I recently installed a sensor on my Water Meter and as a result I now have accurate readings for each of my Zones. I know exactly how much water is being used by each of them when they are running.
I’d now like the usage numbers reported by Rachio to more closely approximate real life.
Is there a way for me to override the calculations so my usage will be accurately recorded going forward?
TIA
KIWI
The best thing to do would measure the sq. ft of your zone and determine the precipitation rate of each zone. The system will then provide a much more accurate estimation.
@franz I think you are saying I need to fool Rachio by changing the precipitation rate to match my meter readings. Correct or No?
If I’m applying 20 gallons per minute, which field should I change? Is it the “Available Water” field or is it “Nozzle Inches Per Hour”?
“Nozzle inches per hour” and “Area”
Dear Franz,
Many of us are purchasing water meter measuring devices such as the Flume 2. Amazon is selling 300 of these per month. Many others obtain very accurate water meter readings directly from their water supplier. In the dry parts of the west, water usage is becoming more and more important. It’s something we now care about.
In reading your response to the question above, a question I (and many of my neighbors have), it seems like you suggest that we “game” the Rachio system Advanced settings in such a way, using “nozzle inchers per hour” and “area” to approximate the EXACT measurement I am getting from my Flume 2? Am I understanding this correctly? So if my zone uses 4 gallons per minute, how should I adjust the NIPH and the area? Perhaps this is obvious to you (as the CTO), but it is not obvious to me and probably tens of thousands of others. Please let me know. I may have found an answer to this using Microsoft copilot - see below. But I am not sure this is the correct way to configure my Rachio Zone.
Also, I HIGHLY recommend that you update your system with a NEW setting in the ADVANCED section that simply lets users enter the GPM for the zone if available. Upon entry, the UI would then blank out any other fields not needed. That would make things much simpler for many users, AND allow us to get accurate information from the Rachio system. We’ll all save water! HAPPY USERS WILL RECOMMEND YOUR SYSTEM TO NEIGHBORS. Thanks!
In an IDEAL world, Rachio and Flume would work together and use the Matter standard to integrate your products so all of this would happen automagically! Something to look forward to in 2030 perhaps. 
Answer from Microsoft Copilot:
According to the web search results, there are different ways to calculate the nozzle inches per hour, which is a measure of how much water your sprinklers are applying to your zone. One of the formulas that I found is:
Nozzle Inches per Hour = Gallons per Minute / Area x 95.25
Using this formula, and assuming that you are using 4 gallons per minute and watering 1000 square feet, you can calculate the nozzle inches per hour as follows:
Nozzle Inches per Hour = 4 / 1000 x 95.25 Nozzle Inches per Hour = 0.38
Therefore, the nozzle inches per hour for your watering question would be 0.38. This is just an estimate, and it may vary depending on the type and condition of your sprinkler heads, the water pressure, and the uniformity of the water distribution. For more accurate results, you may want to perform a catch cup test, which is a method of measuring the precipitation rate and efficiency of your sprinkler system.
Another Note:
Many of us in arid climates use exclusively drip systems to water our plants (often succulents and cactus) 
So the whole drill of putting cups in the yard and then turning on the sprinklers to measure etc. is meaningless. What we have instead is miles of drip tubing with countless emiters of various sizes. Coverage is down to the individual plant, rather than a whole yard. That’s why we measure at the meter and don’t use the traditional methods. We simply don’t use sprinklers at all.
Since this is the case, another FEATURE MISSING from our beloved Rachio systems is the ability to water a zone EVERY X weeks, which could be 1 through 52. The Rachio system forces us to water everything weekly, which makes no sense at all for low water western landscapes. PLEASE ADD A FEATURE that allows us to water every x weeks too, e.g. once every 4 weeks on a Monday, etc. Basically, the system currently supports only an “every week” schedule. Thanks!
Some sort of integration would be nice.
I just bought Flume when it went on sale around Christmas time. I use Rainbird subsurface drip tubing with 18" spacing on the emitters for my lawn. I didn’t burry the tubing I just scalped the grass and staked the tubing down. In most areas the turf has grown up over it and in some areas it has actually buried itself. I just used my Flume 2 to find leaks in 2 zones. I checked water usage and in 2 zones it was greater than 5 gallons per minute where usage in other zones was between 4 and 5 gallons per minute. I checked those zones for leaks that I could hear and soggy spots and found multiple leaks. After fixing 4 leaks in the side yard where I used to park our camper usage dropped from over 6 gallons per minute to under 5. It would be nice if Rachio could alert me when a zone is using more than 5 gallon per minute and if I could have it shut off if usage goes over 7 gallons per minute for more than 5 minutes.
