Gen 1 Rachio System stopped working and have been trying to fix it for months

I have (2) Gen 1 systems (Front and Backyard) and each have 6 zones.

My backyard system originally worked perfectly for a few months until 1 zone was not working and I replaced the valve and that zone started to work again without issues for a couple months.

Afterwards that replacement, Not a single of 6 zones would not work by manually testing it from the app and I would receive notifications on my iPhone during the scheduled/programmed sprinkler times but it was actually not watering anything.

I went and replaced all the rest of my valves to see if any of my zones would work… Still nothing watering.

Next, I had my landscaper come by to test my wiring system and completely replace the wiring in case a rat had chewed the wires or anything else. He also brought a test sprinkler system (Orbit) and he plugged into all of my zones into the Orbit and all of my zones worked perfectly. It seems that my Backyard Rachio is defective.

I reset the Rachio many times and tried everything that I could have tried but it seems that my valves, wiring, and sprinklers are working perfectly besides the Rachio System.

I live in east orange county, CA and I originally bought 2 Rachio systems for my house to control/program and save water and also being able to manually active the sprinklers to spray down the yard in case of a fire. There was a major fire in my area and we were mandatory evacuated and I was ONLY able to manually active my front yard sprinklers because my backyard system has not worked well for a few months and the grass and plants had already died before the fire anyway.

Fortunately the house did not burn down but only 1/2 of my sprinklers could spray down the front yard.

Any suggestions or ideas how to get my backyard system to work or have Rachio replace it? I think I have already done everything to fix my backyard system.

Thanks in advance.

@overspun, Rachio has a two year warranty - at least on the Gen 2’s. When did you buy your Gen 1?

I’d place a call to Rachio support to get help.

Is there a master valve or a pump start relay in the system?

Is there a rain sensor in the system (those can be problematic if they’re wired into the common wire)?

I know that the Orbit ran all the zones. With the Rachio in place, can one manually activate a valve at the valve (not using the app)? Just to be sure water pressure is in the system.

Hey @overspun-

@DLane mentioned some great troubleshooting tips. My first recommendation would be contracting support- as they will get this resolved quickly. We do offer a 2 year warranty on all of our products and customer satisfaction is very important to us so we will make sure to get you back up and running!

McKynzee :rachio:

Thanks for your response.

I have been sick and I have not had a chance to call Rachio and I hope to call them this week before Thanksgiving.

There is a master valve and all of the sprinklers work perfect with this temporary Orbit that my landscaper let me borrow while I tried to fix my Rachio.

I do not have a rain sensor. It does not rain that often in southern california but the weather check in the Rachio system works while the system is actually working.

I have tested every zone manually from the valves and they work correctly, either way.

Thank you for your response.

I have been sick since I made my original post. I hope to call this week.