We have plenty of pressure and capacity and have been running multiple zones for years using two agricultural grade pumps. Our system is professionally designed to allow relatively precise watering of different grape varietals that are each in separate zones and need to run for different amounts of time (can’t be wired together). Since blocks run for 4 hours it takes a full 24 hours to cycle through six blocks serially with Rachio. While this drip is running no other irrigation can take place and no water features (fountains, misters) on the property can operate irrespective of the low water volume they consume. It is frustrating that a MODERN, full-featured controller such as Rachio is using an archaic model that assumes each zone fully consumes all of the capacity and pressure available in the system. I would guess that most installed drip systems today use far less than the full capacity of the system per zone and could be safely operated simultaneously. Hunter and others have products with multi-zone support, but lack Rachio’s sophistication. Sorry for the rant, but this one seems so easy to solve in software.
