Does a Waukesha home on lake water still need a softener?
Not every one does. At about 8 grains, city water is still hard on the USGS scale, but it is a long way from the roughly 21 grains the old wells delivered, and for many city homes the softener already in the basement can stay where it is.
Call (262) 333-5451Mon to Fri, 7am to 5pmWhat water at about 8 grains means
Eight grains converts to a figure in the USGS hard band, 121 to 180 milligrams per liter, below the very hard class the city's old water sat in. Water in that band still spots glassware, still films fixtures, and still builds scale inside a water heater.
At about 8 grains that keeps happening, only more slowly than it did at 21. So the honest summary is that Waukesha's water got much easier to live with, without becoming soft.
When to keep the softener you have
If your softener runs and the household likes the water, keeping it is a reasonable answer. On the Waukesha sewer, the City's program calls for it to be optimized by a company on the approved list, which matters all the more if it was set for the old 21 grain water.
That visit is not one we make or charge for, but it may be all your house needs.
When going without is fair
Some households decide that water at about 8 grains is fine for them, especially if nobody minds a few spots on the glassware. That is a legitimate choice, and nothing on this site tries to argue you out of it.
If you land there and an old unit is still in the basement, the City is the one to ask how its program treats a softener you stop using. A removal by itself is not something we quote.
Who a new softener still suits
Homes on private wells in the Village of Waukesha and the Town of Genesee, which never got lake water, are the clearest case. So are city households whose old unit has stopped keeping up and who want softened water, provided the optimizer rule that covers a new softener on the Waukesha sewer can be met for the brand involved, which the call settles first.
If you call to talk it through
Say which you have, the city supply or a private well, whether a softener is already running, and where the house drains if you know. The answer may be a price, or it may be advice to keep what you have; either is a normal way for the call to end.
Common questions
Is 8 grains soft enough to skip a softener?
By the USGS scale it is still hard, so the label alone does not settle it. Whether that is worth softening depends on what your household notices and wants.
If I keep my old softener, is there anything to do?
On the Waukesha sewer system, yes. The City's program calls for any softener in use to be optimized by an optimizer from the City's approved list.
Does any of this apply to a home on a well?
Partly. The lake water never reached private wells outside the city, so the hardness question there is the same as it was before October 2023. The City's softener salt program is another matter: any softener draining to the Waukesha sewer system falls under it, well homes included.
More for Waukesha homes
- Water softener installation in Waukesha, WI
- Water softener replacement in Waukesha, WI
- Well water softeners in Waukesha, WI
- Waukesha, WI water hardness
- Waukesha water and softener guides
- About Waukesha Water Softener Co.
- Water softener quotes in Waukesha, WI
- Softener optimization in Waukesha: what the salt program asks
- What changed at Waukesha taps when the lake water arrived
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