Maximum time for Fixed Day schedule

Is there a way to set a maximum time per zone on a fixed day schedule including seasonal changes? My water utility limits watering times per zone and I set up a schedule, but received a seasonal change notification that increased the time per zone. I manually went back in and reset them, but am wondering if this might be something that could be added or if I changed the time to the max for summer, would it drop in the winter for a seasonal change? Thanks.

Hey @socalcal-

There is unfortunately no way to set a “cap” to your schedule time for seasonal shift. Do you mind giving me more insight into your watering restrictions? One way some users have found a workaround to time limits on zones is smart cycle. Smart cycle breaks up the time that you water a zone, so in one watering you may water zone 1 for 6 minutes, but three times. Kind of cheating I know, but it’s a way to work around restrictions when they prevent you from watering in a more healthy way!

McKynzee :rachio:

Hi mckynzee, from LADWP’s website:

"Based on the last number of your street address, your watering days are as follows:

ODD: Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays
EVEN: Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays

Watering with sprinklers is limited to one cycle of up to 8 minutes per station per watering day for non-conserving nozzle sprinkler systems (typical residential system), or two 15-minute cycles per watering day for conserving nozzle sprinkler systems. ALL outdoor watering is prohibited from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. regardless of the watering day."

I will be converting to rotary nozzles soon, so it won’t be as big an issue, but until then…

@socalcal Wow those are quite the restrictions :fearful:

Unfortunately, I would say your best bet for right now would be to turn off Seasonal Shift. Considering it’s only going to get hotter, your zone run times are just going to keep getting longer. I would hate for it to shift up and you get a ticket, I know those can be pretty hefty fines. What you could do is at the peak of the season (July I’m guessing, I can check for you) is set your duration to the max possible run time allowed, and then re-enable seasonal shift. Then, your schedule would be adjusting from that “base.” I know that isn’t ideal, but I don’t want to risk it going over your allowed run time after shifting!

1 Like

Thanks mckynzee, I’ll just keep an eye on my notifications and when I see a seasonal shift that increases the time, I’ll reset it until the seasonal shifts start decreasing time.

1 Like