I am loving the new rachio system. I have a few ideas/questions.
It appears that Rachio doesn’t factor in whether a plant (for instance a tree) is mulched or not. Wouldn’t mulching having a significant impact on soil moisture level/EvapTran? Just wondering.
For all my drip line emitters, Rachio calculates my water usage based on my flow rate, flow time and the area of coverage. But many of my lines, especially around my newly-planted trees, aren’t laid out according to a simple geometry. (Many, for instance, are in spirals). Couldn’t I get a more accurate calculation of my water usage if Rachio allowed me to simply add up the number of emitters around a tree and calculate the flow rate of each individual emitter? Or is knowing the area necessary for calculating the ET rate?
I echo another user’s suggestion that I would be great for Rachio to have a setting for new trees versus established trees.
I think you have an awesome product and I’m so glad to have made the purchase. Thank you for all your awesome work!
On number 1, I think it is assumed that a moisture barrier is installed. Else why would you be attempting to save water because without it everything you put down is gone tomorrow. Plus, let’s face it, straw does not work after a month so why use it for anything other than aesthetics, or the algicide benefits for seed starting.
I’m willing to work around number 2 because of the heterogenous nature of drip. I just don’t see how you can make it much easier than trial and error.
I like number 3, having just come off an establishment period, a fire and forget feature would be titties.
Yes , I too like the Rachio … This Sq/Ft of space thing seems a bit off for me as well. I can read my meter when its on and then do some arithmetic to make the area equal to the usage. I would think this Sq/ft of area would be way wrong for most people and just plain confusing. I recommend you add the option to input water use as both gallons/minute (as my meter reads) or cubic feet/minute as others may measure. That way I know exactly how much water I am using. And can budget accordingly. I California … where I live… this is an important issue right now.
I guess that’s my point. It would be helpful for Rachio to make these calculations easier and more accurate for most users, who probably don’t want to spend so much time fine-tuning the numbers.
