Replacing a softener in Delafield, starting from a fresh reading
The city's shallow well has changed a great deal since 2008, which is reason enough to think a private well can drift too. When a softener in Delafield is replaced, the new one is dialed in from a fresh reading, not from whatever the old one was told years ago.
Call (262) 829-5961Mon to Fri, 7am to 5pmA fresh number before the new unit
Chloride in the city's 220-foot well read 6.4 mg/L in 2008 and 89 in 2026, with sodium climbing alongside. That is a different measurement from hardness, but it shows how far one well's water can move between samples.
So the plumber reads your water at the tap before the new softener is set, and the setting comes from that reading.
The swap, piece by piece
Old softener and brine tank out. New softener and brine tank in, where the supply line reaches the house. Bypass connected. Drain line given its air gap over a drain. Reverse-osmosis faucet fitted by the kitchen sink.
Last, the plumber keeps testing your tap until zero hardness shows up.
City waterworks homes
If your home is on the city system, the DNR's same-day samples, 14.0 grains at the deep well and 23.4 at the shallow one, show the range your old softener has been facing. The new one is still set from your tap.
If the old softener came with the house
A softener that came with the house was set by someone else, for a reading you never saw. On a private well, that is one more reason the replacement starts from a test at your own tap.
Bring your well's lab results
Keep them handy for the call. Hardness sets the size, and anything about iron is worth mentioning too, since the city's shallow well has run above the staining level.
Common questions
Can the new softener reuse the old one's settings?
It is set from a new reading at your tap instead. In Delafield, where two city wells sampled on the same day were nine grains apart, an old setting is not something to trust blindly.
Does the plumber take the old softener out?
Yes. It is disconnected and removed on install day before anything new goes in.
What does the replacement call need from me?
Call Monday to Friday, 7am until 5pm. Say whether you are on the city waterworks or a well, the number of people in the household, and where the old unit and the supply line are.