In this article
1. Why pump automation matters
Lumo's pump automation turns your pump on and off in lockstep with your irrigation schedule — so the right blocks get water at the right time, without anyone making a drive to the pump house. Just as importantly, the system watches a handful of pressure and flow signals continuously and will shut the pump down on its own if something looks wrong out in the field.
The whole system is designed so you don't have to babysit the pump — and so the worst outcome of a problem in the field is a paused irrigation, not a damaged pump or a split pipeline. This guide walks through day-to-day use, what we monitor, what happens when a safety check trips, and how to get back into Auto mode afterward.
2. Using pump automation
The three operation modes
Every Lumo-controlled pump runs in one of three modes. You can see and change the current mode from the pump's page in the Lumo app.
Mode | What it does | When to use it |
Auto | Lumo turns the pump on when scheduled irrigations are about to start and off when they end. Safety checks are active. | Your default — this is what pump automation is built for. |
Override On | Pump runs continuously regardless of the schedule. Most safety checks pause in this mode. | Field work, troubleshooting with Support, or running the pump for a one-off reason outside a schedule. |
Override Off | Pump is locked off. It will not start, even if an irrigation is scheduled. | Maintenance, end-of-season shutdown, or after a safety check has tripped (Lumo sets this automatically when something goes wrong — see Section 4). |
Important Most safety checks pause while the pump is in Override On. That's intentional — manual mode is often used precisely because something out of the ordinary is happening. Lumo still records telemetry and you can watch real-time pressure, but it won't auto-shut-off. Don't leave a pump in Override On for long without supervision.
How Lumo decides when to start the pump (Auto mode)
In Auto mode, Lumo checks three things many times a second to decide whether the pump should be running:
Is a scheduled irrigation starting? Lumo opens the valves at the scheduled start time, then prepares to start the pump.
Have enough valves opened? Lumo starts the pump only once more than half the valves on that irrigation report "Open." This prevents the pump from spinning up against a mostly-closed system.
Has the minimum off-time passed? If the pump just stopped, Lumo waits a short cool-down (typically ~30 minutes, set per farm) before restarting it, which protects the motor from short-cycling.
How to manually start or stop the pump
Open the Pump page for your farm.
Select the pump and click the pencil to open Pump Details.
In the Actions tab, click Start Pump or Stop Pump.
You'll see a banner that reads "We are waiting for the pump to notify us…". This means the command has been sent to the controller in the field; it usually clears within a minute or two. The Operation Mode pill updates to Override On or Override Off once the change is confirmed.
Note: You can't start the pump if no valves are open — Lumo will show "Cannot start pump. All valves are closed." Open at least one valve first, then try again.
Emergency Shutoff — the "big red button"
Alongside the regular Stop Pump action, the dashboard has an Emergency Shutoff button on each pump card and on certain dashboard alerts. Use it when you need to stop the pump and clean up the schedule in one step — for example, when you've found a leak in the field and want to keep the pump from auto-starting on the next scheduled irrigation.
When you confirm an Emergency Shutoff, Lumo asks one question — a "Cancel today's events" checkbox (on by default):
Choice | What happens | Use when |
Checkbox ON (default) | Pump goes to Override Off, the running irrigation is cancelled, and the rest of today's pump-controlled irrigations are removed from the schedule. | You don't want any more irrigations to happen today. |
Checkbox OFF | Pump goes to Override Off and only the running (or imminent — starting within ~5 min) irrigation is cancelled. Later irrigations stay on the schedule. | You only want to interrupt right now and let the rest of the day proceed once the issue is resolved. |
Either way, an Emergency Shutoff incident is created and the pump stays in Override Off until you reset it back to Auto (see Section 4). The "cancel events" choice applies only to Emergency Shutoffs you trigger yourself — automatic safety-check trips behave differently (see Section 4).
Returning to Auto mode
When you're done with manual work, switch the pump back to Auto from the same panel (look for Reset Pump Control), and Lumo will pick up the next scheduled irrigation. If the pump is currently in Override Off because of an incident, you'll need to resolve the incident first — see Section 4.
3. Safety checks — what Lumo watches
While the pump runs in Auto mode, the Lumo controller at the pump runs a "disaster check" every 10 seconds. It looks at three independent signals, plus a fourth check after every shutoff. If any of them fail, Lumo shuts the pump down on its own to protect the system.
Note: All thresholds below are configurable per farm. The defaults are what we set out of the box; your Lumo Support contact may tune them to your specific pump, manifold, and pipeline. To see the values configured for your farm, ask your Support contact.
Check 1 — Manifold over-pressure
What it watches: the pressure at the pump's manifold (the main outlet from the pump into your pipelines), read directly from the controller's pressure sensor.
Default threshold: 100 PSI.
Why it matters: a spike at the manifold usually means a downstream blockage — a stuck valve, a closed gate valve someone forgot to open, or an air pocket. Pushing pressure into a blocked system can split pipe or damage seals.
How it's tuned: set to the rated pressure of your weakest mainline. A brief tolerance window (often zero) means a one-tick spike won't trip a shutdown — pressure has to stay above the threshold continuously.
AvailabilityAvailable on pumps with a variable-speed drive (VFD) controller. Not available on basic relay-only (on/off) pump installations. See Section 6.
Check 2 — Valve over-pressure
What it watches: the pressure reported by each individual valve in the field (not the manifold).
Default threshold: 100 PSI on any single valve.
Why it matters: even when the manifold looks fine, an individual block can see dangerous pressure from a partial blockage, a stuck-closed valve elsewhere, or a sudden change in the system. Catching it at the valve protects drip lines, fittings, and emitters.
How it's tuned: set to what your drip lines or sprinkler heads can handle. Valves whose status hasn't updated recently are skipped to avoid false alarms from stale data.
Check 3 — No flow while the pump is on
What it watches: the flow rate (gallons per minute) summed across all valves Lumo expects to be irrigating right now.
Triggers when: the pump is on, an irrigation is actively running, and yet zero flow is reported across all open valves.
Why it matters: if the pump is running but no water is moving, something is badly wrong — a closed mainline gate, the pump losing prime, a snapped coupling, or a serious blockage. Running a centrifugal pump dry can destroy the seal and impeller in minutes.
How it's tuned: a short warm-up buffer at the start of irrigations prevents a false no-flow before water reaches the valves. Valves with stale data (typically older than 6 minutes) are ignored.
Check 4 — Pressure-decay test (after every shutoff)
What it watches: when the pump is supposed to shut off at the end of an irrigation, Lumo measures pressure before the shutoff command and again 10 seconds after. We expect pressure to drop by at least 30% — the signature of a healthy stop.
Why it matters: if pressure stays high after the shutoff command, the pump may not actually be off. Lumo retries the test a few times; if pressure still won't drop, it marks the pump in an Error / Failed state and flags an incident so you can put eyes on it.
How it's tuned: the 30% drop and the retry count are configurable. On multi-pump manifolds (more than one pump on the same manifold), pressure can stay high simply because a sibling pump is still running — we sometimes loosen the threshold for those sites during commissioning.
Pipe Integrity Monitor — per-block pressure regulation (optional)
Farms running a VFD with our Pipe Integrity Monitor enabled get a fifth, more active check. Instead of only watching for limit breaches, the system continuously compares each block's live pressure against its configured min/max range and gently ramps pump speed up or down to keep the system in the sweet spot. If pressure exceeds the max manifold limit even at the lowest pump speed, the pump shuts off like the other checks.
Defaults: min operational pressure 15 PSI, max operational pressure 60 PSI, max manifold pressure 80 PSI — though these are almost always set per-block based on the equipment in that block.
4. What happens when a safety check trips
When a safety check trips automatically, Lumo does three things, in order:
The pump is locked off. The controller stops the motor and prevents it from auto-starting. It won't restart on its own, even when a scheduled irrigation comes up. (For most checks the pump moves to Override Off; the decay-test exception is below.)
A pump incident is created. You'll see it on the pump page in the Incidents list, tagged with the reason (Manifold Max, Valve Max, No GPM, Decay Test, or an unexpected-valve type such as Offline / Closed by User / Closed Low Battery). The incident names the affected device(s) where applicable.
Your notification list is alerted. Everyone on your farm's notification list gets a message (email, SMS, or Slack, depending on your setup) saying what happened and which farm and pump are affected.
Exception — failed decay test. A failed decay test is the one case that does not move the pump to Override Off. Instead the pump shows Auto mode with a Failed status, the valves remain open, and you'll need to close them manually. The pump will attempt to start with the next schedule, so investigate promptly. (Verify with engineering before publishing.)
Important — automatic shutoffs do NOT cancel your schedule. When a safety check trips on its own, the pump is locked off but the rest of today's schedule stays in place. The valves on later irrigations will still open at their scheduled times — they just won't get water, because the pump is locked off. This is by design: once you've resolved the issue and returned the pump to Auto, the schedule picks back up naturally. If you'd rather clear today's schedule (e.g. you found a leak and don't want any more irrigations today), use Emergency Shutoff with "Cancel today's events" checked — that's the only path that cancels scheduled events.
The notification you'll receive
The exact wording depends on which check tripped. A few examples:
"We turned the pump OFF because the MAXIMUM PRESSURE was exceeded at the manifold at [farm]. The threshold is [X] PSI and it reached [Y] PSI. It may be helpful to make sure there's nothing wrong with the pump or the pipelines."
"We turned the pump OFF because we're detecting NO water flow at [farm]. It may be helpful to make sure there's nothing wrong with the pump or the pipelines."
"We turned the pump OFF but we CAN'T confirm it's really OFF at [farm]. It may be helpful to check the pump and turn it off manually on sight if needed."
How to recover the pump after a shutoff
The pump won't restart on its own — by design. Once you understand what happened:
Put eyes on the pump and pipeline. Walk the system if you can: the pump, the manifold, any mainline gate valves, and the block that was irrigating. Use the notification as your hint — different reasons point at different parts of the system (see Section 5).
Decide what to do with today's schedule. The schedule wasn't auto-cleared. If you don't want upcoming irrigations to attempt to run while you investigate, pause/cancel them manually, or trigger an Emergency Shutoff with "Cancel today's events" checked.
Open the Pump page and find the Incidents panel. You'll see the unresolved incident.
Click "Resolve" on the incident. This tells Lumo you've investigated. It does not turn the pump back on by itself.
Switch the operation mode back to Auto. Lumo picks up the next scheduled irrigation; if the valves are still open and the schedule is still active, the pump will start. (To test first, switch to Override On briefly, verify everything looks right, then back to Auto.)
If it keeps tripping If the same incident trips again within a short window, don't just keep resolving and retrying — something physical is likely wrong (a stuck valve, a leak, an empty source, a controller problem). Contact your Lumo Support contact instead.
Other incident types you might see
Not every incident comes from the four safety checks. Three more can also lock your pump off:
Valve closed by user — a valve that should have stayed open during an active irrigation was manually closed (on-site or from the app). The pump shuts off to prevent dead-heading.
Valve closed due to low battery — a valve dropped low enough on battery to auto-close mid-irrigation. The pump shuts off, and the affected device(s) are listed in the incident.
Valve went offline — a valve we were counting on stopped reporting. The pump shuts off so we don't push water into a block we can't see.
Recovery is the same as above: investigate the affected valve (the incident lists its ID and links to the device page), fix the underlying issue, resolve the incident, and switch back to Auto.
5. Troubleshooting
"I clicked Start Pump but nothing happened"
Check whether the banner says "All valves are closed." Lumo won't start the pump without at least one open valve.
Confirm the Operation Mode pill changed to Override On. If it stays on Auto or Override Off, the command may not have reached the pump (see the next item).
If the pump ran recently, you may be inside the minimum-restart window. Wait the cool-down period (usually ~30 min) and try again.
"The 'waiting for the pump to notify us' banner won't go away"
This means Lumo sent the command but hasn't heard back from the controller. A minute or two is normal; longer points to a connectivity issue between the cloud and the pump. Check the pump's connectivity indicator on the farm page. If the pump is offline, the command replays automatically once it reconnects.
"Pump tripped on Manifold Max — what should I look at first?"
A closed or stuck mainline gate valve between the pump and the field.
A block that should have opened but didn't (look for a valve still "Closed" during an active irrigation).
An air pocket — common after a long off-season or after the system has been drained.
A pressure-relief valve that's stuck.
"Pump tripped on No GPM — what should I look at first?"
The source: is the pond / canal / well actually delivering water? Check intake screens for clogs.
Did the pump lose prime? Look for air at the suction side.
A snapped or disconnected coupling between the pump and the manifold.
A flow-meter problem — if every valve reads zero but the system seems fine, the meters may have lost reporting.
"Pump tripped on Valve Max — what should I look at first?"
The specific valve and block named in the incident — walk to that block first.
Partial blockages: clogged emitters at the start of a drip run, a kinked submain, a closed shut-off downstream of the valve.
Pressure-regulator failure on that block.
"Decay test failed — what should I look at first?"
The decay test fails only when the pump didn't actually wind down after the stop command. Most often:
The contactor or relay between Lumo and the pump didn't open (an electrical fault).
On a VFD, the drive ignored the stop command — check the drive's own fault display.
On a multi-pump manifold, a sibling pump is still running and holding pressure up. This isn't a real fault — the decay threshold just needs tuning for your site. Flag it to Lumo Support.
"My valves opened on a scheduled irrigation but no water flowed"
If the pump tripped on a safety check earlier in the day and is currently in Override Off, the schedule itself wasn't cancelled — only the pump was locked out, so the valves still open at their scheduled time. Check the Operation Mode and the Incidents panel: an unresolved incident or Override Off mode is the cause. Resolve the incident, return to Auto, and the next scheduled irrigation runs normally. To skip the rest of today's irrigations while you investigate, use Emergency Shutoff with "Cancel today's events" checked.
"The pump went into Override Off and I don't see an incident"
If the pump is in Override Off with no unresolved incident, someone (or another user on your account) likely set it manually. Check the audit log on the farm page to see who made the change. If nobody did and you can't explain it, contact Lumo Support — we'd want to review the controller logs.
"My pump keeps tripping the same safety check"
If the same reason fires day after day, the threshold is probably mismatched to your physical system — not a bug, just a tuning issue. Reach out to Lumo Support with the incident history and we can walk through your manifold setup and adjust the threshold (max pressure, decay drop %, GPM grace window) to match your real-world baseline. Loosening a safety check should always go through us, so we don't accidentally trade away the protection it provides.
6. What's available on my pump
Some checks and controls depend on how your pump connects to Lumo. Use this table to see what applies to your setup. If you're not sure which type you have, ask Lumo Support.
Feature | Electric Pump Only | VFD |
Auto start/stop on schedule | Yes | Yes |
Manual Start/Stop & Emergency Shutoff | Yes | Yes |
Check 3 — No flow (GPM) | Yes | Yes |
Check 4 — Pressure-decay test | Yes | Yes |
Check 1 — Manifold over-pressure | — | Yes |
Check 2 — Valve over-pressure | — | Yes |
Pipe Integrity Monitor (per-block regulation) | — | Yes (when enabled) |
7. Glossary
Term | What it means |
Manifold | The main outlet from the pump into your pipelines, where overall system pressure is measured. |
Priming / losing prime | A pump is "primed" when its housing is full of water. If it draws in air ("loses prime"), it spins without moving water and can damage itself. |
Dead-heading | Running a pump against a closed or blocked system so water has nowhere to go — which builds dangerous pressure and heat. |
Short-cycling | Starting and stopping the pump too frequently, which wears out the motor. The minimum off-time prevents this. |
VFD (variable frequency drive) | A controller that runs the pump at variable speeds rather than simple on/off, enabling finer pressure control. |
Contactor / relay | The electrical switch that physically turns the pump on and off on Lumo's command. |
Decay test | A check, run after each shutoff, that confirms pressure actually drops — proving the pump really turned off. |
GPM | Gallons per minute — the flow rate of water moving through the system. |
8. Getting help
Reach out to Lumo Support — email [email protected], or call or text us at 1-888-586-6828. Include the farm name, the time the incident fired, and a copy of the notification if you have it. We can pull controller-side logs and walk through it with you.
The short version: run in Auto, trust the safety checks to catch trouble, and if the pump shuts down on its own — investigate the field, resolve the incident, and switch back to Auto. The system is built so you don't have to babysit the pump.