Heat Wave Boost

Last Update:Jun 4 2025 3:17pm • Est. Read Time:Est. Read Time: 7 MIN

How to use Heat Wave Boost on Your Rachio Controller

How to Use Heat Wave Boost with Your Rachio Controller

Table of Contents

Overview

Heat Wave Boost is a premium feature designed to enhance your Rachio controller’s flexibility by dynamically adjusting watering schedules based on real-time weather conditions. Whether you're facing a heat wave or a cool spell, Heat Wave Boost ensures your lawn gets the right amount of water—without requiring constant manual intervention.

For a one-time purchase of $29.99 per controller, this feature enables automated watering adjustments based on customizable weather rules.

Heat Wave Boost can be used with any of Rachio's Smart Sprinkler Controller models.

How Heat Wave Boost Works

Using custom weather rules, Heat Wave Boost modifies your watering schedule when certain conditions are met. There are two types of rules:

  • Heat Wave Rule – Increases scheduled watering time when the forecasted high temperature exceeds a set threshold for a specified number of days. Heat Wave Rules can also add additional watering days during a heat wave.
  • Cool Wave Rule – Decreases scheduled watering time when the forecast high temperature falls below a set threshold for a specified number of days.

Key Features:

  • Heat Wave Boost checks the 7-day forecast every 6 hours and updates adjustments accordingly.
  • Users can choose to apply adjustments manually or automatically.
  • Adjustments apply to scheduled zone runs but do not affect Quick Runs.
  • Users receive push notifications when adjustments are created, modified, or canceled. Make sure you have notifications enabled for this feature in your Rachio app settings under Account >> Notifications >> Sprinkler Controller>> Heat Wave Boost Change.

Getting Started with Heat Wave Boost

1. Purchasing and Enabling Heat Wave Boost

Open the Rachio app, tap on your controller, and navigate to the Events tab (look for Events at the bottom of the screen).


Tap “+ Add Heat Wave Boost” under the weather forecast display.

Follow the prompts to purchase the feature for $29.99 per controller. If you have multiple controllers, you can purchase Heat Wave Boost for just one of them, or any number of them.

Once activated, you can set up custom weather rules directly after purchase.


2. Setting Up Rules

If you've already purchased Heat Wave Boost, open the Heat Wave Boost feature from your controller home screen under the Events tab.



Tap "Edit Rules", and select the schedule you would like to make a rule for. If you haven't created any watering schedules yet, you'll need to do so before applying Heat Wave Boost.


Heat Wave Boost Rules:

  • You can add a Heat Wave and/or Cool Wave rule for each of your schedules.
  • Tap the "+" for the type of rule you would like to make. Default rules will be added accordingly, however you can also edit the specific conditions of each rule by tapping "Edit".
    • When editing a rule's conditions, you can define the number of consecutive days above or below a specific temperature which are required to trigger an adjustment.
    • You can also adjust the percentage by which the rule will increase or decrease your schedule's watering time (between 1% and 50%). The default is 20%.
  • To save your new rule(s), tap "Save". To cancel any rule additions or changes, tap "Cancel".

3. Editing or Deleting Adjustment Rules

You can edit or remove the rules you've created at any time by navigate to Heat Wave Boost > Edit Rules. Tap the "Edit Rules" button and select the schedule whose rules you would like to edit. Then tap the "Edit" button on the specific rule card you'd like to edit.

To delete a Heat Wave Boost rule entirely, tap the "X" in the top right corner of the rule card.

Managing Heat Wave Boost Adjustments

Applying or Ignoring Adjustments

When Heat Wave Boost detects a heat or cool wave that matches your rule, you will receive a push notification.


Tap the notification to view the pending adjustment in the Heat Wave Boost menu. You can also tap the Heat Wave Boost card on the Events tab in the Rachio app to view pending adjustments.


Choose to Apply or Ignore the adjustment. You can also elect to apply all future adjustments automatically by checking the "Automatically apply in the future" checkbox.


Heat Wave Boost and Watering Restrictions

If you have local watering restrictions but still want to increase watering during heat waves, DO NOT enable the “Water Every Day” setting. Heat Wave Boost will only modify watering on regularly schedule days, unless daily watering is explicitly enabled.


Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)


Will Heat Wave Boost work with previous generation smart sprinkler controller models?

Yes! Rachio Heat Wave Boost is available for all Rachio Smart Sprinkler Controller models.


How many adjustment rules can I have on my schedules?

Each schedule can have one Heat Rule and one Cool Rule.


What happens when I tap “apply automatically”?

When you select the auto-apply setting, that particular weather rule will trigger adjustments automatically on its schedule when the forecast matches the rule. You can still manually ignore any scheduled adjustment by tapping on an event card and selecting “Ignore.”


What happens when I tap “Water Every Day During a Heat Wave” on a heat rule?

Heat Wave Boost will not only boost your scheduled watering during a heat wave, but it will add identical watering runs on any days during the heat wave that are not already scheduled.


How does Heat Wave Boost work with Fixed Schedules?

Heat Wave Boost gives Fixed Schedules the ability to respond dynamically to extreme weather. You’ve already chosen a schedule that works well for you; Heat Wave Boost simply watches the forecast and boosts your scheduled zone runs with supplemental runtime during a heat wave. 


How does Heat Wave Boost work with Flex Monthly schedules?

Heat Wave Boost applied to a Flex Monthly schedule gives you industry-leading weather responsiveness in a simple watering schedule. Flex Monthly already adjusts your watering every month to meet anticipated monthly demand, and Heat Wave Boost will allow this reliable schedule to respond dynamically to extreme weather events.


How does Heat Wave Boost work with Flex Daily schedules?

Heat Wave Boost gives Flex Daily schedules additional fine-tuning intelligence, creating the ultimate smart yard weather-driven schedule. Flex Daily is constantly adjusting itself every 6 hours to optimize watering over a weekly time period. It does this by moving watering days forward and backward. As a result, the smallest incremental change Flex Daily can make is one full watering day. Heat Wave Boost allows this schedule to make even smaller incremental changes; adding or reducing watering to meet short-term needs brought on by a few days of hot or cool weather. 


I have watering restrictions but want to water during heat waves. Can I use this feature without editing my schedule settings?

Yes, as long as you DO NOT enable the “Water Every Day” setting in the Heat Adjustment settings. Heat Wave Boost will only modify scheduled watering days.


How can I change my adjustment rules?

Navigate to Heat Wave Boost > Edit Rules, where you can adjust the temperature threshold, runtime percentage, and duration settings.


Heat Wave Boost is making my zones run for too long. How can I change this?

In the Heat Wave Boost feature menu, find your rule in the Edit Rules section and reduce the percentage increase setting.


How does Rachio determine heat wave and cool wave temperature thresholds?

For Heat Wave Rules, the default settings adjust watering based on 8°F above your area's average July-August high temperature. For Cool Wave Rules, the default settings adjust watering based on 8°F below your area's average "daily mean" July-August high temperature. You can customize these in the settings.


How does Rachio calculate the additional watering time?

By default, Heat Adjustment will add 20% to your normal runtime at the time of the adjustment. This can be customized in the settings.


What happens if I adjust the watering duration of my schedule while an adjustment is active?

The Heat or Cool Adjustment will continue to apply the originally recommended adjustment unless manually edited.


Will my Heat Wave Boost adjustments affect Quick Runs?

No, Heat Wave Boost does not apply to Quick Runs, which are a manual feature.


Do I purchase Heat Wave Boost for an account or a controller?

Heat Wave Boost is purchased per controller. You can purchase individually for any number of your controllers.


Since I bought Heat Wave Boost for my individual controller, what happens if I need a replacement controller? Do I lose the Heat Wave Boost feature?

Transferring Heat Wave Boost (and other settings!) to a new controller is easy! Don't remove your old controller from the Rachio app. Once you connect your new controller, make sure to tap the "Transfer Settings" button to migrate your old controller settings and features to the new controller you just connected! Check out our article here for more information.


Does Heat Wave Boost work with Rain Skips and other Weather Intelligence features?

Yes. Weather Intelligence features like Rain Skip remain enabled during a Heat Wave Boost adjustment.


When was Heat Wave Boost initially released?

Heat Wave Boost was released in April of 2025 after more than a year of design and engineering.


Doesn't Rachio already adjust my watering according to the weather? Do I need the Heat Wave Boost feature for my Rachio to function properly?

Yes!, and No! Weather-driven watering schedules across the smart controller industry do a good job at delivering enough water to meet seasonal weather demands; the month-to-month changes in temperature and precipitation that affect how much lawns and gardens need to be watered. This is relatively easy, and we (along with most of our competitors) do a decent job using this approach.


Rachio pushes this further with our Flex schedules, which respond to daily/monthly changes in the weather, as well as Rain, Freeze, and Saturation skips which can be applied to any of our schedule types. However, even these technologies struggle to respond to short-range extreme temperature events, such as heat waves, which have an outsized effect on lawn and garden health. 


The new Rachio Heat Wave Boost feature can modify Fixed, Flex Daily or Flex Monthly schedules to improve Rachio's industry leading watering algorithm. It tracks the forecast closely, identifies heat waves ahead of time, and schedules adjustments to your watering for a limited duration according to the specific extreme temperature event you're experiencing. Heat Wave Boost can recommend an additional watering boost or additional watering days to keep your plants healthy during heat waves, or reduce watering during cool spells. It can be configured with custom rules, and can even apply adjustments for you automatically. You can accept, modify, or dismiss the suggested watering boost at your convenience, and cancel the weather adjustment at any time.