Anybody use a Berkey water filter?
These are highly regarded and it would seem a great way to extend boondocking time. Can treat stream or lake water in fairly large quantities to drinking-water quality. Only issue is they are fairly l...
Forum Discussion
It's a decent idea, and I looked at doing it myself. Certainly the Berkey filters are good enough to purify raw water, and if several were run in series I would trust them with "suspect" water. Here were my thoughts:
#1 The flow rate is based on ALL filter positions (candles) being populated with extra-cost candles. If you buy a six-candle system and it ships with one candle, then you're only going to get one-sixth of the advertised flow rate.
#2 As said, these will do as good a job as a Doulton ceramic filter in a cartridge. However, I don't even trust a single Doulton, just cuz something could mess up and water find a way to bypass the filter element. So I have three ceramic filters in series, to set my poor mind at ease. To do this with a gravity-fed Berkey you would need several, and that gets VERY costly, as well as bulky.
#3 I carry electricity with me wherever I camp. Why not use an electric pump to turn a six-hour task into two minutes? I bought an extra pump for transfering between water tanks (prior to filtering), and an additional cannister filter, so I can draw suspect water, purify it, and then pump it into my tank where it will be chlorinated and filtered again. Belt and suspenders!
#4 Clean water is readily available in north america--why make it complex? I've never used my water-scavenging system because anywhere I can take my TT potable water is either at hand, or a short drive away.
#1 The flow rate is based on ALL filter positions (candles) being populated with extra-cost candles. If you buy a six-candle system and it ships with one candle, then you're only going to get one-sixth of the advertised flow rate.
#2 As said, these will do as good a job as a Doulton ceramic filter in a cartridge. However, I don't even trust a single Doulton, just cuz something could mess up and water find a way to bypass the filter element. So I have three ceramic filters in series, to set my poor mind at ease. To do this with a gravity-fed Berkey you would need several, and that gets VERY costly, as well as bulky.
#3 I carry electricity with me wherever I camp. Why not use an electric pump to turn a six-hour task into two minutes? I bought an extra pump for transfering between water tanks (prior to filtering), and an additional cannister filter, so I can draw suspect water, purify it, and then pump it into my tank where it will be chlorinated and filtered again. Belt and suspenders!
#4 Clean water is readily available in north america--why make it complex? I've never used my water-scavenging system because anywhere I can take my TT potable water is either at hand, or a short drive away.
