Why does Hartland water spot the glasses and crust the fixtures?
The Village of Hartland draws five drilled wells from the shallow sand and gravel aquifer and calls its own water very hard, approximately 23 grains per gallon, in its Consumer Confidence Report. A Hartland kitchen shows what that means every time the dishwasher finishes a cycle.
Mon to Fri, 7am to 5pmA ring where a drop used to be
Every drop of Hartland water carries dissolved calcium and magnesium. When the drop evaporates, the water goes and the minerals do not, so what is left is a tiny white ring. A rinse cycle leaves hundreds of those rings on each glass, which is why glassware from a hard water dishwasher looks hazy even when it is clean.
The same thing happens on a chrome faucet after the last splash of the day dries, and inside the dishwasher on the heating element, where the deposit grows into a grey shell over the months.
The phosphate the Village adds, and what it is for
Hartland's report notes that a phosphate solution is added at each well station to coat the inside of the pipes. That treatment protects the mains and the house plumbing from corrosion; it is not a softening step, and the hardness arrives at the tap unchanged. The spots on the glassware are not a sign that anything at the utility is wrong. They are simply what approximately 23 grains looks like when it dries.
Shower doors and the film that will not rinse
Soap and hardness do not get along. The calcium in the water combines with soap to make a sticky curd that sticks to glass, tile and the shower curtain and does not rinse off. On a Hartland shower door that curd is most of the cloudy film, with plain mineral scale under it. Cleaners dissolve it; the next week's showers put it back.
On softened water, the curd never forms, because the calcium that soap reacts with is no longer in the water.
What a softener changes, and the one thing it does not
A softener at the main line exchanges the calcium and magnesium for sodium, so the water that dries on a glass or a faucet carries very little to leave behind. Deposits that are already there stay until they are cleaned once; after that they stop coming back. The plumber sets the unit to the Village's published figure and confirms it with a reading at the tap on installation day.
Softening does not change what is in a glass of drinking water beyond the hardness. Households that want a separate drinking supply at the kitchen sink use a reverse osmosis tap for that, a different device with its own faucet.
Common questions
Is the haze on my glasses from the dishwasher or from the water?
From the water. Hartland's roughly 23 grains dries on the glass as mineral. The dishwasher only dries more drops faster. Softened water dries clear.
Does the phosphate the Village adds soften the water?
No. It coats the inside of the pipes to protect them. The hardness the Village reports reaches the tap as published.
Will my fixtures look new again once a softener is in?
Existing scale needs one cleaning with vinegar or a descaler. After that, with softened water, the deposits stop returning.
More for Hartland homes
- Water softeners in Hartland, WI
- Water softener installation in Hartland, WI
- Water softener replacement in Hartland, WI
- Well water softeners in Hartland, WI
- Hartland, WI water hardness
- Guides to Hartland water
- The people behind Hartland Water Softener Co.
- Get a quote for your Hartland home
- Reading Hartland's Consumer Confidence Report for the hardness
- Hartland's water, from five shallow wells to your main line
- Moving to Hartland or the Town of Merton: the water checks to make
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