Water consumption/savings calculations

I just installed my unit a week ago and was looking at what it says is my water usage and how many gallons saved. There is no way based on the information you have that you know that information. You had me enter some great information like soil, slope, head type, I suggest you add the ability to list how many emitters I’m using and there settings, 1gal/2gal hr etc. which will then give an accurate usage/savings based actual water used/saved.
So far I’m really enjoying having this unit and have also installed one for my neighbor. I think adding this request will greatly enhance having and justify its install.

@Raining2017 - welcome to the Rachio community. There are numerous threads and discussions on the board highlighting issues with using number of heads and emitters for calculating water use.

Rachio uses the precipitation rate (not GPM flow rate) from the nozzle type and the area of the zone along with the zone run time to estimate water used. If the area size isn’t changed from the default 1,000 square feet under the Advanced setting, and there really aren’t 1,000 square feet in the zone, this leads a majority of the discrepancy.

Accurate usage can be estimated by performing a catch cup test, creating the appropriate custom nozzle (https://support.rachio.com/hc/en-us/articles/115010542168-How-do-I-create-a-custom-nozzle-#6) and setting the area for the zone. Others have used this process to come very close to their observed water meter readings. Another option is to install a flow meter.

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How does that work, for instance I have four emitters on each of my fruit trees, and one emitter on each of the shrubs/plants. Emitters can be from .5 to 5.0 per hour. I still think if I was able to input the amount of emitters and there gallon per hour use it would be the most accurate.

Take a look at this - it should help you out.

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For Rachio to accurately calculate the water consumed, you must enter accurate precipitation rate and square footage information.

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