Softener, filter or drinking tap: which does a Waukesha County home need?
Waukesha County is three kinds of water in one county: Lake Michigan supply in a few communities, deep and shallow municipal wells in most of the rest, and private wells across the townships. Three devices get offered to all of them as if they were interchangeable. They are not, and the water decides which ones apply.
Mon to Fri, 7am to 5pmThe softener: dissolved hardness, whole house
Calcium and magnesium are dissolved in the water, invisible, and no filter strains them out. A softener removes hardness by exchange, trading sodium for the minerals on a bed of resin and recharging from a brine tank when the resin is full. It goes in where the main line enters the house, so the water heater, the shower, the laundry and the dishwasher all get softened water. On the county's well water that is the device that changes daily life; on lake water the change is gentler but real.
The sediment filter: particles, nothing dissolved
A sediment cartridge catches grit, rust flakes and silt. On a shallow well or after work on the mains it keeps that material out of the softener's valve and the house's fixtures. It does nothing to hardness, because hardness is not a particle. Water that spots the glasses spots them just the same on the far side of a sediment filter.
The drinking water tap: one faucet, treated separately
A reverse osmosis system under the kitchen sink has its own small faucet and treats only the water that comes out of it, for drinking and cooking. It does nothing for the shower or the water heater and it is not a substitute for a softener; the two are usually installed together, softener first.
Matching the device to the water
A lake water community: the softener is a comfort choice more than a necessity, a sediment filter is rarely needed, and the drinking tap is a matter of preference. A municipal well town: the softener is the main event, set to the utility's published figure. A private well: start with a lab report, because iron or sediment may need their own stage before any softener is sized, and the report gives the hardness to set it from. In every case the plumber reads the hardness at your tap on installation day, and that number, not a county average, is what the unit is set to.
Common questions
Can a whole house filter replace a softener?
No. Filters catch particles. Hardness is dissolved and passes through them. Only a softener, working by exchange, takes it out.
Do I need a softener if I have a reverse osmosis tap?
They do different jobs. The RO tap serves one faucet; the softener serves the whole house and is usually installed ahead of the tap.
Which Waukesha County towns are on lake water?
A few, including the City of Waukesha since its switch, with most of the county's municipal systems still on wells and the townships on private wells. The town pages on this site list each one.
More for Waukesha County homes
- Water softeners in Waukesha County, WI
- Water softener installation in Waukesha County, WI
- Water softener replacement in Waukesha County, WI
- Well water softeners in Waukesha County, WI
- Waukesha County, WI water hardness
- Waukesha County water guides
- The people behind Waukesha County Water Softener Co.
- Get a quote for your None home
- Which Waukesha County homes are on Lake Michigan water?
- Reading your Waukesha County water quality report
- Why hardness differs from well to well in Waukesha County
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