How do I “winterize” my in-garage newly setup Rachio 3 for our New England winter? Turn to standby and just unplug? I can’t see a reason to leave plugged in (?)
Thanks.
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Leaving it plugged in uses virtually no power, and the system can continue to receive any updates and whatnot while in standby mode…
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Makes sense. Thanks.
It’s another way of proving that your settings are correct. If you don’t expect it to water, then it shouldn’t - but more to the point, hopefully won’t.
Then come Spring, hopefully it then starts to water as expected
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The irrigation system needs winterizing by blowing out the water in the irrigation lines, and the backflow valve, so they do not freeze and crack the pipes or PVC lines.
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@MarkSanDiego Thanks, has been scheduled for next week. Just wasn’t sure what to do with the Rachio after that.
Put the Rachio on PAUSE mode, so it doesn’t attempt to run cycles while the water to the valves is turned off. Some valves overheat if they are kept on, and do not have any water flowing thru them.
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“Standby” would be the recommended mode. Blowing out the water works great, but requires a pretty large volume of air. I have a fairly big compressor, but seems to take a several fills of the compressor to do my zones. I probably put in more king drains that needed and blowing out seems to hardly blow out any water. I have not done it every year. However, better safe than sorry no matter what.
Thanks, our Irrigation company comes out to do it each year. I installed the Rachio myself because they don’t carry it. The lawn part is all theirs! 
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I live in Colorado at 7000ft about sea level (USDA Zone 4-5). I have a compressor with 30 gal tank so I blow out my own system. My external backflow valves are wrapped in insulation with heat tape that I’ll plug in this week for when it dips below freezing over night, but I won’t blow out until the first hard freeze. Lots of folks around here blow out mid October and then don’t water until April and it takes months for their lawn to grow back. I keep my system on until the last minute and have been known to turn it back on for a few days mid winter if we get an unseasonably warm spell. I agree with others on this thread to not unplug. Power usage is microscopic and you don’t potentially lose settings. Main advice is to not let the soil dry out before it freezes, so sometimes I’ll hand water the sunniest spots in the winter if I can feel the dirt isn’t frozen in the top couple of inches.
One benefit of unplugging it is no risk of power surges killing the device after losing power. I lost one of these due to a power surge. It actually wasn’t during the winter so wouldn’t have helped, but now that I had that happen, I figure safer to unplug it when not needed after I winterize.
I’d thought about that… makes sense.