cost, based on the description, but it sounds like it will do the job. There appear to be some other manufacturers out there who make similar equipment, but I think nothing in the price range for the home. I’m actually a little surprised that systems like this haven’t gone to wireless, like most home security systems and such have. But they (controller and valves) would have to be a lot more expensive, and as irrigation wiring is usually put in when a house is built, it would have to be more for retrofit. Still, makes sense though.
At the bottom of this thread (Wireless Valve?) you will find a link to a wireless solution that a member has done for his Rachio controller. If you follow the link at the bottom, to the Google Drive, to the Word document, which fully describes the system, another link goes back tot he forum where he invites questions and mentions the system cost about $300, and is capable of supporting 8 valves. I’ve included the original thread to give the background and give the poster proper credit.
Thanks for the responses. Yes, my initial idea was to use a 24V valve connected by wire to Rachio. The problem is that fittings for sprinkler systems and garden hose connectors are different. So, using a common sprinkler system valve with garden hoses requires two fittings. Brass fittings are not inexpensive. Then there’s the cost of the wire. Two conductor would do, and if I wanted to cheap it out, I could use thermostat wire, but would probably want burial wire so it could be repurposed if I added a new zone in the future. For 75’ needed, not insignificant. But after all that, I’d have a wire running across the lawn. The controller in a different place than hose bibb.
Meanwhile, the Orbit solution that would connect directly to garden host connections is $59 and eliminates running wires too. If I needed a second temporary zone, the incremental cost to add that would be $39. It is also a self-contained waterproof enclosure.
As I said, I’ve got that part of the solution already in place with my home automation system. It can react to the Rachio turning on and off a zone, and can in turn, “manually” turn on and off the Orbit valve. If things go as planned, then after setting up the Orbit valve, I would never have need to use their app again, or be cognizant that my Rachio zone 5 is watering my temporary zone in a sort of Rube Goldberg way.
Could you please explain how this system works (or would work)? I see the B-hyve Wifi hub and B-hyve Smart hose watering timer, and understand that one hub can operate many timers. Where would the hub receive the signals to water? Smart phone would work, of course, but how would it connect to a Rachio controller?
The part you may be missing is that I already have in place a home automation system that can handle it. Both Rachio and Orbit offer cloud-based APIs that third party devices can access to view and control the zones. My home automation system can talk to both of them and mirror the Rachio zone to the Orbit garden hose timer as shown below. Disclaimer: I’m still working on this and just got the Orbit. It is not done yet.
I may be hitting a snag here [Edit: Not really; see next comment]. I’m not getting open/close events from Rachio, and I have a thought that there is more to the 24V connection to the valve than simply on/off. It could be that the valve somehow signals back that the valve is now completely opened or closed by, say, opening the circuit for a bit or something like that (all speculation and wild guess right now). If this is the case, then I’d need a working valve connected to do it as originally plan. That might be getting too Rube Goldberg even for me.
An alternative would be to watch events on my highest real zone in Rachio and when it goes from open to closed, then open the Orbit Garden Hose for a preset period of time. I would lose some functionality on the Rachio side (like being able to do a manual quick run of the phantom zone), but it would still honor weather skips and also make sure my Orbit isn’t running while my Rachio is still running.
OK, I have discovered that it is necessary to run the phantom zone in a schedule (not a quick run) in Rachio before all the attributes of the zone are available and controllable. The fact that there really isn’t a valve attached to the zone in Rachio is irrelevant.
So I have achieved success in having Rachio control an Orbit garden hose timer as if it were one of its zones, which relieves me of using the Orbit app and it coordinates all my watering zones, obeying weather skips, etc.
Again, the glue here is home automation that can talk to both APIs. Same could be achieved with IFTTT if and when Orbit supports being an action in IFTTT.
