Installing a softener in a Brookfield home
Before any plumbing starts in a Brookfield house, the plumber tests water whose hardness is already published: 23 to 34 grains by the city utility, or 32 to 35 by the Town’s sanitary district. Everything after that first test is plumbing work, which is why a licensed contractor does it.
Call (262) 829-5961Mon to Fri, 7am to 5pmCity water or district water, the steps are the same
Whether your house is on the city utility or on Sanitary District No. 4, install day runs the same way. What differs is the number the plumber is testing against: 23 to 34 grains in the city, 32 to 35 in the Town.
Either way it is very hard water, so the test at the start and the tests at the end are the readings that matter.
Where it goes: the place your water service enters
A softener stands where the water service comes into the house, which means the basement, the garage or a utility room, with a drain and a power outlet close by.
Mention on the call where your water service comes in. If an old softener is already standing beside it, say that too. The job gets planned from that, with no visit beforehand.
The order of work on install day
The plumber’s first task is a hardness test, with nothing connected yet. An existing softener, if there is one, is disconnected and taken out next.
Then the softener and its brine tank go into position, the bypass valve is plumbed in, and the drain line is led to a drain with an open air gap between the two. In the kitchen, the reverse-osmosis faucet for drinking water is mounted at the sink.
The last task is testing again at your tap, as many times as it takes, until hardness reads zero.
Why Wisconsin wants a licensed plumber on this job
That air gap is where the softener meets your drain, and Wisconsin’s plumbing statute, Wis. Stat. ch. 145, treats the connection as plumbing. So the installation belongs to a state-licensed plumbing contractor.
Our part comes before the plumber arrives: we work out the size from Brookfield’s number and your household, provide the equipment, and book the date with the contractor.
Common questions
Who does the installation in Brookfield?
A state-licensed plumbing contractor does the plumbing itself. Brookfield Softener Co. sizes the system, supplies it and arranges the installation.
What should I have ready before the call?
Your address, so we know whether the city’s figure or the Town district’s figure applies. Also the head count in your household, where the water service enters, and where any old softener stands.
Is the drinking-water faucet a separate appointment?
No. It is mounted at the kitchen sink during the same visit as the softener.
How do I know the softener is working when the plumber leaves?
The last thing the plumber does is test at your tap, repeating it until hardness reads zero.