Sprinkler leak a lot after shutting down. lots of water waste

I have 1st generation rachio. I used to use Orbit controller for 10 years now. Was very happy with Orbit and sprinklers worked awesome. Something happened to me and I decided to change my working orbit controller with 1st gen rachio. since then lots of my sprinklers leak a lot of water after shutting down. so much so that it floods the streets and neigbhors look at me indirectly complaining about the water waste. I dug up one of the sprinklers from lawn and changed it (spoiled lot of my lawn). I changed it with a new sprinkler and the problem is still same in lots of sprinklers and also in the one which I replaced with new sprinkler.

orbit wiring and rachio wiring attached.

One unhappy customer :frowning:

Your issue sounds more like a zone/valve closing really slow and trying to stick open. That will cause the sprinkler heads to keep running water because the valve diaphragm is not closing… Putting in a new sprinkler head will not fix that problem. Locate the valve/s and rebuild them. Take a picture of the valve and post it. We can help you determine what brand it is if it doesn’t have a name on it.

This doesn’t sound like a controller issue to me though. For good measure, use a voltmeter and check the output of the terminals to make sure when the controller says it’s off, it is.

Have a great day!

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The problem started happening immediately after I removed my old orbit and installed rachio

Sounds like residual water in the line that is draining or a valve issue. Unplug the power to the controller to take the controller out of the equation, after you have ran the station.

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What !
You want me to drive back home everyday from office to unplug controller to check the leak?
What use is the wifi controller then ?

Lol, no this is a one time test to verify if it’s controller related or a field problem. You should contact a licensed irrigator to inspect.

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I will definitely test one time by unplugging controller . However I cannot spend anymore money hiring irrigation experts or time.

My old orbit never had this problem . The moment I shifted to rachio, I have spent so much money and time already

My understanding is that the device is faulty . Will update after testing

Hi @neokeo-

I am sorry to hear you are running into issues with your valves not shutting correctly, and for the wasted time! This issue does sound a lot like a valve getting stuck open, however if the issue arose right when you installed your Gen 1 controller that does seem suspicious. Thank you for the wiring photos, those are very helpful.

There are a couple one time tests that would be really helpful for me to troubleshoot:

Could you run a “trouble” zone manually from the app, and push the faceplate firmly against the wall mount when the valve should be opening and when it should be closing (right at the beginning and the end of the run?) The faceplate is receiving the power for the rest of the system, and if the connection between that and the wall mount is weak, there is a chance there is not enough current to close the valve.

If that doesn’t help the leaking, can you move both your common wires to one of the common terminals and manually run the zone? There is a chance one of the common terminals could be faulty, which would also reduce the current to your solenoids.

Let me know how these go and if any of those steps resolve the issue, and we can move forward from there! We never like to hear that we have an unhappy customer, we will make sure to get you back up and running :slight_smile:

McKynzee :rachio:

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@neokeo, if you’re unhappy with the Rachio controller, it comes with a 30 day satisfaction guarantee and we will buy it back from you; no questions asked. You activated your controller in early March – we’d be happy to extend your evaluation period through April to give you an extra month to troubleshoot the issue you’re experiencing.

Looking at your controller settings, your schedules were setup in early March when you activated the controller. Has the system been leaking since then? I do not see any support tickets from you prior to today; have you contacted our support team to troubleshoot? Is the leak coming from one head/zone?

Please let us know if the system continues to leak after unplugging it. Usually if a valve is going bad, the diaphragm inside the valve becomes weak; allowing water to bypass it and seep out of the lowest head on the zone. Photos of the leak would be very helpful to review. Additionally, it’s common for the seepage to be heavier following a watering as the diaphragm was opened by the solenoid and needs to reseal to stop the leak.

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