@franz I hate to say it, I think think something is up again. My “Front” Flex Daily ran last night, all Front zones were at 100%. This afternoon it was hot, the Front moisture was in the 90’s by mid afternoon. Logged into my Rachio 3 a short time ago (via web) and noticed and “Offline” message and soon after, it came online with a changed watering schedule, and the three front zones are at 100, 102, & 102% moisture. The web interface was slow and unresponsive at times.
Here’s a screenshot of the zones and from my selected weather station.
Side note: I had to turn off WIPlus and switch to a single WS last week, during two days of heavy rain. WIPlus did not see that it had rained and not until I selected a reliable local station did my unit make proper adjustments.
@helosix Your front yard (1) zone looks correct to me based on history and moisture graph.
It was watered this morning and filled your tank up. You had .15 inches of moisture going into the day, evapotranspiration of .15 inches (net zero), and a fill up of .54 inches which put you exactly at 100%. Am I missing something?
@franz No, not based on what we’re looking at right now. However, this afternoon those three zones’ moisture levels had already dropped into the 90s. I think one read 98%, around 1PM. Hours later after an afternoon of sunny hundred degree temps, it’s jumped to 100 & 102% again.
Could it be that I am using a single WS, maybe something with its data?
The fact that I had to change from Weather Network to a single WS during a rain even is another thing.
Today’s forecasted ET can change (minimally) throughout the day so you might have been seeing micro adjustments in the forecasted value (a few percentage points isn’t really much). For “today’s” ET, as well as the next two weeks, we use an interpolated forecast so any chosen station won’t affect that value for “today”.
If you do want a little more watering frequency you can increase your crop coefficient (how efficient the crop is at preserving water) by 5%-10% and that will make the tank burn faster and water a little more frequently.
Thanks. I guess I just look at it way too often. It’s still the fancy new toy.
We just received our water bill. My wifed yelled, “Our water usage went up…again! I thought that thing is supposed to save us money?!” LOL I attempted to explain that we only had ~3" of rain the first week in July and none the remainder of the month, with temps as high as 108. AND, we still used less than last year. I also hadn’t install the Rachio until around the 20th. It fell on deaf ears. I know that Rachio has indeed saved us water, no doubt.
Any suggestion on the selected weather station, better to stay on a single local WS for now?
It’s tough to compare Y-O-Y watering if you don’t look at the average temperatures from each year. I know in general with just WI on normal fixed schedules we can save 20%-30% just through skips and seasonal adjustments. Flex daily can save up to 50%, but it really is determined by geography and weather. In cooler months or months with precipitation we will crush it. Hotter months it will compensate in the other direction Warm season grass is more forgiving since the average root zone depth is 9 inches (vs. 6 inches cool season) so if we miss by a day or two the roots are more resilient. In Colorado it’s tougher since the roots aren’t as long and as forgiving.
I recommend using a PWS if possible. The data (assuming it is reliable) will always be more timely (interpolated data takes a few hours to ingest), we will receive within about 15 minutes, and will always be a lot more accurate than interpolated can ever be. I call it boots on the ground. It’s close to impossible to beat that.
Agreed and agreed.
My better half tends to look at the dollar figure and stops listening when I attempt to make the case. Same battle over the Nest thermostats and the laws of thermodynamics.
I did check what hardware and sw the three close PWS use. I chose the higher end one for now, it seems more accurate and consistent.
Thanks again.
Warm season grass is more forgiving since the average root zone depth is 9 inches (vs. 6 inches cool season) so if we miss by a day or two the roots are more resilient. In Colorado it’s tougher since the roots aren’t as long and as forgiving.
