2 questions:
how does Rachio want you to measure for area size?
what does adjusting area size do to the watering duration/amount
The previous owner of the system did not measure area, and I’m wondering if I make the area input larger (more accurate) is it going to increase my watering times?
Maybe there is something I am missing, but it seems to me that it is for informational purposes only. I have changed the setting while experimenting from a few square feet to over an acre and it made no difference in the watering.
I believe the only way Rachio uses zone area is to convert minutes of run time into gallons (or liters) of water usage. It has no other purpose that I know of.
Correct area was used in previous versions to estimate usage of gallons for those who didn’t have a flow sensor. As of today I have since seen this type of usage disappear and now usage reports total runtimes (at least for me). The area is not factored in with anything else.