Seasonal Shift FAQ

Summary

You noticed that your schedule had its watering durations adjusted and might wonder why. At your history tab, you can see that a seasonal shift was applied to your schedule, this article explains how the season shift works and why it's important to the system.

Overview

Put simply, as the months get hotter over the spring and summer, Seasonal Shift will increase a schedule's zone durations to make sure your yard gets the correct amount of water. Conversely, as the months get cooler, on average in late summer and fall, Seasonal Shift will decrease the zone's durations. Think of it as your scheduling Auto Pilot.

FAQ's

How does Seasonal Shift work?

When Seasonal Shift is enabled, at the beginning of every month, your schedule will adjust its watering durations by referencing 10 years of historical weather Almanac data in your area. In general, watering times will be longer in the warmer months and shorter in cooler months.

Video Guide

Are you a visual learner? This short one-minute video will walk you through Rachio's Weather Intelligence features, including Seasonal Shift, and will provide some guidance on how to use them.

What if I change durations for a zone?

If you manually change the watering duration for a specific zone, the next time Seasonal Shift runs it will update that zone's watering duration with a relative seasonal adjustment. In other words, Seasonal Shift will use the new duration you set as the baseline when making seasonal adjustments in the future.

What happens if I change my Zone Settings?

Changing your standard or "advanced" zone settings has the potential to affect the watering duration and interval of any schedules with Seasonal Shift enabled (including Flex schedules which have Seasonal Shift always enabled). After you make zone settings changes, check the watering durations of any Fixed schedules with Seasonal Shift enabled to ensure they meet your watering needs.

What happens if I enable Seasonal Shift on an pre-existing Fixed Schedule?

When you enable Seasonal Shift on a pre-existing Fixed Schedule, your Rachio will recalculate that schedule's watering cadence and duration (for each zone) base on your zone settings and weather data, just like if you were creating the schedule for the first time. To avoid any watering surprises, we recommend checking the schedules watering cadence and duration any time you enable or disable seasonal shift on a Fixed schedule.

What if I disable a schedule that uses Seasonal Shift?

Seasonal Shift will continue to make adjustments (up and down) on all schedules where it is enabled, regardless of whether the schedule itself is enabled or disabled.

Additionally, watering duration adjustments will be made to all zones within such a schedule, regardless of the zone or schedule status (enabled/disabled). This is because the server-side copy of your schedules is being updated constantly for your benefit, and then pushed down to your controller. This helps keep your Rachio up-to-date and ready to go the moment you decide to re-enable any of your schedules.

To disable Seasonal Shift on a Fixed Schedule, find the navigation bar at the bottom of the app, select the "Schedule" tab. Next, select the Fixed Schedule you would like to edit and scroll down to "Weather Intelligence." After selecting, simply uncheck the box marked "Seasonal Shift" and select "Done".

Do you still need help?

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