Berkey water system

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Re: Berkey water system

Postby tkayinnc » Wed Apr 30, 2014 12:03 pm

Great review Sharon,

I just bought a Go Berkey for the teardrop, of course, I am not anywhere near finishing my camper, but I went ahead and purchased it.

Tk
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Re: Berkey water system

Postby lrrowe » Wed Apr 30, 2014 1:10 pm

We have community water for our home and do not have one of these or similar filters. But we do use filtered water from our refrigerator filter. Has anyone looked into the differences? Maybe this something my wife and I should look into.

And if you have one of these or similar systems, why not bottle it at home and not worry about a smaller system for the TD?
I suppose one reason might be that it could be too much to carry for an extended trip.

Bob
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Re: Berkey water system

Postby S. Heisley » Wed Apr 30, 2014 7:50 pm

lrrowe wrote:We have community water for our home and do not have one of these or similar filters. But we do use filtered water from our refrigerator filter. Has anyone looked into the differences? Maybe this something my wife and I should look into.

And if you have one of these or similar systems, why not bottle it at home and not worry about a smaller system for the TD?
I suppose one reason might be that it could be too much to carry for an extended trip.

Bob


Thanks for your questions, Bob.

I have a water filter on my refrigerator; but, where I live, I can tell the difference in the taste between that and the Berkey water. I simply don't feel safe with the refrigerator's limited filtration system. Berkey water filtration systems are considered among the best in the industry. Their filters are said to remove not only contaminants such as fluoride and arsenic ; but also, 99.999999% of any pathogens that may be in the water. Supposedly, you can even use pond water and it comes out clean. More information can be found here: http://berkeywaterfilterinfo.com/

Yes, one could bottle filtered water and take it along and I have done that in the past and will probably still stow a gallon or so in my car for stops on the drive. Water weighs approximately 9 pounds per gallon; plus, you have to carry the water in something and worry about possible spills, plastic chemical breakdown, etc.

This sort of purchase is very much a personal decision, often based on concern and/or need and may be considered overkill by many. For me, I have specific health concerns that are mandating my being as careful as I can with most everything that I drink and eat. I gave the review because I was asked to give my opinions and also because I could easily compare the three different devices. What anyone does with the information is totally up to each individual.
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Re: Berkey water system

Postby lrrowe » Sun May 04, 2014 6:19 pm

Thanks Sharon,
Sorry for taking so long to post a reply.

I hope I did not send a message that sounded negative. I appreciate inputs such as yours and was only trying to understand more about the process and whether I should be doing that at my home. This still is a topic that I will continue to analyze and for sure take a deeper look into the conformance reports our water company sends out semi-annually or quarterly. I am not sure I remember how often.

bob
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Re: Berkey water system

Postby S. Heisley » Sun May 04, 2014 11:56 pm

I have just returned from my first camping trip with the Go Berkey and the Sport Berkey. I also took about a gallon and a half of water from the Travel Berkey. Except for the 1 & 1/2 gallons of water that I transported, all the water that I drank and most that the dog drank was filtered at the camping site and I came home with about a half gallon of the transported water. I love the Sport Berkey. It performed quite well and was very convenient to carry and use. The Go Berkey still seems a little slow to filter and I continue to find myself wishing it was at least half gallon size. Still, the water was fresh and as pure and good tasting as I could ask for.
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Re: Berkey water system

Postby Shadow Catcher » Mon May 05, 2014 6:28 am

As I think I indicated our bricks and sticks has a two filter system, the first a sediment filter and the second filters drinking water and filters down to .9 microns and takes out most nasties. The ice maker filters are very limited and most just take care of chlorine (nasty in ice). Our ice maker gets the water filtered through our drinking water main filter. This is in a whole house 10" filter housing that works well and is because of its size long lasting.
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Re: Berkey water system

Postby drjenk » Wed Jan 14, 2015 4:12 pm

We bought this one:
http://www.berkeyfilters.com/berkey-wat ... light.html

and use it every day. We used it for the first time camping in November, and just emptied it and took it along. We didn't have to pack bottled water, so it really took no more room than normal. In fact on a longer trip it probably takes less. It worked great and I couldn't recommend it more.
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Re: Berkey water system

Postby S. Heisley » Wed Jan 14, 2015 8:57 pm

drjenk wrote:We bought this one:
http://www.berkeyfilters.com/berkey-wat ... light.html

and use it every day. We used it for the first time camping in November, and just emptied it and took it along. We didn't have to pack bottled water, so it really took no more room than normal. In fact on a longer trip it probably takes less. It worked great and I couldn't recommend it more.


...Where's the "like" button? :lol:
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Re: Berkey water system

Postby GerryS » Wed Jan 14, 2015 8:59 pm

Take a look too at propure....were quite happy with ours.... As a money saver, there are some DIY using just the filters, and putting together with food safe buckets. This seems like a much more affordable option as well :)
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Re: Berkey water system

Postby kludge » Mon Jan 26, 2015 2:25 pm

I know you didn't ask but...

I have spent a lot of time camping and hiking... next year I will have my 25-year veteran award for Boy Scouts, I just finished a 5-1/2 year stint as scoutmaster after having done about every other job in the scout troop and cub pack for all of my adult life. So I've also used "a lot" of water filtering and "purification" methods and I continually educate myself on the best methods; I have to teach it to the new scouts and teach it for Camping and Hiking merit badges.

1. Boiling kills everything - crypto, bacteria, viruses. Actually, lower temperatures will work given enough time but bringing it to a "rolling boil" (a defined temperature) works - no need to boil for "5 minutes" even at high elevation. It just wastes fuel.
2. Chlorine and Iodine treatments have a hard time with Crypto, bacteria- no problem, viruses - so so.
2a. Because of good water treatment plants in the USA, water-bourne viruses aren't a big deal in most of US and Canada.
2b. Chemical contamination is more of an issue (fertilizers and industrial chemicals).
3. A sub micron filter does a pretty good job a getting rid of crypto

... hence for years I used a PUR pump filter (it may have been a Hiker model) to get the cryptosporidium and backed it up with water treatment tablets when in the back woods.

MOST of the filter technology over the past few decades did a good job at crypto and other "big" stuff, but still could allow bacteria. The "ceramic" type filters have a hard time with the smallest bacteria. (Berkey included - Berkey used to advertise a 0.9 micron "absolute" rating but stopped and just goes with a 99.99whatever% rating now instead of advertizing a 0.2whatever micron "nominal" rating like many people do. Also only the Black Berkey with the 99.99whatever% rating is a purifier and relies on the black anti-microbial coating, not filtering, to kill the bacteria -- it might be silver, I don't know.

5. People don't like the taste of chemical treatment and would prefer a filter if possible.
5a. A 50mg vitamin C tablet crushed in iodine treated water removes the bad taste (AFTER treatment).
5b. An activated charcoal filter gets rid of chlorine taste.
6. A ceramic or membrane filter element will be damaged by freezing... in the winter, leave them home and boil your water.

There is a new hollow fiber membrane filter technology available in the last couple years that makes chemical treatment unnecessary. (Originally used for dialysis machines)

7. The Sawyer PointONE filter is one of the filters (there are a few other brands) that use this new type of filter. It filters out ALL types of bacteria, even the really small stuff. It has a 0.1 micron "absolute" rating.
8. For the international traveler and for peace of mind, Sawyer also has Point ZeroTWO which will also mechanically filter VIRUSES and is rated as a water purification system. (0.02 micron absolute rating) They have a kit to make a bucket filter from either PointONE or PointZeroTWO filters.

Now I don't carry chemicals with me anymore. YAY!!!

They have one type for backpacking, one for buckets, faucet adapters, even an 10" inline type.
https://sawyer.com/international/products/

And they last a really really really long time. (They are cleaned by backflushing, so they continue to flow like new.)

They don't do much for the bad taste of the city water (algae taste yes - gets rid of that, chlorine taste no), so on safe tap water I continue to use my Berkey Sport Bottle (which I NEVER rely on for water safety, only for taste) since it makes the nasty city water in and around Indy taste like water instead of a combination of the bottom of a creek and a swimming pool.

I am a water snob I guess you could say, the water here at work is filtered and UV treated, and it still tastes like a creek/pool.

10. Finally, I still like to use a carbon/charcoal filter for chemicals and improving the taste (like the Berkey Sport Bottle, or an inline filter at home).
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Berkey water system

Postby abqlloyd » Tue Feb 03, 2015 3:40 pm

The standard poly 5 gallon water containers work as solar pasteurizers. Fill them with four gallons and let them cook. FEMA recommends you stir it once. Contrary to perception, you don't have to boil water to kill pathogens and make it safe. It only has to reach 160F for a few minutes. At 140F most bacteria and rotoviruses are dead.

A simple water pasteurizer consisting of a 20L clear polycarbonate carboy sitting in a plywood box painted black, glass front, is in use around the globe. FEMA has plans for a Home Depot bucket filter system that takes out the particles and odors. Water is then set in the sun to pasteurize. The whole system is less than $100.

Cooling the water is up to you :)

Personally, the SteriPen kit is one of my favorite gadgets. For one person it's perfect. I did get a few odd looks once when drinking from the Pecos. They only saw me dip the bottle into the stream. They missed me zapping it because it just takes a minute.
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Re: Berkey water system

Postby Bill n Robi » Tue Feb 03, 2015 5:25 pm

The web site states these are not sold in California but I swear I saw something that one of the was ok. Anyone get one shipped to Calif? If I buy one out of state, will they ship the filters to Calif? I know I can ask their help desk but prefer real life experiences.

Thanks

Bill
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Re: Berkey water system

Postby S. Heisley » Tue Feb 03, 2015 9:27 pm

Bill n Robi wrote:The web site states these are not sold in California but I swear I saw something that one of the was ok. Anyone get one shipped to Calif? If I buy one out of state, will they ship the filters to Calif? I know I can ask their help desk but prefer real life experiences.

Thanks

Bill


Only certain ones are sold in California, so far. The reason for this is that each type of unit must be approved for sale by the state and Berkey hasn't gotten around to getting all of them approved for sale here, yet. I am in California and was able to purchase three different models just last year. Scroll to the first page of this thread and you'll see a picture of them and a review of each (near the bottom of page 1).
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Re: Berkey water system

Postby wade and nan » Sun Feb 22, 2015 10:57 pm

Thanks Kludge for your overview. That system looks quite efficient.
My Outback is looking for a friend... And only a Teardrop will do.
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Re: Berkey water system

Postby S. Heisley » Thu Mar 12, 2015 7:20 pm

Straight from the manufacturers of the famous Berkey systems over at New Millennium Concepts, Ltd.:

“As you know we withdrew sales from the California marketplace when their lead free regulations went into affect. At that time it was our, as well as many other firms, opinion that the Lead Free regulations were too ambiguous, the requirements were too cost prohibitive and that the compliance requirements made it virtually impossible for small and medium sized companies, domiciled outside the state of California, to be in compliance.

Since that time however, the state of California has defined with greater specificity the requirements pertaining to this regulation. In reviewing the updated information and after consulting with our counsel, we have come to the conclusion that Berkey free standing water filtration and purification systems do not fall within the scope of those regulations.

It is important to note that California has other regulations that may affect some of our products. Until we have conducted a full review of those regulations, only sales of the following systems and products are now permitted to be made available to customers in state of California:

Sport Berkey
Go Berkey
Travel Berkey
Berkey Light 2 element systems (With or without LED lights).
Black Berkey Elements
SuperSterasyl Elements
PF2 and PF4 Filter elements
Replacement parts


If you have any questions about this great Berkey water filter California news please contact me at [email protected]

Also, please note the new test results: http://www.berkeycleanwater.com/new-bla ... -released/
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