Anybody use a Berkey water filter?

[roamermatt]

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 large and meant to sit on a countertop, so it could take up valuable space.

http://www.bigberkeywaterfilters.com/berkey-water-filters/berkey-filter-systems.html

[Moose10]

roamermatt wrote:
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 large and meant to sit on a countertop, so it could take up valuable space.

http://www.bigberkeywaterfilters.com/berkey-water-filters/berkey-filter-systems.html

A friend has a Big Berkey at their remote cabin, and I've been drinking lake water out of it since 2002 and it comes out crystal clear and tastes completely fine. Quite an amazing but simple piece of equipment, so I think I might buy one for myslef, but probably a smaller one.

[pnichols]

zman-az wrote:
If you "really" want clean water RO is the only way to go.

Not necessarily. RO filters need to have the backside (incoming) side of them somehow dealt with to continuously get rid of, or kill, any virus and/or bacteria that may build up and live there on that incoming side of the filter.

We have lived off a spring/well combination in our stick house for 37 years by:

- Weekly chlorinating the main 5000 gallon tank down at the spring/well site to kill the living nasty stuff.

- Up at the house using a bank of parallel 0.5 micron solid core sediment filters to further remove any particulates that natural settling in the main tank doesn't remove.

- After that up at the house, as the final filtering step, using a carbon stack to eliminate the chlorine and any odors from the now safe and clear spring/well water.

We can't use RO at the house because a whole-house RO system would be too expensive and a kitchen-only RO system would be contaminated soon due to no chlorine in the water coming into it to kill any virus/bacteria that might reside on the incoming side of it.

RO filters have their place - but are not a be-all end-all way to treat water in every situation. As I understand it, evaporative distilling of water pretty much makes it pristine ... if you don't need or want any minerals left in it.

[zman-az]

The website is very misleading. It lists things in % or below lab detectable limits. If you have crappy lab equipment I bet it would past tests. I like the test for Arsenic, it removes 99%. Why not put your specs to show PPB like the Fed gov recommends for drinking water. Like millions of other people I grew up drinkkng tap water. Many of us are still alive today. Granted there are area's with bad water and it does need to be treated, but if your going to treat it treat it right. If you "really" want clean water RO is the only way to go.

[Mello_Mike]

greenrvgreen wrote:
The Red Dye test is a demonstration by makers of carbon-cake filters to show their product in a more favorable light. Ceramic filters that exclude pathogens will still pass red dye (and salt). Your water is safe to drink, but red.

The black filters employ activated charcoal which will trap the red dye. However, water eventually forms paths around the charcoal and pathogens end up in your drinking water. This is why these filters are not approved for water purification, no matter how many times the NSF standards are met by private testing firms. It's not that they don't finely filter the water, it's that the filter is not a reliable barrier over time.

Ah, okay. Thanks.

[greenrvgreen]

The Red Dye test is a demonstration by makers of carbon-cake filters to show their product in a more favorable light. Ceramic filters that exclude pathogens will still pass red dye (and salt). Your water is safe to drink, but red.

The black filters employ activated charcoal which will trap the red dye. However, water eventually forms paths around the charcoal and pathogens end up in your drinking water. This is why these filters are not approved for water purification, no matter how many times the NSF standards are met by private testing firms. It's not that they don't finely filter the water, it's that the filter is not a reliable barrier over time.

[Mello_Mike]

bobtammy1998 wrote:
We have had a big berkey for 6 months. Water tasted great. Recently in Yuma, we were getting a salty taste from the municipal water AFTER filtering. Wife said she was experiencing bloating. Contacted Berkey and they said to perform the red dye test. Water was red especially from one of the two filters. berkey told us to send the filters back and they would replace them for $25. Told us that the Berkey does not filter salt from water. Thought that was strange because it is city water.
So filters are on the way to Berkey after very extensive protocol. Will see what happens when they ship us new filters.

What is the red dye test? Never heard of it. What does it prove?

[bobtammy1998]

We have had a big berkey for 6 months. Water tasted great. Recently in Yuma, we were getting a salty taste from the municipal water AFTER filtering. Wife said she was experiencing bloating. Contacted Berkey and they said to perform the red dye test. Water was red especially from one of the two filters. berkey told us to send the filters back and they would replace them for $25. Told us that the Berkey does not filter salt from water. Thought that was strange because it is city water.
So filters are on the way to Berkey after very extensive protocol. Will see what happens when they ship us new filters.

[Mello_Mike]

Yes, I use Doulton/Berkey water purifiers every day. I have the larger SS-2 that we use in our home for daily use while I use the Mini's in our truck camper for water purification while we're on the road. They work really well and I highly recommend them.

[BoonHauler]

roamermatt wrote:
To clarify, Berkey filters are classified as "purifiers" because they remove 99.999% of pathogens and viruses. They do not merely make the water taste better.

http://www.berkeyfilters.com/berkey-answers/performance/filtration-specifications/

They also work without electricity or pressure. They work solely by gravity. And for the volume of water they can produce (~3 gallons/hour for a small model) they take up very little space.

All this is why I consider them useful for boondocking. I'm merely wondering if anyone uses them this way, where you place it in your RV, how you refill it with water, whether there are any unique maintenance issues, etc.

Dave: Thanks for reporting your experience at home with a Berkey. Confirms what I've heard from others.

Greenrv: Thanks for your report. If you are not using a Berkey filter, what filter are you using? By "candles" I presume you mean filter elements. How are these arranged in your system? Is it home-built or off-the-shelf?

The reason I am considering such a system is I will be traveling in a truck camper that has only a 30-gallon water tank. I may want to stay longer in one place than one tankful can serve.

Roamermatt:

Purchasing a countertop system like a Berkey is a very sound investment and you're right it is a water purifier, pond water, whatever.

To me there's only a few decisons to make, what brand filters to use and how many filters to use.

As I stated I'm using the Black Berkey elements with the PF-2's and run two but could run four total. As long a I keep the filters clean the flow rates are more than fine for the Big Berkey size.

I'm also looking at an under counter model as well but for the time being my Berkey is the only source of water that I consume whether it be tap, pond, whatever.

[Spleenstomper]

I have a royal berkey with two black filters and two white filters. I love it and use it everyday because our tap water has a taste to it plus fluoride and whatever else. The water is delicious-- like gourmet water.

[roamermatt]

Thanks BoonHauler. Do you have the Berkey in your RV? Do you put water "from nature" through it (i.e. ponds, streams)? If so, what kind of volume, how you do you get water into the filter, and how long do the filter elements last?

[greenrvgreen]

BoonHauler--

Since you've been using a Berkey, could you describe the process flow, how long it takes and how much water you get? Thanks!

Regarding drinking pond water, I know that's how these units are used in Africa . . . but really. Pond water?

[BoonHauler]

I have a Big Berkey and love it. I use the Black filter elements, not the ceramic as they provide stronger filtering capabilities. I would not think twice about running pond water through my Berkey. I also have the secondary 'Flouride' filters as well.

Next time I buy filters I'm going to switch to the Propur filters as they are all in one filters and drop the secondary filtration.

[greenrvgreen]

Oops, I left out the most inportant step, between #2 and #3: My portable water filter setup.

If you've gone to rvwaterfilterstore, you've seen the filter cannisters. I have two of these bolted together at the heads with a short piece of 1x3 maple, and a carry handle attached to that. Normally this unit is in my TT hooked to my outside water inlet, which then has a short length of white hose. Normaly when I fill water at my inlet, it goes through these filters and then into the gravity-fed inlet I've got near my sink. This means that every drop of water coming into the RV goes through this double filter.

This unit is portable so that I can take it in the jeep with me to the water faucet (or water source), where it gets inserted before the jerry cans, and after the pump, if I'm using one. This is how every drop of water gets filtered, even if I truck it in.

About water sources:

I sure wouldn't use any water from a standing lake that has a trail near it, nor ANY water source that has a road to it, no matter how many times I'd filtered it. Humans have already schatt there, and now you want to drink it? No thanks!

What's left? Water out of a faucet, even if I have to drive an hour to get it.