I got a hose timer to use with a large rain catchment cistern. The spigot to the cistern is at the bottom and is all gravity powered, although it is of course slow. If I hook the hose up to it I get more than a trickle coming out, but certainly not full blast.
When I attach the Smart Hose Timer to the cistern’s spigot, nothing comes out. Is there some minimum amount of pressure needed to get the water through the timer’s internals?
Probably…I’m not 100% sure of the internals of the hose timer, but I imagine that there is a diaphragm style valve in there just like a traditional sprinkler valve, which requires pressure for the valve to operate.
Hi there!
Thanks for being a part of the Rachio Community. It does sound like there is not enough pressure to open the valve. The minimum operating pressure for the Smart Hose Timer is 10 PSI. Do you think that you are getting at least 10 PSI?
Considering that gravity head pressure is 4.33psi per 10’ of elevation change, I’ll say no on his behalf. He’s lucky if he has 1-2psi if this is a full ground level cistern.