Help with rule to De-ice hose

The rule I posted above works fine for me.

Here you go with a test @aaiyar.

The rule:

The logs for the rule:

That shows two runs going from down through the threshold of 34, up again and back down.

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Yeah - I tried something similar a while ago (~2-3 years ago), and couldn't get it to work. I'll have to try it again.

I'm sure your rule works fine. I just said it is easier to do in Webcore, and it is much easier to read after to see what it is doing. Honestly, with Webcore available, I don't know why anyone uses Rule Machine.

I can see that @bertabcd1234 is typing.....it was he who pointed me to this 2 years ago

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I think there are others who would find Rule Machine easier to use than WebCoRE. To each their own.

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100% I still come here for help with RM but I can usually work out how to do something, why it fails when it does and how to correct it

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Just wanted to confirm that this is the expected, documented behavior for required expressions: Rule 5.1 | Hubitat Documentation :slight_smile:

If anything else is happening, logs and a copy of the rule set up that demonstrate the problem would be most helpful for figuring out what is happening in that case.

(In the above, the only odd thing is that PB would need to be made sure to be true, otherwise it won't trigger, but it is by default, so even the initial trigger should be good...)

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I find Rule Machine more difficult, frankly, and there is a whole other Webcore Community to help with stuff.

But to each their own, though if you never tried Webcore you don't know what you are missing.

Thanks for the discussion. I'll leave the rule as updated in my reply. It's supposed to freeze again tonight, so I should get a real world test. Will keep you rule wizards posted.

Aaron

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Depending on hubitat for mission critical stuff is not prudent. In my opinion.

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That's an important point. I'm looking at my example to @afieldsmd now and wondering why I put the Private Boolean part in as it's not actually needed and serves no purpose in this instance.

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@afieldsmd I must have used the Private Boolean part of the rule for some other reason - it's not needed and overcomplicates things (K.I.S.S). This works fine as can be seen from the logs (read bottom to top):

Hard to define mission critical. Maybe this falls into that, but If this were me, I wouldn't want to depend on myself to notice when it goes below freezing to go out and turn on the heater.

Maybe a dedicated temperature sensing outlet that does this would seem more dependable, but it is still putting it in the hands of a device that can fail.

For me, Hubitat controls mission critical things, but I put in fail-safes. Hubitat runs my furnace and three heating zones, for example, and has not failed yet in two years, but I can push one physical button and go back to manual thermostat control should there be a fail in mid-winter. I also have warnings for temp sensor batteries getting low, and when temperature sensors stops reporting, or when a zone valve relay does not turn on.

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Unlikely but anything can fail - the weather station could stop reporting, the rule could fail, the switch could fail, the hub could be down. Other rules could check those things for a bit more 'certainty' for a belt and braces approach. Home Automation is for convenience not safety or security.

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Yup. My most critical automations are hardwired.

They are HVAC automations to balance airflow. I use RIB relays for this. There's no hub involved. And these things haven't failed in 12 years in 2 different houses.

With the exception of smart locks, as that is by definition security. Though I do not use smart locks.

I am running my heat on Hubitat for convenience, as my driver maintains a consistent temperature better than any smart thermostat I have owned. Though heating could be considered safety, as pipes could freeze and cause damage if it failed long enough. If leaving the house empty for a day or more, I switch over to the thermostat control. I don't need the convenience of well modulated heating when I am not home.

Based on previous posts, I was thinking of frozen pipes and at risk chickens. :slight_smile:

Good thought. In my case, when the pipe freezes, water backs up into the ice machine and it cuts off. No real danger of water leak, just the inconvenience of having to go out in the cold to pour hot water or use a hair drier to melt it before I have access to the constant ice to which I’ve become accustomed.

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Kind of ironic though. :slight_smile:

On a marginally related note, last power outage during the winter I put all the food outside, lol.

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