Physical system commissioning checklist

Software setup gets your hub online. Commissioning gets your growing system ready — and it is a separate, mandatory step before your first grow. Finishing the Get Started flow means your Verdalio hub can discover sensors and run automations. It does not mean your plumbing is leak-free or your sensors are placed correctly. This checklist closes that gap.

The in-app Start Growing wizard checks whether these commissioning tasks are complete for the selected system before it lets the first recipe run. Do them in order.

Commissioning checklist

1. Run a plain-water leak test (24–48 hours)

Fill the reservoir with plain water only — no nutrients — and run the system for one to two days. Watch every joint, fitting, and seal. It is far cheaper to find a leak now than after you have dosed a full batch of nutrient solution.

2. Verify flow to every channel, tower, or dripper

With the pump running, confirm water actually reaches every growing site. Blocked drippers and airlocked channels are invisible until a plant starves. Walk the whole system.

3. Check pump head-height adequacy

Confirm the pump can lift water to the highest growing site with margin to spare. A pump that is "just barely" reaching the top of a tower today will fail the first time the filter clogs a little.

4. Mark the reservoir full line

Mark the fill level on the reservoir wall. This is your reference for top-offs and for spotting evaporation or a slow leak later.

5. Verify drain paths

Confirm return water actually drains back to the reservoir and cannot overflow. Trace the full loop — feed and return.

6. Calibrate all sensors

Two-point (or three-point) calibrate every pH and EC probe before the first grow, using fresh buffer and standard solutions. See Calibrating pH and EC probes. Uncalibrated probes make the automation confidently wrong.

Why this is authoritative

This is the canonical commissioning checklist that the hardware setup guide and the RPi hub confirmation page link to. Its URL is stable — bookmark it, and expect the app and hub to point here.