Your Delafield well's lab report, line by line
Most Delafield homes are on private wells, and nobody samples those but their owners. A lab report before the softener call gives the quote a real number, and it tells you about the things a softener was never built to handle.
Call (262) 829-5961Mon to Fri, 7am to 5pmWhat to ask the lab for
For a softener, the line that matters is hardness. Ask for iron as well: the city's own shallow well has read iron just above 0.3 milligrams per liter, the EPA's secondary level where staining starts to show, so it is a fair thing to check on a well here.
Ask the lab how the sample should be taken, and follow its instructions to the letter. A test result is only as useful as the sample behind it.
Bacteria and nitrate, on their own schedule
For the many Delafield households on private wells, the Wisconsin DNR's advice is a yearly bacteria test, as a minimum, and nitrate is often tested alongside it. Neither is something a softener is designed to treat, so those results do not change the softener quote; they matter to the household in their own right.
Reading hardness off the report
Labs often report hardness in milligrams per liter, and dividing by 17.1 converts it to grains per gallon. For comparison, the city's two wells read 240 and 400 milligrams per liter on the same day, 14.0 and 23.4 grains, both very hard on the USGS scale.
Your own well may land near those, between them or well outside them. Two city wells a few thousand feet apart disagreed by nine grains, so no Delafield number but your own is worth sizing from.
When to test
Before choosing a softener, so the quote starts from a real figure. When buying a house on a well, which in Delafield describes most homes, since the seller's report may be old. Before replacing an old softener, because the water may have moved since it was set up. And for bacteria, every year.
Keep each report with its date once it arrives. The next test means more when there is an earlier one to set it beside, and on a private well nobody else is keeping that file.
Bringing the report to the call
Read us the hardness figure, the iron figure and the date of the sample. With the household size and where the well line enters, that is the quote. No report yet holds nothing up: the plumber reads hardness at your tap on installation day before connecting anything.
Common questions
Is a report from a few years ago good enough?
For the quote it is a reasonable start, so read us its date. For bacteria, the DNR's advice is yearly. For hardness, the plumber's reading on installation day is current by definition.
Will the plumbing contractor check for bacteria on installation day?
No. Installation-day readings are hardness readings. Bacteria and nitrate are lab tests, and they are separate from the softener.
More for Delafield homes
- Water softener installation in Delafield, WI
- Water softener replacement in Delafield, WI
- Well water softeners in Delafield, WI
- Delafield, WI water hardness
- Delafield water guides
- About Delafield Water Softener Co.
- Water softener quotes in Delafield, WI
- Delafield waterworks or a private well: which is yours?
- What changed in Delafield's shallow city well, 2008 to 2026
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