Berkey Water Filter sets a new standard in gravity-fed water filtration and purification systems. Test results demonstrate its ability to remove contaminants such as E.coli, Fluoride, Heavy Metals, Chloramines Pharmaceuticals and Petroleum Contaminants like Bisphenol-A.
The Black Berkey filter element uses adsorption to capture and immobilize contaminants within its millions of microscopic pores, creating an ingenious tortuous path to capture even microscopic particles.
Testing Procedure
The Berkey Filter is a basic gravity-fed filter. Designed to hold water in its top chamber while being passed through two heavy duty charcoal filters and into its bottom chamber for consumption, the Black Berkey Elements have been lab tested and confirmed as capable of filtering out trihalomethanes, inorganic minerals, pharmaceuticals, VOCs petroleum products perfluorinated chemicals rust silt and sediment contaminants from drinking water sources for camping or emergencies.
Importantly, Black Berkey Elements do not use ion exchange resins to remove nitrate and hardness minerals; for this reason it’s advisable to conduct a food coloring test to evaluate your Berkey water filter’s performance at home and demonstrate whether your filters are doing what they claim they do; additionally this test provides an easy way of detecting when they may begin wearing out over time.
Results
Berkey water filters have proven their worth at filtering out common contaminants from drinking water, such as heavy metals, pharmaceuticals, pesticides, microplastics and arsenic. If arsenic is of concern then Black Berkey elements can be upgraded with additional PF-2 fluoride filters for extra protection.
Black Berkey elements’ extended contact time ensures that every particle in drinking water comes into contact with their purification media and captures unwanted particles more effectively than most gravity-fed water filter systems that use only pressure to push water through their filters. This longer filtration period makes Black Berkey elements superior over most gravity-fed systems which rely solely on pressure force to force water through filters.
The primary downside to the Berkey water filtration system is that it has never been tested against NSF/ANSI standards and does not comply with Prop 65 regulations, making it hard to compare against competitors that have been independently certified.
Conclusions
Berkey water filters do not come certified by any independent third-party, making it hard to compare them with similar products and are also not exempt from California’s Prop 65 law, making sales impossible in California.
Black Berkey Elements utilize a proprietary filtration process which utilizes micro-pores to trap harmful contaminants while revolutionary material with adsorption and ion exchange properties to effectively filter out trihalomethanes, inorganic minerals, heavy metals, pharmaceuticals, pesticides, VOCs petroleum products perfluorinated chemicals rust silt and sediment.
Berkey systems can remove chlorine to below lab detectable levels and harmful disinfection byproducts like hexavalent chromium that leach into drinking water from rocks, soils or human activities, such as arsenic. They also reduce fluoride exposure; for optimal results use this system together with post filters for best results.
Recommendations
The Berkey system is an excellent solution for anyone seeking to remove contaminants from their drinking water efficiently and affordably. Easy to use and with competitive pricing options available.
One drawback of this system is its inability to display how much purified water remains in the lower chamber unless you lift up and peek inside, making this unit difficult to check without moving things around. Berkey offers a sight glass between lower chamber and spigot that helps solve this issue.
Black Berkey Elements can also be upgraded with PF2 fluoride filters to remove arsenic and MTBE from drinking water, providing another great feature that may ease long-term exposure concerns. In addition, PF2 filters can remove Bisphenol A endocrine disruptor found in many plastic bottles that could have detrimental health consequences when inhaled over an extended period.
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