Test first: a Mequon well owner's order of operations
In a Mequon house on a private well, nobody has published your hardness, and nobody will. The number comes from a test, and a little order in how you test makes the softener decision simpler.
Call (262) 829-5961Mon to Fri, 7am to 5pmWhy the softener question starts with a test
The Mequon Water Utility's 8 grains belongs to its purchased lake water. A well pulls Ozaukee County groundwater from carbonate rock, and what it carries can change from one property to the next.
So the first number in any softener decision for a well house is that well's own.
What to ask a lab for
For the softener question, two results matter: total hardness and iron. Ask for both, and keep note of the unit each one comes back in.
Bacteria and nitrate are separate tests with a separate purpose. The Wisconsin DNR asks private well owners to have bacteria checked every year, and that advice holds whether or not you ever soften.
What a softener does with those results, and what it ignores
Hardness is the softener's whole job. Calcium and magnesium go into the resin and sodium goes into the water, or potassium if potassium chloride fills the brine tank. The hardness result is what it gets sized and set from.
Bacteria and nitrate sit outside a softener's design altogether. Iron is a number to read out on the call as well, and the call is where you hear plainly what the quote covers.
If you have no lab sheet yet
You can still get a quote. Tell the call it is a well house, and hardness gets measured at the tap before anything is connected.
The bacteria test stays yours to schedule with a lab. A softener visit does not stand in for it.
Keep the sheet, and keep the calendar
A lab sheet earns its keep twice: on the quote call, and later, when a new result can be laid beside the old one. File it with its sample date where you will find it.
Once the softener is connected, the tap gets tested again and again until it shows no hardness. Your yearly bacteria test carries on exactly as before; a softener changes nothing about that calendar.
Common questions
Should I test before or after getting a quote?
Either order works for the quote. Recent results can be read out on the call; without them, the plumber's test covers hardness, and the bacteria test keeps its own yearly schedule.
Can the plumber's test stand in for a lab?
On install day it supplies the hardness the softener is set from. It is no lab test for bacteria or nitrate, and the yearly bacteria check still stands.
Is one hardness test enough?
For the softener, the test before the work and the retest after it are what count. Bacteria is the test the DNR wants repeated every year.
More for Mequon homes
- Water softener installation in Mequon, WI
- Water softener replacement in Mequon, WI
- Well water softeners in Mequon, WI
- Mequon, WI water hardness
- Mequon water guides
- Who runs Mequon Water Softener Co., and what it does
- Water softener quotes in Mequon, WI
- Mequon Water Utility customer, or well owner? How to know
- When a Mequon listing says private well: the questions to ask
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