Well water in the Town of Cedarburg
Even Cedarburg's city water is well water: the utility pumps deep groundwater wells. A house with its own well out in the Town of Cedarburg is a different case, because nobody publishes that well's number, so your softener starts from your own results.
Call (262) 829-5961Mon to Fri, 7am to 5pmThe city publishes a range; a private well has none
Cedarburg Light and Water publishes one range for its whole system, 21 to 24 grains. That figure describes the utility's deep wells, not anyone's private one.
In the Town of Cedarburg, home to about 6,176 people, a house on its own well has no published figure at all. What counts is the number on your lab report, or the one the plumber measures before the work.
Turning a lab report into grains
If your lab gives hardness in milligrams per liter, 17.1 is the conversion: divide by it and you have grains per gallon, the same unit Cedarburg Light and Water uses.
For scale, the USGS starts calling water very hard past 180 milligrams per liter, which is 10.5 grains. The city's own water runs about twice that.
Limits worth knowing on a private well
Softening trades the calcium and magnesium in your water for sodium. Load the brine tank with potassium chloride instead of salt and the trade is for potassium.
Neither salt nor potassium touches bacteria or nitrate; those sit outside what a softener is built for. Wisconsin's DNR wants every private well checked for bacteria yearly, if not more often.
Some wells carry iron as well as hardness; an iron figure on your report is worth having ready for the call.
Where the softener goes in a Town well house
Same rule as in the city: at the point where the line from your well enters the house, near the drain it will empty into and the outlet it will plug into. The steps on installation day do not change; only the starting number does.
Common questions
Is my Town of Cedarburg well as hard as city water?
Nobody can say without a test. The city's 21 to 24 grains describes the utility's deep wells, not yours. Read us your results, or the plumber measures it before the work.
Do I need a bacteria test before a softener?
A softener does not treat bacteria, so it does not change that question either way. The DNR's advice for private wells is a yearly bacteria test regardless.
Does a well house get a different softener?
It is the same kind of system: softener, brine tank and a reverse-osmosis faucet at the kitchen sink. What differs is the number it is sized from.