Pause Watering v2

Hello, I have stumbled upon this old thread while looking into the pause watering feature.


Surely with over 1.3k views it is a popular search topic on the interwebs. My suggestion for this feature is to implement this feature for use with other applications. For example; Watering schedule has started at 4:30am-6:00am. Front door sensor, or front area motion, or smart lock has unlocked for me to go to work at 5:30am. Smart device communicates to a “recipe” or “automation” - {hey the front door is open now, please pause watering for 10 minutes so my human can hop in their car and leave.}. 10 minutes after the water schedule paused for the ‘trigger’ it then can unpause and resume watering schedule.

Also what if a pizza delivery guy comes to drop off some pizza. Why stop the whole watering schedule. While everyone can celebrate getting pizza, the poor lawn says “I sure am thirsty out here, are you planning on resuming my drink?”.
pizza delivery

Please advise if the pause function is already available or if it is in the works.

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Thanks for the feedback @lions632-

This feature is not currently implemented, but it is on the roadmap. I think it would be incredibly powerful to include in our many integrations. I will make sure to relay this to the team!

OMG I’m dying laughing over here. I started thinking “Hey… I wonder if the Domino’s app can integrate with IFTTT, then use it as an input to pause Rachio if a delivery is near.” Someone already did it!

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This is my favorite thing.

It appears Pause has been requested since inception with significant forum activity in 2016 promising it is coming. I’m still in the return window at Amazon and would like to know when it will become available or do I need to purchase a competing product?

Pause for a predetermined time or until relaunching the app. Use cases include, but not limited to, things such as showering to improve water pressure, letting the dog out, removing a left item in the yard or maintenance of the system.

GUI suggestions. Next to Online icon for pause with word “Pause” that has a reveal similar to rain delay. 5 minutes, 15, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120, off.

A second request is intuitive ability to cancel current watering for the day due to need. for example, pending workers in your yard and you forgot to modify schedule.

I want to love the device, but without a pause I will need to return. I have explored IFTT and they appear to cancel, but not restart for a predefined time. e.g. 30 minutes for bathing

Hi @drmash-

While I can tell you that the pause functionality is something that will be available in our upcoming software release, I cannot provide any dates on when that will be. While I hope you are willing to give us a chance and stick with us, I understand if this is a completely necessary feature and you feel you need to return. I am not sure if there are other smart controllers on the market that offer this.

As for the canceling of schedules, we have our Rain Delay feature which pauses any watering on your system for a selected number of days, or you can always cancel the current watering from your activity feed screen (second tab to the left on the bottom of the screen)!

I hope this helps in your decision!

McKynzee :rachio:

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My hope was that with smart things it would be possible to pause. I have installed the module on ST with mixed results. The polling seems in accurate, as there are two stations that read " watering" when they clearly are not. And that interface seems relatively simple. But there isn’t a way (yet) to integrate fulling with smart things to say "if motion on motion sensor bathroom, then pause watering schedule currently running x 15 minutes, if motion before sunrise).

or something like that.

Hi McKynzee (and Rachio team)! I’m not a Rachio customer yet, but I won’t be buying until a pause feature exists. This is the number one feature that I want from a Wi-Fi controller in order to upgrade from a traditional controller. I’ll buy from the first manufacturer who offers it, as the pause feature would improve water pressure for morning showers.

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