Manual advance zones during winterizing - Product Suggestions - Rachio Community
Manual advance zones during winterizing
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post by nehsmit on Oct 20, 2015
Hey all,
I was winterizing my sprinklers this past weekend and found that when I manually start all zones, I could not manually advance to the next zone. I had to stop each run. Then set the next zone and then run. This is a hassle. Maybe I'm missing something.
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Thanks.
post by franz on Oct 20, 2015
We’ve had this topic come up quite a bit lately 😉
A zone skip would take care of this, definitely in our backlog, will try to get this in for next Spring activation.
🍻
post by nehsmit on Oct 20, 2015
Thanks so much for the quick response. Its definitely a feature that is worthwhile.
post by emil on Oct 20, 2015
@nehsmit, a user has created a handy website that lets you turn on/off zones from one screen – this might work for your application until we can add the skip function. Check it out @ http://winterizinator.com/
Let us know your thoughts.
Best, Emil
post by franz on Oct 20, 2015
That is so cool, how come I didn’t know about that? 😉
🍻
post by johnesc on Oct 20, 2015
This community is outstanding! Kudos to @nehsmit!😎
post by murph2481 on Oct 26, 2015
For what it is worth I would suggest this feature as well. I mean it’s easy to stop manually then select the next zone from the dropdown and click start. But the workflow could be easier.
The website below mentioned would be perfect if it was built into the app! That’s all I needed.
Dan
post by emil on Oct 26, 2015
@murph2481, added to our backlog 🙂
Keep the awesome ideas coming!
Best, Emil
post by frankie on Jun 12, 2016
I’ve requested this feature a while back now. I think this is a must have feature as the current design is cumbersome and is actually harmful to your equipment. You should not run the air compressor without at least one sprinkler control valve open!! When we need to manually stop a zone, set a new zone and then set a new time for each zone, there is pressure building up because no control valves are open. That could damage your equipment between zone changes. This was not a problem with the old school irrigation controllers because the dial is so simple and easy to use.
post by murph2481 on Oct 7, 2016
Seems that this site is not longer active ( winterizinator.com) which sucks as it was perfect for quickly running through the zones for winterizing. Using the app is a little clunky to jump quickly between zones.
post by Professordave on Oct 10, 2016
Can Rachio just build and host this project for us? now that http://winterizinator.com is down?
post by ssindelman on Oct 12, 2017
Bumping this as I too feel this is a BIG need in the next update to the Rachio s/w. After having my system blown out and fumbling through the manual zone control (start, stop, advance), we DEFINITELY need to have a better advance zone function.
post by schaeferb on Oct 15, 2017
@frankie, @murph2481, @Professordave, @ssindelman
For those looking for an easier way to blow out their systems in the winter or maintenance throughout the year, I’ve revived the Winterizinator.com site that lets you turn on/off zones at random (Thanks to Varun Mehta for the original site years ago). Just enter your API Access Key available in the app.rachio.com user menu and click Go.
You’ll see all your zones and tap the button to turn on a zone, click another zone to switch to that zone or turn all zones off.
I hope to keep the site active until Rachio can at least add a ‘Skip to Next Zone’ button when it’s running a manual watering. Guess I could create my own AppleWatch app next. Lol
post by ssindelman on Oct 15, 2017
FYI - the url and method to get the API Access Key is here: https://rachio.readme.io/docs/authentication
In short, visit https://app.rach.io/ and then click the little icon on the right (looks like a silhouette of a person) and one of the options is API Access Token.
post by alexonapeak on Oct 22, 2025
For posterity and anyone stumbling into this topic, I threw together a web app to help winterize an irrigation system controlled by Rachio using an attached air compressor. It runs entirely in your browser and does not send your data anywhere other than Rachio.
I suggest using this on a computer (not phone) which is set to not go to sleep. Feel free to submit issues / suggestions in the GitHub repo (preferred) or here, though I can’t promise I’ll be able to make updates very often.