Greetings,
I just bought a Rachio 3 hoping to use it for my existing drip irrigation system. The existing system is not very smart. I have a timer and that’s pretty much all.
I have done some research and it seems like it’s possible to use Rachio 3 for drip irrigation but I am not sure what hardware I might need for the drip heads to control them via Rachio zones.
Can anyone kindly point me in the right direction ?
Thanks!
What is the timer hooked to? My drip system is hooked through valves just like my other sprinklers that is just a little different (such as pressure reduction and filter). So, I drive these valves just like all my other zones, but they are obviously a different type of zone with different parameters.
@Thomas_Lerman , so we just moved in and that’s the setup we got.
These are the timer and valve I assume
Both of those look like independent timers that hook between an outdoor faucet and a hose. I have seen valves that would work, but you still need sprinkler wire ran between the controller and valves.
Yes, so am trying to figure out the hardware to use for this. Suggestions ?
Also, is there a way to make the dripping smart and perhaps use “zones” for that?
Thanks!
I currently have two zones that are drip and will be finishing out two more hopefully soon. They are normal zones with “normal” sprinkler valve (with adjustable pressure and finer filtration), manifold, box, etc.
After these, I will add a few more and am considering trying another set of valves that have me a bit intrigued. This one is: Antelco ezyvalve 4 zone valve box (dripdepot.com).
Of course, sprinkler wires need to go to all these which as of last fall, I ran the last run.
I have eight drip zones divided among my two controllers. The hookup is just like a regular sprinkler with valves at the water supply and pressure regulators for the drip lines. After spending some time to fine tune my different areas, things are going very well now. A minor inconvenience for me has been the inability to avoid wind skips on my drip lines. Fortunately, the messages let me know when I need to run them manually.
You’re right…it’s the Hunter that doesn’t let me inactivate wind skip by program/schedule.
I do my Drip irrigation with a standard zone valve and a drip manifold combination. My system has drip zones that are turned on/off by Hunter PGV valves at 2 locations in my yard. Also at each location is a drip manifold kit that is connected downstream from the hunter valve. I use a manifold kit
made by Dig, and the model is Top 300 which has a range of max 3 GPH for each line. Each of the manifold kits supports 12 separate drip lines that each can be adjusted for 0.5 to 3 GPH. I also connect a few bubblers to the manifolds without a GPH limit and adjust the bubblers at the heads by eye. I got the valves, manifold kits, bubbler heads and drip emitters at sprinkler warehouse.
