Zone wont shut off

Hey everybody, when this happens, pull the power on the iro. This should no longer provide power to keep the solenoid running. If it doesn’t close, it’s a bod solenoid on the valve. If it does stop, this is an iro issue.

If you have hunter valves, these things are notorious in my area for sticking open.

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I’ve had Rainbird valves stick open. Very likely there is dirt in the valve preventing the solenoid from closing. Or could just be a failed solenoid.

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@inphx2, here’s a reference resource put together by Rain Bird that’s worth a read if you’re still experiencing issues. While it shows Rain Bird valves, the principals are universal to all valve types & makes. Let us know if you’re still having issues or have any questions after reviewing this field reference.

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I have exactly the same issue but with 6 different zones. I was told that the pumps and solenoids were not clean, and that there were electrical issues. I had the WHOLE sprinkler system rewired and I change every single solenoid. By the way the previous ones were totally clean, but now I am to prove a point which is that the units are defective. My whole experience so far has been a disaster. Bad AC-DC 24 V adapters that don’t work, a system that opens valves but won’t shut them off, and when I leave it on, it will run and not stop - so if I leave home it will keep water open the whole day until I get home and turn off the water system. My grass is damaged by now… and no support from Rachio. I’m returning the system and moving on. This is truly a complete DISASTER.

@Mopi

Here to help with our customer support team. Our motto is no controller left behind and I’m sure we can help you with this. Feel free to PM me or contact me at franz@rachio.com. We are listening and want to ensure every customer has a great experience.

:cheers:

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@Mopi – I’m reviewing your support ticket and it appears you have DC solenoids. Can you please send us photo of your rewiring or post here for review?

DC solenoids are not compatible with our controller, as outlined in our technical specs both on our website and support site. For more information on the common misunderstanding of AC and DC solenoids, please see this 3rd party article.

I understand your frustration, however Rachio has been very responsive to helping you since January 7th. We’ve offered to replace the controller and/or take it back. This offer stands – I’ll personally reply to your support ticket with options moving forward to make things right for you.

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Without creating a new post. I am having the same or similar issue with my Zone 1 (I have 3 zones). All was working fine up until a couple of weeks ago. My issue is that Zone 1 will come on fine and according to the app and the notifications will start and stop as scheduled, manual or on schedule. The issue is that zone 1 water will continue to run for an additional 10 minutes or so past the actual end time. Any suggestions. Love my Rachio and hoping that this will be an easy fix for me.

@delton35 - if debris gets in the valve diaphragm I believe that can cause this behavior. I would go to the valve box and activate the solenoid manually and then shut it off, if it continues to run then it is the valve. Turn off the water to the sprinkler system and take the top off the valve and clean it out. Others have posted that if one can find the same valve, buy a new valve and just replace the guts without cutting the old valve out is an easy solution too.

Hey @Delton35-

Are you still struggling with your Zone 1 running long?

McKynzee :rachio:

I am. I had another member provide some helpful insight. I have narrowed the issue down to the valve. The app and Rachio is not the issue. I have disassembled the valve (Silver Bullet Water-Matic). I cleaned it out (sand in the valve)… problem appeared to be resolved. A day later the issue reappeared. I ordered a new valve and plan to change out the diaphragm and solenoid. I will report back.

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Sounds good, thanks for the info. Looking forward to hear if replacing it does the trick.

It’s good that you bought a whole new valve. Best to rebuild it.

That valve is a Weathermatic Silver Bullet. I rebuild those all the time. They are known to stick open. I’ve found that the diaphragm ports, on older diaphragms especially, will swell shut causing it to stick open. Sometimes debris causes this too. Some of those valves will also start to scream like a banshee trying to close when they start to fail.

You could also use an eighteen gauge copper wire and push it through the two ports on the diaphragm to give it a little more life in a pinch, but it would fail again eventually. Go ahead be ready for the other’s to fail too.

I know you’ve already taken the valve apart, so you noticed this already, but it may help someone else. When the valve’s apart, be careful to notice the o-ring on the solenoid port or in the valve body. The new valve will have an o-ring too. Only use one o-ring. Use the new one. Also make sure the manual on/off lever is horizontal (off), not perpendicular (on) to the valve. Have fun!

@mckynzee @Sprinklerman @DLane,

Thanks for all of your help! I replaced all the top half components of the value including the upper valve housing… I have run a handful of tests:

  1. manually activate the valve via the solenoid bypass lever - works perfectly
  2. manually activate the valve through Rachio app and stop/close valve - works perfectly
    3 schedule the zone to run - started and stopped with the schedule

Very happy and relieved.

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@Delton35 I always replace the bonnets (upper valve housing) too. Good work!

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I’ve been running with Weathermatic Nitro N-100 valves on my 32-zone residential system since 2003. My experience over these 14 years has been miserable at best.

From my experience, the following are ways these valves fail open:

  • solenoid failure. older, black-wire solenoids would fail causing stuck open zones. Weathermatic sent out 32 replacements @ no charge but labor was not covered
  • cross-threading of solenoid on valve body. few and tiny plastic threads are employed on the solenoids and when working in a muddy hole are easy to cross-thread
  • clogged ports on the diaphragm. these are tiny and susceptible to minerals in the water as well as rubber deterioration. these failures started about when i had all the solenoids finally replaced and continue today

In all of my ownership experience with these valves, I have never been able to run my system reliably and for more than a week or two w/o having to repair some component to stop a zone that didn’t shut off.

A post was split to a new topic: Solenoid will not shut off

I had this problem today. Turning off the power did not work. Turning off the zone with the Rachio app did not work. I went outside to where the valves were located but saw that the valves were not labeled. So using the Rachio app, I cycled each zone on/off to determine which valve belonged to each zone. Luckily and thankfully, cycling on/off the zones somehow turned off the zone/valve that was stuck. Someone told me that the valve for that zone needed to be replaced.

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I have this problem when I use the rachio app. one zone starts running and won’t stop when i use the rachio app to water a different zone. How do I fix this?

@franz I am a new Rachio customer. I purchased the Rachio to save a percentage on my water bills.

I have the same issue just a week after installing the controller, where zone 1 won’t turn off. Even when I change the wiring so that “real” zone 1 is controlled by zone 2 on the controller, zone 1 still won’t turn off.

I never had any issues with the old controller, but from all the threads I’m reading it seems that Rachio controllers are basically too weak (in voltage) to reliably close the solenoids that old-school controllers close just fine. Just had a sprinkler expert check out the valves today and he saw no issues with zone 1’s valve. (FYI I don’t know how to tell if my valves are AC or DC but nowhere in the app setup or on the instructions did it warn me clearly about that.)

Between the time spent debugging this issue, the already-wasted water from the zone running for hours while I was out for the weekend until a neighbor called me to report it, and the future risk of that happening again, is there any way I can keep my Rachio?

I’m just not willing to invest hours and hours needlessly cleaning valves or doing all kinds of back and forth with support just to make this high-tech controller work - but don’t get me wrong I love what you guys are doing and will eventually switch once the bugs are worked out. For now I’m planning to return to Costco but if you can provide me with some easy options to try before going this route, I’d be willing to try them. Thank you.

You were misinformed about how irrigation valves work. While there are DC latching valves designed for low voltage battery controllers, Rachio (and likely your old controller) is designed for a more common 24VAC valves. These valves need energy to turn ON and stay ON, but the only way to turn them off is to shut the power off delivered to the valve, at that point there is an internal spring that actually turns off the valve.

What kind of valve is it? Orbit, rain bird, etc…? If your expert already took apart the valve to make sure that there are no debris interfering with the valve operation, than likely the solenoid on the valve needs to be replaced, either due to a worn out spring and/or the rubber gasket on the end of the plunger.

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