[retiredguy123]

Originally Posted by metoo21

And I had a personal weather station at my previous home and wanted one here. Getting the Rachio gave me the extra push to set up a station here. I have the Rachio looking at my personal weather station and no longer have to rely on a "rain sensor" that is known for being unreliable. Several neighbors have also gotten a Rachio and connect it to my station. I've been using it for about 3 1/2 months and so far have saved almost $45 in irrigation costs. I expect greater savings as time goes on as I expect I was overwatering last spring and summer.

If I saved $45 in irrigation water in 3.5 months, that would mean that I didn't use any water at all. After the irrigation base payment, I only pay about $10 per month for irrigation water, which is a total of about 4,000 gallons per month. Are you sure your calculations are correct? Or, are you using potable water for irrigation?

[metoo21]

Originally Posted by retiredguy123

If I saved $45 in irrigation water in 3.5 months, that would mean that I didn't use any water at all. After the irrigation base payment, I only pay about $10 per month for irrigation water, which is a total of about 4,000 gallons per month. Are you sure your calculations are correct? Or, are you using potable water for irrigation?

Yes. Calculations are correct. The irrigation base payment is still an irrigation cost. This billing cycle (February bill) I used 7300 gallons. Last February with the Hunter, I used 9750. I have a pie shaped yard so it is probably bigger than most.

[retiredguy123]

Originally Posted by metoo21

Yes. Calculations are correct. The irrigation base payment is still an irrigation cost. This billing cycle (February bill) I used 7300 gallons. Last February with the Hunter, I used 9750. I have a pie shaped yard so it is probably bigger than most.

On my bill, a reduction of 2,450 gallons of water would only equate to a cost savings of about $6.50. 1,000 gallons of irrigation water only costs $2.66. The base payment is an irrigation cost, but it is not based on the amount of water used.

[Bill14564]

Originally Posted by retiredguy123

On my bill, a reduction of 2,450 gallons of water would only equate to a cost savings of about $6.50. 1,000 gallons of irrigation water only costs $2.66. The base payment is an irrigation cost, but it is not based on the amount of water used.

Same here. I only use about $15/month irrigation during dry months. Base cost is in addition to that but base cost would be charged if I used no water at all. My irrigation costs $2.92/1,000gals but that still works out to be $7.15 savings for 2,450 gals.

[metoo21]

Just looked again. My calculations are correct. I just calculated my $/1000 gal and is in line with y'all. I get $2.88 this bill. However, there must be a different $/1000 if one uses more than X gallons. Dec bill in 2022 was 14,920 gallons for $56.91 (excludes base charge). So this is $3.8143/1000. That gives me a $32.80 (used 7010 gallons less and calculates to $4.68/1000) savings between Dec. 2023 and Dec. 2022. Jan was a difference of $0.40 (260 gallons) and Feb was a difference of $10.33 (2430 gallons). My actual 3 month savings was $43.53.

And in Dec 2022, there weren't any issues with sprinkler heads or leaks. That is what the Hunter had decided.

[Bill14564]

Originally Posted by metoo21

Just looked again. My calculations are correct. I just calculated my $/1000 gal and is in line with y'all. I get $2.88 this bill. However, there must be a different $/1000 if one uses more than X gallons. Dec bill in 2022 was 14,920 gallons for $56.91 (excludes base charge). So this is $3.8143/1000. That gives me a $32.80 savings between Dec. 2023 and Dec. 2022. Jan was a difference of $0.40 and Feb was a difference of $10.33. My actual 3 month savings was $43.53.

And in Dec 2022, there weren't any issues with sprinkler heads or leaks. That is what the Hunter had decided.

14,000 gals is a tremendous amount of water to use... about double what I typically use in a dry month.

I used about 7,000 gals Dec 2022 and 9,000 gals Dec 2023. This year (Dec 2023) *may* have included a day when the controller became stuck and the irrigation ran for several extra hours. So again, about 7,000 gals is typical for a dry month.

If you are in CSU, your rates are in the lower right corner of the first page of your bill. Yes, there are different rates for 0-7,000, 7,001-14,000, and 14,001+ gals. Your 14,920 month would have cost me (7*2.42)+(7*4.04)+(.92*5.59)=$50.36

[retiredguy123]

Originally Posted by metoo21

Just looked again. My calculations are correct. I just calculated my $/1000 gal and is in line with y'all. I get $2.88 this bill. However, there must be a different $/1000 if one uses more than X gallons. Dec bill in 2022 was 14,920 gallons for $56.91 (excludes base charge). So this is $3.8143/1000. That gives me a $32.80 (used 7010 gallons less and calculates to $4.68/1000) savings between Dec. 2023 and Dec. 2022. Jan was a difference of $0.40 (260 gallons) and Feb was a difference of $10.33 (2430 gallons). My actual 3 month savings was $43.53.

And in Dec 2022, there weren't any issues with sprinkler heads or leaks. That is what the Hunter had decided.

Yes, the rate does increase if you use more than 7,000 gallons and again at 14,000 gallons. I would suggest that you compare your irrigation water usage to other houses with similar lawns. Water bills are public information. You can view any water bill by going to "districtgov.org" and clicking on "utility bill information", and follow the links and search for the bill using the house address.

[metoo21]

Originally Posted by retiredguy123

Yes, the rate does increase if you use more than 7,000 gallons and again at 14,000 gallons. I would suggest that you compare your irrigation water usage to other houses with similar lawns. Water bills are public information. You can view any water bill by going to "districtgov.org" and clicking on "utility bill information", and follow the links and search for the bill using the house address.

Yes, I have compared to neighbors. There are 5 of us with pie shaped lots of approx the same sq ft (within +/- 200). All of our irrigation water usage and bills are high. That's why I started looking at how to fix it. The Rachio stood out among them all. The app is tremendously better than Hunters. Lots easier to use. I also added a flowmeter (Everydrop wired irrigation flow meter/) that connects to the Rachio as a sensor. In the app, you run a 3 minute calibration on each zone and it determines the flow rate in gallons per minute. You can then set a % low and % high range where if the flow falls outside, you'll get an email that there is a problem. Mine is set to 90% and 110%. I'm concerned about low flow because I have a filter on the irrigation line before the valves to filter the nasty water and help prevent clogging the filters on each sprinkler head. So with this, I will get notified if the flow drops below 90% of calibration flow and I'll know to clean the filter. If it is high, then I know that either I have a leak or an issue with a broken sprinkler head and more water is coming out it than should be. And yes, each zone has a slightly different calibrated flow rate due to the type and # of heads. A high flow rate on a zone will disable that zone so it won't run again until you fix the issue and re-enable the zone.

The Rachio app is free but there is an optional in-app purchase ($29.99) that adds valve monitoring. The valve monitoring setup goes through a calibration and measures the mA needed to open each valve. If one changes within a % range that you set, you'll be notified by email. You'll then know that a valve needs to be replaced.

[metoo21]

Originally Posted by Bill14564

14,000 gals is a tremendous amount of water to use... about double what I typically use in a dry month.

I used about 7,000 gals Dec 2022 and 9,000 gals Dec 2023. This year (Dec 2023) *may* have included a day when the controller became stuck and the irrigation ran for several extra hours. So again, about 7,000 gals is typical for a dry month.

If you are in CSU, your rates are in the lower right corner of the first page of your bill. Yes, there are different rates for 0-7,000, 7,001-14,000, and 14,001+ gals. Your 14,920 month would have cost me (7*2.42)+(7*4.04)+(.92*5.59)=$50.36

I agree it is a tremendous amount of water but I've had higher usage in 2023. One month was 18,182 and another was 21,620. Again no issues with the sprinkler heads or leaks and in range of the neighbors who also had Hunter controllers.

Thanks for letting me know that the rates are on the bill. I usually never get past the monthly charge.

[wayneman]

Ditto....

Originally Posted by rjm1cc

My rain sensor never seemed that good so I manually turn my sprinkler on or off depending on projected rain days and the condition of the grass. I have cut my water usage by more than 1/2 for the year.

[Justputt]

LOL, I have to get used to what older people (my age!) fixate on. For me, if sprinkler running when it's supposed to all good. The tech from the company that installed ours came for our orientation, showed us everything was working, explained it, and how to change it. We actually enjoyed taking to her; she knew her stuff. Honestly, I've had a system like this before in Texas, so was a bit "in one ear, out the other," but the main point being if the grass is green, no standing water, not watering the road/drive/neighbor's yard/preserve/etc. all is fine. Watering in the rain is a waste of money because our yards are mostly sand, so added water doesn't do anything for our grass/plants and just flows through. Therefore, I love the rain sensor, but we were told they do wear out. Seasonal adjustments make sense because the watering needs are less in colder weather with less sunlight. I don't have experience with the Solar Sync component, but it does make sense. I'm pretty sure our new build only has the rain sensor, so maybe that is a tell. I would have thought by now there would be at least one retired Hydrologist provide a full summary of regional soil and water needs, tongue-in-cheek.

[Altawood]

I’m on DWilson’s side…so far.

I think the concept is that as temperatures rise and daylight increases during the summer, more irrigation is required. Conversely, less required in the winter. The Sync program takes into account the daylight hours, temperature and recent rains to reduce irrigation when it should not be needed. In addition, it can be ‘fine tuned’ by reducing the adjustment factor for your particular installation.

Of course, the other option is to keep a close eye on the soil moisture and make manual adjustments.

[retiredguy123]

Originally Posted by Altawood

I’m on DWilson’s side…so far.

I think the concept is that as temperatures rise and daylight increases during the summer, more irrigation is required. Conversely, less required in the winter. The Sync program takes into account the daylight hours, temperature and recent rains to reduce irrigation when it should not be needed. In addition, it can be ‘fine tuned’ by reducing the adjustment factor for your particular installation.

Of course, the other option is to keep a close eye on the soil moisture and make manual adjustments.

I agree that the concept is good, but I discovered that it just didn't work.