Water softener installation on a Richfield well
In Richfield, installation day is also the day your water gets measured. With no utility figure to lean on, the test at your kitchen tap, made before a single pipe is joined, is the starting number for your house.
Call (262) 829-5961Mon to Fri, 7am to 5pmThe test that opens the day
Before the plumber disconnects or connects anything, the water at your tap is tested. In a village with no published hardness, that reading, along with any lab report you have, is the measure of your well.
At the end of the job your tap gets a second test, and that reading needs to come back at zero hardness.
What the plumber does, in order
Out comes any softener the house already has. In goes the new softener near the water line, with the brine tank that feeds it, followed by the bypass and a drain line whose end sits over the drain, separated from it by an air gap.
The RO drinking tap is added beside the kitchen sink, and the final reading follows.
Where it sits in a house on a well
A softener goes where the water line from the well comes indoors, and it wants a drain and an outlet close by, be it basement, garage or utility room.
On the call, describe where that line enters and what sits beside it now; that saves anyone a trip to look.
Why the work needs a license
Wisconsin's chapter 145 counts a softener's drain connection, air gap included, as plumbing. That is why the installation goes to a plumbing contractor licensed under Wisconsin law; we handle the sizing for your well, the equipment and the scheduling.
Why the first reading carries more weight on a well
On city water, a published figure gives everyone a rough idea before the plumber arrives. In Richfield, unless you have a lab report, that first test at your tap is the only hardness figure on the table.
Common questions
Is a lab report required before the install?
No. If you have one, the call uses it. Either way your tap gets its hardness test before anything is connected.
Will the plumber test for bacteria?
No. That is a job for a Wisconsin state-certified lab, and bacteria and nitrate are outside a softener's design anyway.
Is the RO tap put in at the same time?
Yes. Same day, same visit, at the kitchen sink, before the final hardness reading.
Does a house on a well need anything different on install day?
The steps are the ones above. What differs is the starting number: in Richfield it comes from your well, by lab report or by the test at your tap, never from a utility.