I just received my quarterly SUMMER water bill. And this is the first year I actually wanted it to come. Three months ago, I replaced my dumb control box with a Rachio. Yes, we had a bit of rain this summer, but I’m happy to report my water usage went WAY DOWN. The past THREE years, my summer quarter water usage averaged 60,000 gallons for the 3 months of June, July & August. (59K three years ago… 61K… then 60K last year) - This year… 37,000… dropping my total water bill by about $157 for the QUARTER!!
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Thanks for sharing! We always love to see this kind of feedback, the team really appreciates this.
This is a day maker.
how many square feet of turf and flowerbeds are you covering with that water usage?
6 zones. Zone 1 is a shrub area… 200 square feet
The five other zones, according to the online tool and rough tape measure calcs are:
1500 sf
1350 sf
1450 sf
1350 sf
1500 sf
For a rough total of 7300 square feet
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well, dang, thats pretty good.
This is my first summer bill with Rachio. My bill went from normally about $600 to $807! My usage went from 74 units to 125 units.
I’m in the San Diego area where CA creates water shortages.
Definitely a double-edged sword kinda thing. I know full well that there will be some years / quarters where my bill is higher… but the expectation is also that my lawn will look better. I mean, if it’s very dry, it has to water. So, yeah, not always going to be down, but I can tell you with certainty, I know I’m watering less than I used to - so it’s more efficient for sure, but yes, if you get nothing from the sky, you’ll need more from the ground.
Well, in my case, I used about 40% more water compared to last year, and last year’s bill was high. Temps are the same as I operate a WeatherUnderground station at my house. (Rachio still can’t sync to these stations.)
I’d also like to stop it from watering on certain days, like the day the gardener comes for people who have that. For me, I’m the gardener, but I would like to exclude certain days when I know I’m mowing, etc.
Overall, I think it needs to be easier to set and then adjust to suit your needs from there.