If you’re on a private well in Campton Hills, Wasco, or anywhere in rural Kane County, you’ve probably noticed your water tastes different than what your friends in town drink. Some of that’s harmless. Some of it isn’t. Here’s what’s actually in your water, what to test for, and when it’s worth doing something about it.
Hardness is universal, and it’s killing your water heater
Most wells in our area come back at 25+ grains per gallon of hardness. That’s calcium and magnesium dissolved in the water, and it does two things you’ll feel: it spots your glassware, and it bakes scale onto the bottom of your water heater tank, cutting its useful life by about a third.
Radium shows up in the deep wells
The deep aquifers under western Kane County, particularly west of Burlington Road, have measurable radium. It’s a known carcinogen and the EPA has a maximum contaminant level for it. Most homeowners never get tested for it because municipal water utilities do that work for the in-town crowd. Private well owners are on their own.
What to test for, in order
- Hardness (cheap, simple, tells you whether you need a softener)
- Iron and manganese (the orange staining stuff)
- Radium and arsenic (the health stuff, worth doing once, then again every 5 years)
- Coliform bacteria (annual, especially after spring melts)
What this means for your home
If you’ve got an older water heater on hard well water, the conversation is usually about pairing the next install with a softener, not just swapping the tank and hoping for the best. Get the water tested first.
Dean Cribaro, Master Plumber · License #055-045228
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Dean handles the work himself across Kane County.
Owner-operated. Flat pricing. Permits pulled. If you're dealing with a water heater, water filtration, or any of the related plumbing work mentioned above, give us a call.