Reading the Village of Sussex hardness figure: from 300 mg/L to grains
The Village of Sussex states its hardness in milligrams per liter, the unit the USGS scale uses. A softener is set in grains per gallon. One division turns the first into the second, and it is worth knowing whenever you set a lab report next to the Village's figure.
Call (262) 829-5961Mon to Fri, 7am to 5pmThe line in the Village's report
Look for total hardness. The Village of Sussex water utility's published water quality report gives it as 300 milligrams per liter, as calcium carbonate.
The calcium carbonate part describes how the figure is expressed. For a softener, what matters is the number and its unit: 300, in milligrams per liter.
One division by 17.1
To get grains per gallon, take the milligrams figure and divide it by 17.1. For Sussex, 300 divided by 17.1 is 17.5, the number a softener on Village water is set around. Run it backward to check a grains figure: 17.5 times 17.1 lands back near 300.
The same division explains where Sussex sits on the USGS scale. Very hard begins once water passes 180 milligrams per liter, the same as 10.5 grains, and 17.5 is well past it.
Setting a well report beside the Village's figure
A lab report for a private well may give hardness in either unit. If yours is in milligrams per liter, compare it straight with the Village's 300; if it is in grains, compare it with 17.5.
Higher or lower tells you how your well stands next to the Village supply, and that is all it tells you. A softener on a well is sized from that well's own number, never the Village's.
Check the unit before you compare
A figure already in grains, whether on a lab report or a softener's control head, can sit beside 17.5 as it is. The mistake to avoid is mixing the two up: read as grains, 300 would be absurd, and read as milligrams, 17.5 would describe soft water.
When a report does not make the unit obvious, read it to us as printed and the call sorts it out.
What to read us on the call
On Village water, nothing: 300 milligrams and 17.5 grains are already known on our end. On a Lisbon well, read the hardness exactly as printed, unit and all, plus the iron line if the report has one, and the conversion happens on the call.
Common questions
Is 17.5 grains an exact reading for my tap?
No. It is the Village's published figure converted to grains. The plumber's first reading on install day is your tap's own number.
Do I need to convert anything before calling?
No. Read the figure as printed, unit included, and it gets converted on the call.
Where is the Village's report?
In the water utility section of the Village of Sussex website, where the utility publishes the water quality report that carries the 300 milligrams per liter.
More for Sussex homes
- Water softener installation in Sussex, WI
- Water softener replacement in Sussex, WI
- Well water softeners in Sussex, WI
- Sussex, WI water hardness
- Guides for Sussex and Lisbon water
- About Sussex Water Softener Co.
- Water softener quotes in Sussex, WI
- Village of Sussex water or a Town of Lisbon well: which reaches your tap?
- Buying a house in Sussex or Lisbon: the water paperwork to ask for
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