Water treatment in New Albany, Ohio
Municipal water in the village, private wells out on the county roads, and larger houses that need a system sized to them.
The village is on city water. The county roads are not.
New Albany straddles a county line, and that line matters more for water than it does for anything else. The developed village and its neighborhoods are on municipal water, hard in the usual Central Ohio way. Head east and northeast, out onto the larger parcels and the Licking County side, and private wells become common.
Those are two different jobs. On city water we are talking about hardness and sizing. On a well we are talking about whatever your particular well produces, which can include iron, sediment or a sulfur odor along with the hardness, and which has to be treated in the right order to work. Our well water page covers that side.
If you are unsure which you are on, look for a pressure tank in the utility room. City homes do not have one.
A large house is not just a bigger version of a small one
New Albany has a lot of substantial homes: several full baths, a primary suite with a large shower, a second laundry, sometimes a pool house or a guest wing. The thing that catches an undersized softener out is not total daily use. It is simultaneous use, four in the morning at once on a school day.
This is the strongest practical argument for the twin tank design. A single tank softener has to take itself out of service to regenerate, and it usually does that in the small hours. A Kinetico twin tank keeps one side in service at all times, so the household never draws untreated water without knowing it.
It also regenerates on measured water volume rather than on a clock, which is the right behavior in a house whose demand varies a great deal between a quiet week and a full one. See our softener range.
If you are on a well, we test before we recommend
Nothing gets quoted on a well until we have seen the sample.
Iron first
Orange staining in the toilet tank, on the tub, or on concrete where a sprinkler reaches. Iron needs its own stage, ahead of the softener, rather than being pushed onto the softener to deal with.
Sediment next
Fine grit shortens the life of everything downstream. On a well property it comes out at the front of the system so the rest of the equipment is not fighting it.
Then hardness
The softener is normally the last whole-house stage. On a well it is one part of a system rather than the whole of it. Options are on our specialty treatment page.
Well chemistry can shift with the seasons and with a wet spring, so we recommend a re-test once a year for well customers and we build the reminder into the service schedule.
Drinking water at the sink, and at the fridge
A softener treats the whole house and changes how water behaves. It is not what changes how water tastes. That job belongs to a K5 drinking water station, which installs under the kitchen sink with its own faucet and can also be plumbed to feed the refrigerator's water and ice.
In houses with a butler's pantry or a second prep sink, we will talk through which location makes the most sense before anything is drilled. It is a short conversation and it saves a lot of second guessing later.
Free water test in New Albany
City water or well water, we test at your sink and show you what is in it. About twenty minutes. Call (614) 555-0100.