Leak detected today (DRIP)

My trees were due to run today and I saw this message on my screen this morning:

I’d just installed and calibrated my flow meter a couple of weeks ago, so sorry to say but I was questioning whether or not it was real. My tree drip line had previously calibrated to 0.7GPM, very close to the low limit (0.5GPM) of the flow sensor’s range. The high is 115F here today and my flow sensor is in the direct sun in the mornings, so I was wondering if the heat was throwing the accuracy off. I took a stroll around my yard before heading into work and guess what I found.

This zone runs for 5 hours. Since the detected flow was 0.4GPM over what it should be, I figure I saved 120 gallons today (0.4GPM * 60 MIN/hr * 5hr). This is in a part of the yard where I might not have seen it for a while, so I could see not catching it for a few future irrigation cycles as well. Nice!

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@azdavidr Wow, awesome gif!

While it’s unfortunate you had to experience a leak, it’s extremely gratifying to be able to see our leak detection in action :slight_smile: Happy to hear that you were able to catch the problem almost immediately and sounds like you saved a ton of water and headache for later.

We always enjoy success stories and hope that our community will continue to share!

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My vision of @azdavidr finding the leak.

Also, from your calendar looks like you live in Hades.

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And yes, Hades is just about right.

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This brings tears of joy to my eyes!! Sorry for your leak… Thanks for sharing @azdavidr.

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Very nice @azdavidr! Wish I could find a way for it to work in the situation I had a few months ago! Could have saved me a few bucks!

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It’s a dry heat…

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What broke ?

I had a water line that runs the perimeter of my yard to service a few hose bibs blow a glue joint at a 90. This line shares the same backflow device as the irrigation system, which is one reason that I’m not sure I can ever install the Rachio flow meter. The water line leaves the backflow and branches off to 4 different valve boxes around the property housing the 16 zones, but I have no idea where it branches off to service the hose bibs (I didn’t own the house when the install was done).

Not sure if Rachio is only watching for increased flow rates while a zone it running or not, but if a hose bib was used, it would make the system not happy!

It only checks once, right after the configurable pressurization time. I can see the complexity of your setup making you cautious. I don’t know much about plumbing, but something sounds odd about the way it was done.

Not really. The hose bib water line runs around the perimeter of the 2 acres, and realistically should be on a backflow device. I guess they could have run it on a dedicated backflow, but it follows the irrigation system around the property.

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Wish that thing would work for the hose my husband left running for 17 hours! He had been watering some new groundcover by hand with a squeeze sprayer, set the hose down and it burst under all that pressure. There goes my Rachio savings for the month…and then some!

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@Dayper I resolved and helped one of my customers avoid that type of circumstance with “Exploding Hoses” by installing a master valve on the entire system. The master valve also shuts down the hose bibs so that little misshaps don’t happen when one is not around nor aware of it.

In order to use the hose bibs, we assigned one of the extra stations of the Gen 3 controller. My customer now has a remote control hose bib.

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Issue resolved. Husband is no longer allowed to use hoses. That being said, I do like your idea.

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I forgot about that option. I guess Rachio needs to add a “Don’t let husband touch it” option in the control panel. :joy:

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Poor tech-challenged husband is baffled by our easy-to-use Rachio sprinkler controller, smart thermostat, and streaming TV. Now he’ll think twice before getting rid of me!

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I like your thinking! Sounds like my household. :grin:

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