Cedarburg water softeners, sized to the utility's own 21 to 24 grains
Cedarburg Light and Water answers the hardness question itself: 21 to 24 grains, posted on its own website, with a plain statement that the public supply is not softened. For a house on city water, that settles what the softener is up against. What is left to work out is your house.
Call (262) 599-6261Mon to Fri, 7am to 5pm
What is included
- Whole-house softening, brine tank included, sized to Cedarburg's published 21 to 24 grains or to a Town well's lab report
- Reverse osmosis at its own drinking faucet by the kitchen sink, which comes with each softener and cannot be bought separately
- Installation by a plumbing contractor carrying a Wisconsin license
- Your water tested first, and the plumber keeps retesting at your tap until hardness comes back at zero
- A single figure on the phone, and no one knocking to sell
- Quote calls Monday through Friday, between 7am and 5pm
Cedarburg water hardness
Source: Cedarburg Light and Water, published water hardness page
What Cedarburg Light and Water says about its own water
The utility draws from deep groundwater wells and describes the water as high in minerals. It puts the hardness at approximately 21 to 24 grains per gallon and states outright that it does not soften the public supply.
Nothing about that needs interpreting. A house on a city connection gets water in that range, unsoftened, every day of the year.
Twice the line where very hard begins
The USGS scale calls water very hard above 180 milligrams per liter, which works out to 10.5 grains per gallon. The low end of Cedarburg's range, 21 grains, is exactly double that line, and the upper end sits higher still.
Water in that category is what leaves cloudy film on drinking glasses and spotting on chrome, and it lays down scale inside water heaters. Cedarburg's city water sits well inside the hardest category the USGS uses.
City water, or your own well out in the Town of Cedarburg?
The City of Cedarburg is home to about 13,005 people, and the Town of Cedarburg next to it adds about 6,176. The published 21 to 24 grains covers homes on the utility's water. It tells you nothing about a Town of Cedarburg house drawing from its own well, which has no published figure at all.
So the first thing to settle on the call is which of the two you have. On a well, keep your lab numbers handy, or the plumber measures your water before the work begins.
Older houses: find the shutoff and the water heater
Much of Cedarburg's housing is older. The softener goes where the main line enters, close to a drain, with an outlet for power, so it helps to know where your main shutoff and your water heater are before you call.
If a softener from years past is already down there, mention where it sits. The plumber disconnects it and gets it out of the way on installation day.
How a Cedarburg quote goes
Quote calls run Monday through Friday, between 7am and 5pm. With the city figure already published, most of the call is about the household: how many live there, where the line comes in, and what stands next to it now.
You hear a single figure before the call ends. Nobody stops by afterward with a sales pitch.
Common questions
Does Cedarburg soften the water before it reaches my house?
No. Cedarburg Light and Water says plainly that the public supply is not softened, and it publishes the hardness as roughly 21 to 24 grains.
What hardness figure goes into the quote for a city house?
The utility's own range, 21 to 24 grains. On installation day the water is measured in your house before any connection is made, and the plumber keeps rechecking the kitchen tap after the work until it shows zero.
Does the 21 to 24 apply out in the Town of Cedarburg?
Only if the house is on the utility's water. On your own well, the city range does not describe what comes out of your tap. Have any lab numbers ready for the call, or the plumber measures it before the work.
Who does the plumbing at my house?
A plumbing contractor carrying a Wisconsin license. The softener's discharge line finishes over a drain, separated from it by an air gap, and Wisconsin's plumbing law, chapter 145 of the statutes, counts that as plumbing. Picking the size, furnishing the equipment and booking that contractor are our part.