Okay, what’s changed? All my setting are the same as last year and my sprinklers are watering nearly constantly this year and we haven’t even started with hot weather yet.
Nothing changed on my end. You change the formulas on your end?
Mike
I’ve gotta admit, I feel that mine are watering quite a bit this year also… mine take at most 1 day off in between runs, and we aren’t even into the steady 100’s yet
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Interesting. Same thing for me. And I figured it was just me. But maybe not!
I have noticed i have at least one day a week where my system runs for hours, then other even days of the week only two or three zones run for about an hour. I am on flexible daily but only even days permitted. We will see when I get my water bill. Rachio needs to make some changes soon: drip as an irrigation type; ability to input number of heads on a zone because the gallons used is completely inaccurate; add option for mixed, part circle and full circle rotors; and change the default precipitation to something more realistic like .5 or .6 inch per hour; add a contractor and distributor incentive program; offer a July Smart Irrigation Month promotion for retail and wholesale markets; develop a model with cellular connectivity plus normal button faceplate for the light commercial/HOA markets; et. al.
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Nothing has changed regarding flex algorithms, but we are always on the lookout for system issues. I did take a quick look at your zones @runner1717 and noticed the root zone depth (RZD) is set to 4 inches. That is really shallow and could easily account for more frequent waterings. The default for cool season grass is 6 inches. @Modawg2k I took a quick look at your zones and noticed your RZD is set to 8 inches (warm season grass is 9 inches default) and your available water capacity (AWC) is pretty low at .12inches, and you have 100+ degree temps all this week 
tl;dr - Flex scheduling algorithm has not changed from last season to this, are there variables you changed at the end of last season to compensate for schedule deficiencies?
This article helps explain how to adjust flex schedules:
If I was a betting man, I’d say you changed the evapotranspiration formula. Those numbers seem to be a lot higher than last year, but I’ll take your word for it. 
I’ve done plug samples around the yard and rarely see root depths beyond 3 inches (Kentucky Bluegrass) but I chose 4 inches to be on the safe side and to slow the water frequency.
On another note; periodically my waterings will be broken down into three watering cycles (I like that) and other times it waters each zone fully before moving to the next. Why does this happen and can I choose the method it uses?
Thanks!
Mike
Hey @runner1717!
I can help with the breaking up of cycles question. This is our cycle and soak feature at work. However, cycle and soak behaves a little differently with flex. This is because your cycle/soak times are determined by you most sensitive zone being watered any given day. So the days you aren’t seeing cycling are probably the days that your more sensitive zones are not being ran. If you would like all of your zones to be cycling, an easy adjustment is to raise the slope on your zones. This will not affect any other aspect of scheduling. More info on that can be found here. I hope that helps!
McKynzee 
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I came here to post the same thing. It sure seems like my Rachio is watering a lot more this year (I’m using daily flex). Last year, I learned that the best way to adjust my watering was to change the root depth. I had it dialed in so that the Rachio would water my lawn the night right after it started to look dry. This year, my lawn doesn’t look dry at all and the Rachio is watering the next day. I’m dropping my root depth, but it keeps doing it.
By the way, I really like adjusting my root depth lower and lower and forcing my lawn to adapt. The roots in my parents’ lawn are six feet deep so they flood irrigate it once a month (like they do a crop watering). I might not get mine that deep, but I want to get them down to at least three feet.
This is crazy awesome. Do you know what type of grass they have?
I don’t know exactly how to address the concern that the system is watering more often. How much more frequently are you thinking @dblagent007? I also get nervous with messing with root depth, keep in mind this will adjust your duration along with frequency. However, sounds like you got it down really well last season, so I trust your judgement there.
This is crazy awesome. Do you know what type of grass they have?
I’m not sure, but it’s a fine bladed grass that is relatively common to Utah - likely Kentucky bluegrass.
I don’t know exactly how to address the concern that the system is watering more often.
I’m not sure either. If you guys swear you didn’t change anything, then I guess the most likely explanation is that the roots grew deeper this spring so that now it doesn’t look dry before it waters. I’ll have to lower the root depth some more in the settings.
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Wow, I’d convinced myself I was crazy until I saw this thread. When I switched to my Bermuda settings I found it was watering the same frequency with 90-100F temps as I had last year at 115F+. I kept going over my numbers as it really did seem too frequent. I dialed back my crop coefficient, but it seems others here have the same so know I’m wondering, (rhetorical question) am I still crazy ?
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Here’s the next two weeks for me. Not only do I never get 2 days off, but I have a couple consecutive days… don’t remember that last year. I’m trying to think up what changes I may have had in my zones. The only thing I can think of is root depth was maybe 6-7.
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@azdavidr your crop coefficient is the default for cool grass (.7) and not the warm (0.65), any reason you are doing that? It’s giving you some crazy 0.3+ ET figures
Yep, I’m pretty much back to this post last year.
I just dethatched yesterday. My son is outside aerating as we speak. 
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I’ve got 2 boys, 1 on the way, so some day i’ll have a whole landscape crew for my yard.
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I’m sure you’ve heard it before, and will say it yourself one day. Enjoy it while you can, it goes by fast! Anyway, mine is off to college in August. I figured he should learn how to detatch and aerate before he goes off to spread his wings.
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I pulled some data regarding your ET just to verify that the algorithms are generating similar last year/this year.
You’ll notice similar ET data, but one is from July of last year. The main factor that is affecting the difference here is windspeed.
Raw ET 0.309
Date 2017-05-29
Max Temp 78
Min Temp 51
Station KHIF
Humidity avg 0.37
Windspeed avg 12.3
Dewpoint avg 37.04
Cloud cover avg 0
Raw ET 0.307
Date 2016-07-01
Max Temp 85
Min Temp 64
Station KHIF
Humidity avg 0.43
Windspeed avg 8.89
Dewpoint avg 49.82
Cloud cover avg 0.1
@azdavidr Here is some of your data, just as high ET last year
Raw ET 0.4
Date 2017-06-03
Max Temp 105
Min Temp 78
Station KPHX
Humidity avg 0.15
Windspeed avg 7.21
Dewpoint avg 37.22
Cloud cover avg 0.34
Raw ET 0.39
Date 2016-06-11
Max Temp 100
Min Temp 80
Station KPHX
Humidity avg 0.34
Windspeed avg 10.07
Dewpoint avg 57.56
Cloud cover avg 0.43
I also reviewed the ET calculator code and it has not changed.
@runner1717 @dblagent007 @azdavidr @Modawg2k
I would adjust your crop coefficient down (less frequency, no change in duration) if you want to water less days.
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Seeing the same type of data from last/this year. Higher on the third due to bit higher wind and less cloud coverage.
Raw ET 0.273
Date 2017-06-03
Max Temp 85
Min Temp 62
Station KJYR
Humidity avg 0.6
Windspeed avg 7.33
Dewpoint avg 58.64
Cloud cover avg 0.04
Raw ET 0.247
Date 2016-06-13
Max Temp 85
Min Temp 71
Station KJYR
Humidity avg 0.69
Windspeed avg 5.97
Dewpoint avg 65.84
Cloud cover avg 0.2
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