My City requires that I run my sprinklers on specific days, between specific hours. No problem with Rachio.
Except that it appears to me that my City’s meter system (https://www.badgermeter.com/) computer is an hour off. They say I am starting running at 11 p.m, I start at midnight. I confirmed this in the app, I confirmed this with my eyeballs, but is there any other report or means I can use to prove to my City’s water department that my Rachio starts at midnight on my proper day and their computer meter reports are wrong?
@SusanBradley, Might it be possible that the city system is running on Standard time and not Daylight? That would account for the offset. BTW are you the Susan Bradley of Windows Secrets fame?
Good luck digging this deep into a water department’s software. You mean they actually know when you are watering? Do you have a separate irrigation meter? Are they giving you a warning or citation? Are they actually out at night patrolling?
What started this is I got a letter warning. We have individual house water meters and they track and charge each location. We are required to only water on Tuesdays/Thursdays and Saturdays. (California - last year we were mandated to only water every two days a week) They have a computer program that flags folks doing more than 80 gallons an hour on their non specified days, ergo the warning. They said I was watering at 11 p.m on Monday night and I was no way – it’s Rachio – it’s tied to my local time, I can see on my phone the notifications. I’m just trying to get more of an Excel data dump to send to them.
You can go to the web app, and then do a copy of the Watering History of the dates that you want. I do this frequently, and then put each day into a tab of an Excel spreadsheet. The problem with it is that it’s not data that fits well into excel, it’s just text. But I keep track of each day like that. But the good part for you is that it records the start times and the completed times.
Wow. You have a difficult situation. But if they were to issue a citation, I do not think it would stand up in court without a picture with a date and time stamp. I am so glad I don’t live in California any longer.
I was going to say that the difficult part would be to convince them they were running on standard time. Have you asked them if this is possible or is it one of those “talk to the hand” situations. As far as the times of day, the website does have the one window which has all the gory detail on when zones start and stop but I don’t know how far back in history that data is saved. I tried going back in history in that window and it’s pretty arduous. Of course all this might be wasted effort if their attitude is “we’re right and you’re not regardless of what data you’ve got”. I agree with Robert that this probably wouldn’t stand up in court, but who would ever want it to get that far.
If you really want the history data, I’d ask the Rachio staff if they could pull it for you.
Thanks for all your effort in Patch Watch, I’ve followed your advice for years. Good luck.
I can take a screen shot of my iPhone where the alert occurs indicating the time was my other idea.
And thank you!
(BTW the Windows 10 1607 update clears out update history is one side effect from August updates)
On the web app, scroll down below the “MY Yard” box and you should see a “Watering History” box. You initially see only a few entries, but you can scroll down in that box to go way back in your history. You can copy and paste that.
Don’t go to the Watering History in the “Water” box for the detail information. That only gives you Watering amounts.
You might start with a phone screenshot, but be prepared to submit other documentation as @davelr suggested. Ask if Rachio can pull your history.
Since metering is new to your municipality and Badger is aggressively marketing their RF wireless fixed-network AMR technology, you may need to be persistent to get the water utility to accept your assertion. Good luck!
Many jurisdictions in California have exclusions to “watering days” for drip systems, smart controllers, or high efficiency irrigation systems. Check the fine print of the rules in your areas. Rachio + Hunter MP rotatator heads, for example, allowed ignoring the water days in San Diego then they were in force.
Another reason I’m anxious to get out of CA. I’m sure the government is right on their time and you’re wrong, even though DST is the accepted time.
BTW, CA no longer has a water crisis. And what was there before was created by dumping about a billion gallons a day into the San Joaquin delta and the planting of Almond trees which consume about one gallon per almond. Oh, and big wig rich political supporters owned the massive almond farms…
If there is a way for you guys to export logs I’d love it. They now have me watering for about 28 hours straight and I know for certain Rachio did not run on those days/times.
Does your water utility offer the “Eye On Water” consumer portal? It allows users to access water usage data.
Badger also offers another consumer access portal called “My Water”. A check with your water utility for these “consumer engagement” portals would provide information that is the basis for their usage reports and billing. The local water utility may or may not provide this type of access, but it’s worth asking.
A study done to determine water meter accuracy found that even some new, “never in service” meters did not meet industry standards. Some meters were subject to “spin”–a term that describes over-recording by the meter.
