Softener, sediment filter or drinking water tap: which does what in a Hartford home?
Hartford Utilities pumps five wells into the shallow sand and gravel aquifer the glacier left behind, and the city puts its water at 18 to 22 grains. Homeowners asking what to do about it hear three different devices described as if they were one. They are not, and each answers a different question.
Mon to Fri, 7am to 5pmThe softener: hardness, and only hardness
A softener removes dissolved calcium and magnesium, the hardness the City's chloride guidance asks residents to set their softeners to, 18 to 22 grains on the utility's water. It does that for the whole house, from the main line in, so every shower, the water heater, the dishwasher and the washing machine all get softened water.
It does not strain anything out. Hardness is dissolved, not floating, and a softener works by exchange, not by filtering. If water comes in clear and hard, it goes out clear and soft.
The sediment filter: grit, not minerals
A sediment filter is a cartridge that catches particles: sand, rust flakes, silt stirred up by work on the mains. It protects the appliances downstream, including a softener's valve, from grit. On Hartford's shallow wells the utility's treatment handles most of that before it reaches the mains, so a sediment filter is a modest safeguard rather than a cure for anything.
A sediment filter does nothing to hardness. Water that spots the glasses will spot them just the same after a sediment filter, because the minerals pass straight through the cartridge in solution.
The drinking water tap: one faucet, treated further
A reverse osmosis system under the kitchen sink is a separate, point of use device with its own small faucet beside the main one. It treats the water you drink and cook with, not the water in the shower or the water heater.
An RO tap is usually installed with a softener ahead of it. One is for the whole house; the other is for the glass. Neither one stands in for the other.
Which one a Hartford home needs
On city water at 18 to 22 grains, the softener is the device that changes daily life: the water heater, the fixtures, the laundry and the dishes. A sediment filter is optional insurance. A drinking water tap is a choice about what you want in the glass, and many households want both the softener and the tap.
On a private well outside the city, the order is different: test first, because a well can carry iron or sediment that needs its own stage ahead of a softener. The quote call sorts out which devices apply to which water before anything is sized.
Common questions
Does a sediment filter soften water?
No. It catches particles. Hardness is dissolved mineral and passes through a sediment filter unchanged. Only a softener removes it.
If I have a reverse osmosis tap, do I still need a softener?
The RO tap treats one faucet. The softener treats the whole house, including the water heater and the shower. Most Hartford households that want both get both.
What setting should a Hartford softener use?
The City's own chloride guidance gives 18 to 22 grains for water from its utility. The plumber confirms the number at your tap on installation day.
More for Hartford homes
- Water softeners in Hartford, WI
- Water softener installation in Hartford, WI
- Water softener replacement in Hartford, WI
- Well water softeners in Hartford, WI
- Hartford, WI water hardness
- Hartford water guides
- The people behind Hartford Water Softener Co.
- Get a quote for your Hartford home
- Hartford's chloride guidance, and what it asks of your softener
- Where Hartford's water hardness is published, since the annual report leaves it out
- Inherited a softener with your Hartford house? What to check first
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