Does your Richfield well need a softener?
In a town with a utility, the answer usually starts with the utility's report. In Richfield it starts with your own well, and the honest answer can be yes or no, depending on what the test shows.
Call (262) 829-5961Mon to Fri, 7am to 5pmStart from a number, not a hunch
Spots on glassware and a film on the shower door are what hard water leaves behind, and hard water builds scale inside water heaters. Those signs are a reason to test, not a measurement.
The decision rests on a hardness figure: either a lab result or the reading taken at your tap. Without one, any answer about a softener is a guess.
Reading the scale as a decision
Up to 60 milligrams per liter, the USGS calls water soft, and there is little hardness for a softener to trade away. Between 61 and 120 it is moderately hard, a range where some households choose to soften and others are content without.
From 121 to 180 the scale says hard, and above 180, about 10.5 grains, very hard. In those two bands, spots, film and water heater scale are what to expect from the water as it comes out of the ground, and the softener question is a real one.
Since nobody publishes a Richfield figure, the only number to place on this scale is your own well's, and a neighbor's result does not tell you which band yours falls in.
When the answer is no
If your well tests soft, a whole-home softener is not what the number calls for, and on the call we will tell you so. The reverse-osmosis drinking tap is supplied only with a whole-home softener, never on its own, so there is no smaller package to steer you toward instead.
When the answer is yes
If the figure lands in the hard or very hard range, the softener is sized from it and from the number of people in the house. Read us the figure and the report's date on the call, and the price comes then.
On installation day the plumber reads your tap again before connecting anything, then keeps testing after the work until the hardness reads zero.
What the decision leaves out
Softening answers one question: hardness. Bacteria and nitrate are separate matters, and the Wisconsin DNR recommends a bacteria test on a private well every year, whatever you decide about a softener. If iron shows up on your report, mention it on the call next to the hardness.
Common questions
Is moderately hard water worth softening?
That is the household's call. Some people mind the spots and film at that level and some barely notice them. On the call we can go through your number, and if a softener is not worth it for you, we will say so.
Can I decide from the water heater or the shower glass alone?
They are clues, not a figure. A lab report or the reading at your tap gives the number the decision needs.
More for Richfield homes
- Water softener installation in Richfield, WI
- Water softener replacement in Richfield, WI
- Well water softeners in Richfield, WI
- Richfield, WI water hardness
- Richfield water guides
- About Richfield Water Softener Co.
- Water softener quotes in Richfield, WI
- What Richfield's groundwater program means for your well
- Buying a house in Richfield: the well and the softener
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