Make sure the probe is properly connected to the transmitter module. Reconnect and ensure the “twist-lock” connection is fully seated.

Reset sensor to factory calibration settings. See how to factory reset.

This is an indicator that the sensor needs to be recalibrated and/or the system plumbing needs to be flushed. If it has been a while since the last cleaning, do that now. After cleaning the sensor probe, reinstall and see if that corrected the issue. If not, move forward with recalibrating both sensors. Try to gather data by testing the same solution with a different probe (i.e BlueLab pH probe). If the reading is still significantly off, and you've done all the testing and trust the calibration procedures, the electrode may be bad. Contact Rhythm for support on replacement by calling or texting 833-749-8461.

If you can hear the pump motor turn on, but nothing pumps out, follow these steps to diagnose the issue:

• Try priming the pump through the software to ensure initial pickup. Turn to knob on the pump to max power, jiggle the weight and filter inside the container to loosen possible debris or clogs inside the filter. Swoosh it around in the liquid to get it to pick up the liquid again.
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• Clean the injection/check valve and foot valve/strainer. It is likely the injector or foot valve is clogged. Certain nutrients with high salt contents that tend to settle or stick to surfaces, can clog the internals of the injector. See Cleaning the foot valve section above for detailed instruction and pictures of how to disassemble and clean these components.

• If this does not fix the issue, the pump itself may be clogged and need to be cleaned. You can first start by running warm water through it repeatedly to flush out the internals. First begin by removing the nutrient it is attached to and removing the suction tube and outlet tube from the pump. Remove the injector/check valve and foot valve strainer from the dosing tubing and make up a new clean tube that you can route from a bucket of fresh water, to an empty bucket. Supplementary tubing can be purchased at any hardware store in size 1/4" ID (inner diameter) x 3/8" OD (outer diameter). Once the tubing is in place, fill a bucket of water with WARM, fresh, clean water and place the suction side of the tubing into this bucket. Place the outlet tubing with the injector nozzle over the empty bucket. Turn on the pump and allow it to pump all of the water from one bucket to the next. You should start to see sediment and residual build up being flushed from the pump. Continue until only clean water comes out of the output side.

• Finally, if this still isn’t solving the issue, the pump head will need to be removed, and internal components flushed and cleaned. See the Cleaning the dosing pump head section above for details.

Contact Rhythm CSS customer for additional assistance if cleaning does not solve the issue.

Shake the nutrient container daily to agitate the mixture if you have small 5-6 gallon jugs. If you have something larger, such as 55 gallon drums or 275 gallon totes, you may want to install a simple fountain pump into the nutrient container. A 400-600GPH pump on a timer set to come on in intervals is plenty to keep the solution mixed. Start with the minimal interval, the most common is 15 minutes, and set the timer to turn the fountain pump on for 15 minutes every 2 hours. Adjust this setting to find an ideal balance.

Many times this results in the AFS stopping the recipe preparation process and alerting the user that it was unable to achieve the EC setpoint.

First and foremost, check all the nutrient inputs, starting with the bases, to ensure that they are adequately full, and the pickup tube and foot valve/strainer are properly resting in the bottom of the container. If one of the base nutrients is low, or for some reason the pickup tube was pulled out of the container, the recipe will be missing that nutrient and will not come in at the proper EC.

During stabilization, the process would attempt to add more of the bases to reach the desired EC setpoint and may or may not be able to achieve this. Many times, the AFS runs through the allowable cycle attempts to adjust EC before being able to achieve the setpoint. It then stops the process and notifies the user via email or text notifications. If it does achieve the EC setpoint of the recipe, but was missing one of the inputs, your recipe could look like it was correct by EC, but in fact would be out of balance. This actual situation occurred to a customer and unbeknownst to the grower, they were feeding only Base A, none of Base B, for an entire week before they noticed the pickup tube from the dosing pump had gotten pulled out of the Base B container. Be mindful of small changes in the way the AFS is preparing recipes, it could be the indicator something is not quite right.

Coming soon.

The pump will need to be re-primed. See Priming irrigation pumps.

If your facility utilizes carbon filters for incoming fresh water from a city main, there is a possibility this filter could rupture and send all of the tiny particles into the fresh water system. If these particles make it into the AFS plumbing systems, they can cause substantial damage, and potential failures. The best way to ensure this cannot happen is to put a disc filter between the charcoal filter and AFS or fresh water tank. However, if you do not have a filter and have experienced this issue, immediately stop using the system. Push the Emergency Shut-off and turn the system off at the local Disconnect. Clean the entire system. Remove the irrigation pumps and flush them until they are clean. Use a garden hose to flush the AFS plumbing.

The Rhythm AFS utilizes the facility information for your irrigation system to manage the recipes created by the user. This includes number of feed zones in each room, dripper rating (GPH), and dripper count per feed zone. These values represent the nominal ratings, but may not be exactly what is being experienced in the field due to clogs, water quality, poor irrigation design, low quality equipment, etc. When the AFS feeds, it utilizes the user input feed duration to feed each zone for equal amounts of time. In this scenario, the AFS is running out of water by the time it gets to Zone 4, therefore this recipe needs to be adjusted to add more volume to the total.

The Rhythm AFS plumbing systems are all built from Schedule 80 PVC fittings that are available at almost every plumbing supply store and sometimes even the large box stores like Home Depot or Lowes. Replacement can be done by most anyone capable of handling PVC. If any pipe, part, fitting or valve is broken in the plumbing system, immediately hit the Emergency Shut-Off button to stop all operations. Next, evaluate what part is needed and contact Rhythm Customer Support for further assistance. The plumbing systems were made such that they can be cut and replaced by splicing in couplers and new parts. Replace the parts that broke. The fastest way to get your machine back up and running is to have staff on hand that are skilled in PVC plumbing. If you need assistance, Rhythm Service would be happy to fix the issue. If this is a warranty claim, please email candice@rhythmcss.com or raul@rhythmcss.com.