I’ve been using an EveryDrop meter with my Rachio controller to monitor water usage for a water feature/pond refill zone.
The zone turns on for a period of time every day. Then a float valve in the pond allows water to flow when the level is low, but nothing flows if the pond is already full.
In the dry summer months, EveryDrop reports (via the Rachio app) up to 8-12 gallons on the days when extra water is needed. This works great. I had a leak at one point and saw the amount jump to over 100 gallons and was able to fix it.
However, when the pond is full and there is no flow, the Rachio app reports 225 gallons of water as an estimate, presumably based on some average rate multiplied by how long the valve was open.
We are now well into the rainy season, and it has been weeks since any water was needed. Yet the app incorrectly reports I’m using 225 gallons/day, when it should show 0 (zero).
Is there a way to configure the solution to accurately report zero gallons when there was no flow, even though the valve was turned on? Thanks!
The usage is a function of precipitation rate (whatever nozzle you have it set to), time, and area. It is used to estimated water usage/savings. If you settings are exact, it can be fairly accurate, but in your case, it thinks it is running every day for time x nozzle inches per our.
Because of the way my yard is set up, I can’t utilize a flow meter for the irrigation system, so I’m not completely versed in their function within Rachio (I have/had the wireless unit from Rachio I played with), but I believe the flow meters are more of a checks and balances for confirming flow when the system expects flow. I don’t believe that talks to the estimated usage/savings section of Rachio.
This sounds like another bug with this feature. I also use Everydrop have a zone that alarms with 0.0gal flow which is inaccurate and disagrees with the Everydrop LCD display; and also the high flow and low flow alarm limits occasionally get altered by the app.
I believe the bug you are experiencing is the displayed usage is an calculated usage based on the zone configuration and the duration; and not based on measured flow data over time.
If I had to guess, they are probably only making a single measurement of the flow rate, after your agreed zone settling time, and using that solely for leak detection, and not for zone consumption.
Imagine your car could tell you how many gallons of gas you use. Then, on days you don’t drive, your car says you used 225 gallons because it estimated how far you could have driven that day.
If we were writing it, we’d do a couple of things. First we’d change consumption to be based on actual flow meter readings.
Then we’d change the zones from a duration based system to a consumption based system; and add in some timers to add protections for zones running endlessly/not running at all in the event of a flow meter fault.
Finally we’d add measured data for which zones used the most water, and offer suggestions about reducing the allowed volume of water flow based on the zone settings for head type and square footage.
My issue is somewhat similar but I deal with a similar problem, and it a real pain. I’m on reclaimed water for irrigation and I have EveryDrop flow meter. Okay, at some unexpected, arbitrary times based on high demand or equipment issues, my municipality shuts off the reclaimed water during a normal period that it should be on. My Rachio attempts to water during this period, and of course I get a no/zero flow warning in the app. However, it actually believes it watered the grass, rachio calculates water based on some estimate (not actual), and actually updates my soil moisture which throws off the whole flex scheduling. In the end, I had to use a pressure sensor on my reclaimed water line, to activate the rain sensor on my rachio, so it just can’t attempt to water during this period.
